In the final weeks of school, I was sure I was going to do everything in my power to stay in Texas. I wanted to get a job down there that was related to my major and could give me worthy career experiences.

However, this just did not work out in my favor and I ended up coming back home to Illinois for the summer. I had a difficult time finding a job back home because few employers want to hire a college kid who is going to leave in a few months and I had no idea what I wanted to do, expect I was certain I did not want to go back to my old restaurant job from high school.

The opportunity presented itself that I could work as a counselor at a kids summer camp. I was not initially excited by this at all but knew I was in desperate need of a summer job and they were in need of staff I decided to take it. My biggest issue with this summer job was that I would have to work with kids. I have always been pretty good with kids seeing that I started babysitting when I was in 6^th grade but never considered myself a kid person. Since going to school, I seldom see children and when I did, I preferred not to be around them.

So going into my first day, I figured it was going to be a dreadful job that was going to make my summer drag on. However, now in my last few days of work, I am sad to be leaving. It was the ideal summer job; it paid well, I got consistent hours, I got evenings and weekends off, my coworkers were really great people, and most surprising I enjoyed spending time with the children.

I forgot what it was like to be around little humans who still have so much to learn about life. There were things I could tell the kids that left them in bewilderment and made me seem like a genius in their eyes, when in reality it was just some dumb little fact I learned from my Snapple cap. They always kept me on my toes and were worthy competitors when playing Capture the Flag and Dodgeball. I became really good at arts and crafts and card games, which are probably not super useful life skills but hey you never know when they’ll come in handy.

I learned a lot of lessons this summer from my job about patience and understanding, but most importantly I learned that kids aren’t all that bad. Does this mean I am switching my major to elementary education? Absolutely not. But the time I spent at the camp did improve my strategy, problem solving, and relationship building skills more than I would have ever expected.

The likelihood I will ever see most of these children again is very low which actually makes me a little bit sad because those kids always put a smile on my face and I know they are going to do great things in life. I’m glad that my Texas summer plans feel through because it resulted in me having a surprisingly unique and impactful summer.