Everyone should go to summer camp once in their lifetime. Most people who do not go to camp do not understand the privilege camp gives you. I went to Camp Merrie-Woode for 10 summers, and if you asked me the first four summers I would say "It's not the best," but if you asked me today I would tell you this. For the first couple of summers, I would always say "please don't make me go back." It wasn't because camp was bad, it was so fun, it was just who wanted to meet new friends at the age of 7 without your parents to advise you?

Yet, I'm so thankful my parents kept making me go, especially for five weeks. My first five-week session was the summer of going into six grade, so none of my friends from three-week would be there. It took me two weeks to find my friends, but when I say when you find friends your whole life changes. Camp allows you to meet some of your lifelong friends. I met some of my close friends, not just during the summer but for the rest of my life that summer. Every night we would sit and have pow wows which usually ended with us laughing. Some nights we would have "dance-offs" with the cabin next to us.

SEE ALSO: 22 Reasons You Should Be A Summer Camp Counselor

That was the first summer that made camp feel like my home away from home. After that summer, it kept getting more fun with living all of your closest friends for five weeks, having different activities every day, and just enjoying life.

I never fully appreciated my parents for sending me to Merrie-Woode until the summer after my Junior Counselor year. This is because for the first time I would be living with fourteen other girls whom I was not close with, and did not have one single friend with me. Yet, this made me have even more close friends, whom I stay in touch with every single day. Camp lets you meet people all over the world where you become closer to them, even closer than your "school" friends. Camp also lets you be yourself without being judged. If every child could go to camp, even for a week, they should.