Summer Camp-- one thing everyone should do at least once in their childhood. Camp gives campers a way to get into nature and away from all the technology so they can look past the screens and see people as they truly are. Luckily for me, I spent eight summers at Keystone Camp, an all-girls summer camp in Brevard, North Carolina. The one month I got to spend in the mountains of North Carolina in a little wooden shack with a tin roof, I learned more about myself and life than any classroom would ever teach me.

Keystone Camp gave me a month to bond with other girls and counselors from all over the country and the world. I got the chance to meet people from across the country who were from different backgrounds from me. To get that type of exposure at such a young age and being from such a small town was an opportunity most adults from my town never got. I also was able to learn about cultures that I have never thought of learning about. I remember that I had counselors from Africa, Ireland, England, Scotland, and Australia and they showed me how to respect their culture and ideas that may differ from my own. These counselors alone showed me that a small town girl can look into other cultures that may be miles away from herself, and find out that the cultures may be more alike than anything else.

I made some of the longest friendships I have, at camp, because we were all living together under the same tin roof. Spending summer storms, sliding down a waterfall, and writing letters home together was the easiest way to bond as a cabin and as friends. With a cabin of seven to eight girls, it is kind of impossible not to make friends in the month you are living with them. We were all the same age and we were going through the same type of classes together which gave us a starting point as to how alike we truly were but also how different we were. We never ran out of things to talk about because we were together for a month and we had eleven other months of adventures to discuss. Even though I don’t talk to some of them, I know that if we were to start talking again it would be like we never stopped.

But it also gave me a sense of belonging that I had never received from my school. I was around six years old when I first came to Keystone and I found very quickly that I would be making friends and belonging on day one. Walking on the bridge with a large group of counselors waiting for me on the other side was a tradition that happens every move in day. Now imagine walking across this small bridge into the large group of counselors so excited to see you. My self-confidence flew through the roof when I saw how excited people were to meet me and get to know me. And even as my mom left me at camp and the month continued, I continued to grow as an adult and I felt better about myself and how people saw me. I learned that I didn’t need to hide behind my mother but that I can handle most things by myself with class and sureness in myself. All of this self-confidence and growth came from adults who cared and traditions that made me become involve with other people.

Tradition is an important part for me because of the involvement and the history surrounding the camp. Tradition such as team games, five-year blankets (which is the most comfortable thing I own), Sunday camp fire where Page (the camp director) would allow someone to ask a question about the camp and she would sit around the fire and answer the question for everyone, Sunday uniforms, nightly taps, and finally bark boats on the last night. The camp tried everything to get everyone in involved so no one left out.

Having all the traditions showed that the camp had found something that had been working for the past 100 years. The traditions only work if everyone wants to work with the traditions and the idea of doing something that people in the 30s and 40s did was and is an extremely cool thing to think about. Sitting with your best friend on those old logs with the crazy creeks listening to old tales of camp history, hearing the fire slowly crackle and watching the blue sky become one of those sunsets that iPhones cameras can’t get just right. These were the traditions and moments that made camp even more special for those who was there with you because it was a moment you can only share with a small group of girls.

Keystone was my saving grace and way to grow and adapt to my surroundings. I think without Keystone and the confidence I received, I would not be the girl I am today. Most people don’t get the chance to spend a summer, let alone eight summers, with some of the best girls and best counselors I have ever met. Keystone changed my life for the better and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Most people will say that it was a waste of my summer to go camping, but I think I would have wasted my summer if I didn’t go to summer camp.

“I love camp Keystone and I don’t wanna go home.”