After being a waitress for the last 5 years of my life, I was to the point in my life where I needed some excitement and adventure to spice things up. I needed something new. So I did something crazy and took a leap of faith when I applied for a summer camp job as a counselor at a camp in upper Pennsylvania. Four hours away and just enough miles away from home to start a new beginning.
For those of us who used to be a camp counselor or who are currently working as a camp counselor, know that being one is both ridiculously exhausting but also one of the most rewarding jobs in the world. People think we are crazy to live out in the woods, with bugs and sleep in sleeping bags for a job. But for us, it's a crazy fun adventure for us and the kids.
Nobody ever said it was going to be easy. You face challenges every day, like trying to convince a child that isn’t yours to put on sunscreen, or drink more water or getting them to eat food that you know yourself is clearly questionable if it is edible or not. The kids definitely learn to test your patience in more ways than you can count. Have you ever gone three months without 10 minutes of alone time, or more than a five-minute shower? There also is no such thing as, “Netflix and chill by yourself.”
Sometimes, on a night off with the other counselors, talking about life without having to code everything is the highlight of the day. If you've ever been a camp counselor, you know how hard it is to plan a night with other counselors when kids are around. If you are planning to go to the bar, you can’t say in front of kids to another counselor that you want to go to a bar. So you improvise. “Hey, you want to go to the ice cream bar tonight?”
Everyone that is an adult understands. You start off the summer ready to change lives and make a difference, but then you remember you have early reveille, and field trip days to places you wonder how anyone could have fun. Yup, it's all fun and games until someone’s crying at 11:30 p.m. Someone wakes up in the middle of the night, and the first thing you say is, “are you bleeding or dying?” It’s about those nights you plan to go out to have fun with a couple of mates, but an early bedtime sounds more appealing.
Gym shorts, T-shirts, and sneakers become your new, best-looking outfit all summer. Shorts with rain boots and a rain jacket is the new look. Makeup? What's that anymore? A farmer’s tan is the only tan you have while your other friends have the normal bikini tan lines. Shaving your legs every day? (You know it, girls). Not a chance. Sometimes, standing in the shower staring at a blank space and taking a couple minutes to relax is a much better choice.
Out with friends and feeling the need to do a head count every so often? It’s OK, it’s normal. You forget that people in the outside world shower without flip flops. All those times you were thinking you've solved the problem of kids having to go to the bathroom during an evening activity, by having them all go to the bathroom before, right? Nope. Try again. One kid having to go to the bathroom turns into five kids having to go to the bathroom, and then by the time you get back, the evening activity is over.
Kids asking, “Why” after everything you say? All the time. Shower hour, that’s called shower hour, but really it's 45 minutes. You have 45 minutes to shower, 13 girls and seven counselors. Challenge accepted. Bring it on. And from that point on you yell “next” every two minutes in your sleep. You forget what your real name is after having nicknames from counselors and your kids.
Oh, you went to the beach this summer? Well, I know what plants I can eat if I'm ever stuck in the wilderness. Though all of these things sounds as if we are complaining, which in those moments I can assure you I was thinking of every place I wanted to be but there, but us counselors understand it all. It personally made me be responsible for someone else other than myself. It taught me many things on how to essentially be a parent. It was an eye opener. There are so many more wonderful things that you get out of being a counselor.
The two weeks before the kids arrive, the staff cleans the camp, making everything perfect for the arrival of the kids. During those two weeks, you grow a special bond with the other counselors, and they’re from all over the world. I’ve made special friendships from Ireland, Australia, England, Scotland and Italy. During this time you become each other's support systems, somebody to just simply talk to, somebody to do crazy adventures with that you'll never forget. Having a rough time with homesickness and need a quick hug? Someone special will notice and attack you with a hug after every meal. We all have an unbreakable bond that no one could ever understand, gathered together for a single purpose, the kids and making this a summer they will never forget. We are all in this together from the beginning to the end.
When the buses pull up with the kids, you get the excited, nervous feeling in your gut you think you will never shake. You start thinking too many things and your mind starts to feel like a freight train going 100 mph. Will the kids like you? Will they be easy to connect with? But all those unanswered questions, all the uncertainties disappear, and the freight train comes to a halt when those kids run off the buses with big smiles, arms open wide, running towards you falling into your arms with excitement. At that moment, neither of us knew we’d mean so much to each other and change each other's lives in the next seven weeks.
Being a camp counselor is more than just disciplining and taking the kids to where they need to be. It’s about giving your girls a hug when they are upset or homesick. It’s about carrying them from one activity to the next, even if the activity is on the other side of camp because they just want to be close to you. It’s about joining in on the activities with them even if that means doing Zumba for an hour straight because it puts a smile on their faces. Or when a thunderstorm rolls in, it’s about thirteen girls crawling in your single bunk bed just to be held because they are scared. Little do they know that you're a 21-year-old that still gets scared of thunderstorms too, but you put on a brave face just for them. You give them silly excuses on why it’s thundering, like, “It's your loved ones in heaven moving furniture and being loud.” Or, “the lightning is your loved ones in heaven turning the lights on and off and being silly.”
It’s about tucking each girl into bed, kissing them on the forehead and reading them bedtime stories. It’s about going down a big water slide with them or give them a pep talk before they go up the rock climbing wall because they just needed a little push and support to get them out of their comfort zone. It’s about being a friend and being their support system. Finally, it’s about seeing them grow from the shy, quiet girls at the beginning of the summer to outgoing, loud, adventurous girls at the end.
Being a counselor takes someone special. Someone with patience, someone with the ability to care. You make a lot of sacrifices for the kids because, in the short 7 weeks, they became your world. You don't know how it happened but they have. They brighten your day when you, yourself, are feeling homesick. They have the biggest hearts and with so much love to give. When you come home from camp, you feel half of you is still there. An empty feeling. You’d never trade camp for the world no matter how much you thought you were just going to be a “pass through counselor” and thought who'd never miss it. You know this is the best job ever even when you thought you were at your breaking point because camp isn’t a job; it’s a way of life. And you wait until the next summer to repeat it all over again.
