Being a YMCA camp counselor is a dream come true
Couretsy of YMCA Camp Loma Mar
My cabin and I on Theme Day, which was Disney characters
April 18, 2014
As another year of school is coming to an end, people are beginning to make plans for summer break, some plan on camping or hanging out at the beach: however my plans include watching arts and crafts, zip-lining, singing camp fire songs, and being covered in paint.
Being a summer camp counselor has been my dream since I was 8. I made this decision after our last camp fire (nearly 10 years ago), a nightly activity where the whole camp gets together to sing songs and put on funny skits.
My camp director gave a speech describing how becoming a counselor had been his dream because he always wanted to be at camp.
I have been going to YMCA Camp Loma Mar for seven years. Camp was always my favorite place to go, I always felt like I belonged at camp.
YMCA Camp focuses on being the best you that you can be and that everyone “has a little light under the sun”. I can honestly say that camp has made me who I am today.
I think the best thing about camp is that you are told that you are important. If a child does something wrong, they are not punished like they would be at school. They are talked to about why they did it, and what can be done to help so it does not happen again.
Another amazing thing about camp is that being crazy and spontaneous is perfectly acceptable. Actually, it is encouraged.
There are a million reasons, why one of my life goals was to be a camp counselor. Camp and my past counselors have made a huge impact on my life, now it is my goal to do the same for the campers I will meet this summer.
Campers range from 7 to 17. That age group is arguably the most important time of someone’s life. Kids are finding themselves and sometimes they need help or reassurance to do that. Being told that it is perfectly okay to be yourself or that you should never change yourself for someone else was probably the most important thing I have ever learned.
I feel like there are so many pressures on kids these days to have a good life. You need to get straight A’s all through high school, do community service, play sports, have a social life, and take harder classes.
Society wants children to make decisions that will affect them for the rest of their lives. How can they expect a 15-year old to know what they want to be when they grow up?
At camp, all those problems disappear. You do not have to be a math whiz to go down a zip line. You do not have to the leading scorer to tie dye a shirt. All you have to do is be open and willing to do new things.
Camp is not about being better than anyone else, it is just about being the best you that you can be.
