Quite a few people have asked me what my summer has consisted of. Just like many college students my age, I have been spending majority of my summer working in hopes of making a couple bucks for the upcoming school year. This summer I started a new job as a camp counselor at my local day camp. It truly has been an adventure from when I first started training to right now, which is rounding into halfway through camp. It might seem cliche, but there has been a million and one things I wasn't expecting when I walked into my first day back in June. To be honest, I've had a few days where I come home wondering if I am really cut out for this kind of work, but then I remember something. I remember that back in the spring when I first applied for this job, that I wasn't doing this for myself.
I've been working with kids my entire life, and when I was looking for work, I had decided I wanted to continue with that over the summer. That is where being a camp counselor first came into play. Now as I said, bad days do happen, so when I have my bad days I have to remember all the beautiful things that come out of having a job like this. A camper and their counselor form a unique friendship that is like no other. For however long the camp day may be, you are what is bringing them joy in those hours. You are the reasons for the smiles on their faces and the laughs that escape their lips. A camp counselor is the motive behind the countless stories the child will go on to tell when their mom or dad picks them up at the end of the day. These campers look up to us counselors and see us as role models for when they grow up. We are setting examples of who someone should be years down the road, and I personally find something really special in that responsibility.
Despite the bad days, there are days I come home from work with a smile as wide as some of my campers. They are the real reason I have this job. I am a camp counselor to see their smiles and hear their laughter. I'm here to bring something wonderful to their day no matter what. I'm a counselor for the kids that come running into camp because they are just that excited to be here. For the kids that lazily wave goodbye because they are so exhausted from excitement of the day. There are a million reasons I am a camp counselor, and they are all rooted from the kids that make camp a possibility. This is one of those things I can't quite find the right words to explain how I feel, but I have no shame in saying that despite any bad day I might have, there is no other summer job that is quite as rewarding as this one.
