Dear Camp Timbers,

You have been apart of my life for 11 years, helping me become the person I want to be in many different ways and helping me learn new things. You helped me open my eyes to different perspectives and to try new things when you are given the chance to try it.

When I first started to come to camp as a seven-year-old, I was one of the shyest ones in the cabin, but you taught me to get out of that shell. I've learned so many things here:

1. To be true to yourself

2. Be your crazy goofy self

3. Face your fears

4. How to unplug from social media.

I kept going to camp all the way through, I was a teen camper and a CIT (counselor-in-training) and I learned a lot more than, for example: how to be a great leader and patience. Now I'm on staff and I've learned more, over the years of being a teen camper, a CIT, and being on staff I've learned more about myself; my strengths and weakness. I've learned to embrace my strengths and weaknesses.

No only have you taught me lessons but you've given some of the best friends a person can have. Friends that have learned the same things I have, friends that empathize with me, and friends that I will have for a long time. They are some of the truest friends I could possibly ask for.

I've met some of the best role models here that have taught me how to be myself, how to speak up when I need to, to go for my dreams, and to achieve my goals and that it's okay to take a longer time to achieve your goals.

Sometimes I wonder what I would be like if I didn't have you. Would I still be shy and barely have any friends? Would I still be afraid of heights? Would I ever try new things? Would I know how to be myself? Would I still know how to unplug from social media? I feel like the answers to those questions are not the answers they are now.

If you weren't in my life I feel like I would be the shy girl that has a total of three friends. I would be the girl that didn't try anything new so I would be afraid of heights my whole life. I would be the girl that didn't know how to be herself in front of people that weren't her family or her close friends. And because of that, I'm glad that I have this place, that I'm not the shy girl and that I'm not afraid of heights as much as I use to be. I'm glad that I'm able to try new things and be myself.

If I didn't have this place I wouldn't be myself. I have so many memories that make me smile and laugh. You are my second home and I'm sad to say goodbye but I will always remember the impact you had on my life.