Around December of my junior year at Florida State, I started looking for a summer job. A close friend suggested that I should try out working as a camp counselor for a business he had been working with for a few years. Getting employed at a children’s camp wasn’t exactly what I had pictured, but the way he talked about it made it hard not to consider. He told me stories about how beautiful it was and all the people he had met through working there. Growing up I had never gone to a summer camp before, so all of my knowledge about camps had come from movies like The Parent Trap and It Takes Two. In other words, for all I knew I was looking at a summer filled with prank wars, food fights in the dining hall, and the possibility of being destined to discover my estranged identical twin sister.
Nonetheless, I was going into my last summer before graduation, so why not? Only a short few months later, I packed my suitcases full of sunscreen and stationary and headed to Casco, Maine where I would spend the rest of my summer.
I was in Maine from June through mid-august. For a girl raised in Florida, getting out of 90 percent humidity and into the cool fresh air during June of all months was more than I could have asked for. I remember being in awe that a place like this actually existed outside of the movies. For the first week or so, all of the staff took the time to get to know each other and to prepare for the first session of camp to start. Prior to the kids’ arrival, I was taught everything from how to fold their beds, to how to deal with bullying. From the beginning of my time there it was easy to see how enthusiastic everyone was.
Honestly, being a camp counselor was exhausting. I never realized how busy the days were going to be; there were just so many things to be thinking about all of the time. As a counselor, you’re always on your feet making sure that the campers are ready for the day, taking them to their activities, playing games with them, passing out their mail, and endlessly braiding hair.
Let me tell you, getting twelve nine-year-old girls bathed in a cabin with two showers in an hour is not an easy task. Neither is getting them to bed after a long, caffeine and sugar-filled day at a theme park. Every night when my head hit the pillow, I almost immediately fell asleep.
But now that I’m back to my regular routine at home, there are a handful of things that I miss. Since being home, I’ve thought about a lot of moments that make being at camp so special. My favorites include watching my girls make friendship bracelets on the front porch of our cabin and seeing the tiny villages they made out of twigs and leaves in hopes that a chipmunk might vacation there. I loved the way their eyes lit up when we told them bedtime stories and the long hugs that they gave when tucking them into bed.
When you cross the state line and enter Maine there’s a welcome sign that states, “Maine, the way life should be.” During the time I spent there I did really have that feeling. I got to take a bit of a mental break and be a kid again too. Don’t get me wrong, being a camp counselor comes with a long list of responsibilities but being at camp really allows you to separate yourself from everyday stress. For once I wasn’t thinking about what job I should apply for or what my move should be after college, and I got to focus on just enjoying my time in a beautiful place with some really great people.
I like to think I learned a lot of things at camp. I learned how to fold clothes that look like they’re meant for an American Girl doll rather than a person. I learned that Squishies are small squeezable figurines that have no purpose. I learned that various colored and uniquely named slime is probably the highest selling children’s toy in the market right now. I learned the lyrics to the narwhal song by heart. And I learned that you should never ever let a nine-year-old know that you’re ticklish almost everywhere. But more importantly, I learned how valuable it is to spend time with kids while they’re so positive and impressionable. I learned how to comfort kids when they’re homesick, and that even if you have a huge fear of roller coasters—and I mean huge–you’ll still get on the biggest one in a theme park just to make one of your kids smile.
They told us at the beginning of camp that the days would go by slow and the weeks fast, but I didn’t realize until I packed up in August how quickly the time had actually passed. The summer went by in a breeze. My only regret is that I never saw a moose! If you’re looking for a summer job that is meaningful, gives you opportunities to travel and surrounds you with positivity, I would highly suggest looking into applying to work at an overnight children’s camp!
All images courtesy to Marley Harris.