With summer right around the corner, my favorite time of year is approaching: summer camp time. I plan all my summer activities around my annual time spent in the middle of nowhere with perpetual sunburns and a layer of dust that, no matter how many showers I take, I can never seem to wash off. The only perfume we use is bug spray and all of our showers are outdoors. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t choose to spend my summer any other way. Everyone deserves at least one summer spent swimming in the lake, singing campfire songs, and hanging out with the most energetic kids ever.
Anyone who knows me knows I’m a summer camp ride-or-die. It’s my whole personality. I went to Camp Winnarainbow every summer from age eight or nine up until college. During my time there, I learned a plethora of skills, all ranging in different levels of usefulness. Things such as unicycling, trapeze, and walking on stilts are things I’m grateful to know how to do but aren’t pertinent to my everyday life. I’ve also learned skills that I apply day-to-day. For instance, I’ve gained my fair share of office skills, communication skills, and leadership experience. Working at a summer camp provides a unique opportunity where you get to work and interact with people of all ages, from campers as young as seven years old to staff members more than triple your age. You get to build connections and learn how to forge friendships and relationships with people outside of your normal scope of interaction.
Summer camp fosters a sense of independence and self-reliance in children. Since they’re away from their parents and families for an extended period of time, they learn how to vocalize their opinions and needs. They are also tasked with decisions such as choosing what classes to take and how to spend their afternoon free time. Children also build intergenerational relationships. These can be between different aged campers, teen staff, and even adult staff. With the same campers coming and going each summer, we get to watch them grow up, and hear of everything new and exciting going on in their life. Everyone becomes a second family, and we regularly celebrate each other’s achievements and encourage each other.
When explaining to my friends the magic of my camp, it often gets compared to the 2023 movie: Theater Camp. Although my camp isn’t strictly a theater camp (it’s more performing arts as a whole), the message is the same, it’s a place where anyone can fit in, and it’s open to everyone. You have the ability to be whoever you want for your time there. If you want to go by a different name or pronoun, you’re granted the ability to do so. You’re able to meet people from all walks of life and from all over the country, sometimes even from different continents. Similar to the movie, if our camp was being threatened to shut down, we too would rally to save it. People’s love for the camp community as a whole is why we keep coming back. Many of the staff members were campers themselves, some having spent over 20 summers there.
I’ve stayed in contact with the friends I made my first summer there. Although we may only see each other once a year, if that, our connection and shared experience goes deeper than most of my friendships with people I see every day. The usual factors that go into forging friendships don’t exist at Camp Winnarainbow. You’re simply friends with everyone.
After becoming a counselor, I learned how hard they work to make the summer special for campers. Our only goal is to give them an extraordinary summer, full of unforgettable memories and experiences. No matter what, we’re told to put the campers first. It’s a full circle moment to be a part of creating a summer camp. Going from getting your face painted to painting faces, from being spotted in gymnastics to helping teach gymnastics, and from being put to bed to putting your own campers to bed.
Personally, I’m not afraid of public speaking, performing in front of a crowd, or any other situation where I have to put myself out there. I wholeheartedly believe this is due to the fact that I attended summer camp. I was given an opportunity every day to perform in a plethora of different ways. Although encouraged, you were never forced to step foot onto our beloved rainbow stage. You were always granted the right to pass. The idea that I can always pass on things I’m not comfortable with has followed me in my everyday life, especially when it comes to setting personal boundaries.
There’s something magical that happens at a summer camp. You join a community that feels more like family. Even if you only attend for one summer, the memories will never leave you. There’s no summer like a summer camp summer.