Camp Wapsie

There’s something that I’ve been avoiding blogging about because it is such a huge part of my life. But when I’m truly out of inspiration and I don’t feel like writing about another role model or life lesson, camp still comes back to me. And for good reason.

This past summer I spent three weeks at Camp Wapsie working as a Leader In Training, or LIT. LIT is one step on the path to becoming a camp counselor. I learned to be a better leader, to work with kids and to make their camp experience better. Camp Wapsie is a place with lots of campfires and games, with almost no electronics in use, and only songs and love. It’s a place for campers to be kids, and camp staff to let their inner child run free alongside campers.

While I was there, I met a lot of pretty amazing people. There were fourteen of us, seven boys and seven girls, in LIT together for three weeks. We not only went through the same scary challenges, but we celebrated our small victories together at the end of each day. We learned so much about each other sharing our meals, stories, tears and jokes. Our counselor, Jordy, put us through exercises where we were forced to see things in new ways - fit everyone on one square foot platform without touching the ground. Cross an invisible maze made of tape. These might sound like familiar activities to anyone that’s been to a leadership retreat before. We learned to problem solve. But then we pushed ourselves even further and grew as a family, helping each other through small and large issues in our lives. We sat around fire after campfire tell stories and discussing fears and hopes for the future. Words can’t describe how much I love those people.

As Thanksgiving nears, we will be receiving letters. I believe all fourteen of us applied to become Counselors In Training, or CITs, next summer. It’s weeks of rigorous work to learn about being a counselor and spending time with campers. There are two four-week-long sessions, but the groups are smaller. Not everyone will return to camp next summer, because we were one of three groups of LITs. We’re competing against each other, plus about twenty-eight other talented teenagers, and only half of us will be accepted. I truly believe all fourteen of us deserve another month at camp next year, but we can’t all go on. Last year, my letter of acceptance to the LIT program was written on November 21, 2014. That’s less than a week away. So I’m going to write, on this blog, about each person in my LIT session wishing them the best of luck and reminding them of all the things they taught me during my three weeks with them. I will do my best to keep them all about the same length, though I could write an whole paper about each and every one of them.

Stay awesome,
Claire

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