You ever worked at a summer camp? Well, I have. For the past four years of my life, my summers have been spent working from 9 o’clock in the morning until 5 o’clock in the evening. And let me tell you, it isn’t easy. My boss has often told us that we have the hardest job in the world. That we will be spending more times with these kids than their own parents will. We are the subject of dinner time conversation, we are the role models, the heroes of their stories. And it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. There have been days that I want to go home and cry into my pillow until I pass out. There are kids you have to work with all summer with listening problems, learning disabilities and more problems that you don’t have knowledge of. Kids from all kinds of different backgrounds come to camp. But in the end, there are more ups than downs. These kids become your life. Your co-workers become your life. Camp becomes your life.
My group of girls is known as the Cherokee, but when I started I was placed in the Iroquois, a few years below the Cherokee. These girls are some of the funniest, sassiest, tiny humans on the planet. The friendships and memories camp gives them are irreplaceable. The goofy songs we sung, the made up games of Capture the Chess Pieces, Murder Mystery and more. These kids are my life during the summer. I’m their role model, the person they want to be when they grow up.
The people I work with are my best friends. Starting my job at Camp I was terrified beyond belief, being placed in a group with a co counselor I didn't know. But then it became a lot less scary. Camp is a family. Despite the drama that happens outside of work, the relationships, the friendships, we are a family. Someday we hate each other, we fight and yell and wonder why we are working with each other. We may drive each other insane sometimes, claim we hate each other but at the end of the day, we are all in this together (hahaha High School Musical reference). I love these people so much, it is indescribable the connections we have with each other.
I was given a nickname when I first started at camp that I will never understand. While introducing myself to the wide eyed eight year old girls on the first day of camp, one of them didn’t hear my name correctly. Instead of Josie, they heard Popi. Don’t know how to pronounce it? POPE-EE. And just like that, the name stuck, bouncing back and forth from Popi to Popes. Yeah, I don’t get it either but when it's the middle of December and the snow is up to my ankles, I sure miss the days I am Popi. Not to mention it's better than Creepy Goldfish which one of my co counselors was lovingly called (Hi Allie).
We have a saying at camp that goes like this: “Here you can be the best version of yourself.” This is true for everyone, kids and counselors including. Here you are a superhero. This job isn't easy and it isn't for everyone. Camp has taught me how to be a better person, how to have fun and how to enrich the lives of children from every background. I wouldn't be the same without these years in my life, they have shaped me as a person. Though at times it is rough and I have to drag myself out of bed at 6:30 AM I'm always glad I did. Because the feeling of walking down that path that I've walked down since I was a camper, and hearing kids yell your name and run to you all smiles, that's when I know, I'm doing something right.
