The moon was up and the mosquitoes were humming as the camper climbed up to Alex Barshel. It was a muggy summer night in early August, and the 7-year-old couldn’t sleep.
Cabin chat – a time where kids at Camp Kesem can open up to their counselors – was over, and everyone needed their rest. Barshel was tired, and so was the young girl, but the camper insisted on staying awake.
While the others settled in their beds, Barshel and the girl went into the counselors’ office.
She could have told the young girl, ‘we all need to go to bed. We can talk in the morning.’ But obligingly, she listened, and the child, who was too young to have even learned cursive, cried about cancer – a condition that claimed one of her parents – for hours. Barshel comforted her. Cancer had affected her family, too. It was the quiet killer that brought them all together.
Barshel, a 20-year-old environmental science junior, has worked as a camp counselor for other programs before; it’s a decent way to spend some of summer between working with kids and enjoying the outdoors. But this camp’s purpose struck a chord.
Camp Kesem is a community of 41 college campuses that hosts week-long retreats for children who have had a parent diagnosed with cancer. From July 28 to August 2, Barshel and a handful of other counselors participated in activities and emotional exercises to cope with the emotional struggles the disease had caused.
“Camp was a really good balance,” Barshel said. “It teaches you that it’s OK to be sad, but that there’s plenty to be happy about, too.”
Instead of studying for a summer final, Barshel played parachute in a field and laughed at little things. She ate packaged meals and bonded over breakfast.
“I was expecting it to be fun, but it was like therapy, too,” she said. “In the beginning you barely know these people, but it’s such a safe environment because they’re all going through the same thing.”
As fall semester kicks into high gear, Barshel said she is focusing on her studies. Once a week, she participates in intramural softball, and she hangs out with close friends on the weekends. But every once in awhile, her thoughts float back to camp.
“The kids inspire you,” Barshel said, and when asked if she would participate next year, she simply said: “Definitely.”