This summer, I am getting an amazing opportunity to work as a counselor at a summer camp. I know what you're thinking, "you're crazy," and I might be. However, I have wanted to work as a counselor at a camp since I went for the first time in third grade. Wow, ten years ago.
If I'm being honest, being away from my friends and family all summer is going to be weird. However, living in a cabin, leading a group of girls, being outdoors, and making new friends is going to make this summer the best one yet.
With that being said, I want to make a shout-out the camp counselors who helped me in finding my ideas for this blog post. Huawni staff of 2016, y'all are grand, thanks for the help!
1. Tan lines.
All year, people around the world want to get a good tan, and to be able to prove it with tan lines. Living at camp for two months, you get the opportunity to be in the sun 24/7, which will lead to multiple tan lines. Especially, the ever-popular Chaco tan lines.
2. You get to live outdoors.
You might not know how to set up a tent, but at least you don't have to. Camp might mean constant running around outside, playing in the lake, hiking, or carving trees. However, you still get to live in a cabin rather than a tent. What could be better?
3. Make money doing something you love.
Instead of having to sit in a stuffy office all summer, make money doing something you love. You get to be outside in the sun all day long. You get to end the day surrounded by friends to make memories with, and campers whose lives you get to impact.
4. "The kids are freaking weird (in the best way)."--Kristan Cates
Kids are the best! Whether it is getting goofy by dancing around or making their counselors do weird things. Kids can always brighten a counselor's day. After all, they are why we choose to be counselors.
5. "You get a ton of new Instagram followers." --Arturo Alfaro
Enough said.
6. You get to make friends with all your co-counselors
You're living with people all summer that are your age and possibly just as crazy. Making new friends is always fun, but living with people all summer is more than likely to end in more wholesome friendships. Whether they be purely silly or serious and life-impacting friendships, camp friends are ones than could last a lifetime.
P.S. I can't wait to get to know my fellow Huawni counselors in less than a month!
7. "You learn how to not be a parent" - Billy Martin
You get a variety of kids that come through your cabin during the summer. However, it helps you learn how you want to parent your children and how you'll never treat them. But, if all else fails, hide your coolness from them so they always think you'll "bring down the hammer." Discipline is key, my friends!
8. "You learn how to give your whole self to another person and influence the life of your campers." -- Sarah Penney
At camp you have two options: 1. Be yourself, completely. 2. Hide who you truly are from everybody. At camp, you learn to not judge or care if you are judged. Every counselor is there for the same reason, so be yourself. Show your campers that there's more to the world than TV, social media, or gossip.
9. "You learn to laugh at the simple things all over again" -- Joel Howard
As you get older, you tend to stop finding the simplest of things even slightly funny. At camp, late nights make you delusional. This leads you to find anything funnier than it should be, which causes you to laugh so hard you either cry or feel like you're getting abs.
10. You get to unplug from the world for a while.
As a counselor, you have to be off your phone if your campers are around, which means you'll miss a lot on social media (all the drama, everything). Unplugging from the world for an entire summer can do a lot for a person. It can help them realize there is more out there than just talking to people through a phone.
Millennials especially love to spend too much time on their phones. That being side, minus my blog, I will be unplugging from the internet this summer. I can't wait to tell y'all about how that goes.
11. You gain essential skills needed in college as well as the real world.
When you go to camp for a job, you learn a lot of viable life skills that will help you in the real world and throughout your life. To name a few, I got some help from one of our camp leaders Kelsey Biscoe:
1. Critical Thinking 2. Complex Problem-solving 3. Judgment & Decision-making 4. Active Listening 5. Computers & Electronics 6. Mathematics 7. Operations & Systems Analysis 8. Monitoring 9. Programming 10. Sales & Marketing
12. You have the opportunity to make more memorable memories.
Two months is a long time. I mean, thats 60 days. 60 days with people is bound to lead to ample memories. I guess that is the best part about working at a summer camp. You will make more memories than you would answering phones or logging paperwork all summerAfter all of this, you could say I am pretty stoked to make my way to camp in a little more than 20 days. My first year as a camp counselor is one that will make my third grade-dream come true, ten years later.
