Lauren

Today I’m writing about Lauren, I think. She’s energetic and hilarious, and she never let her emotions show unless they were positive ones. She is a tough, closed off person if she’s upset, but by the end of LIT even she was attached to Camp Wapsie and shed tears on the last night. During our time at camp, Lauren bonded really well with the counselors and camp staff, and sympathized with the hard work the counselors do. One week, after LIT was over for us, Lauren went back to visit the counselors and meet the LITs from session 3 at the end of their week. She found a counselor that was busy cleaning a shed of tools and stayed for an hour, helping clean out the shed and reorganize it, so the counselor could go home a little sooner and catch up on sleep. This meant the world for the counselor, who let her sign the wall inside the shed for her help.

Lauren also had the noise and energy level to rally a group of kids. One night, she and I had to occupy a group of two dozen older campers while the counselors cooked dinner and set up a group game. The counselors told us to take the kids on a hike for a few minutes and the game would be ready in a bit, and then the kids could eat dinner after the game. Lauren and I took the lead with hiking sticks, singing a loud song about going on a nature hike. We stopped abruptly many times and made up stories about the trees and tracks in the dirt, and then added the stories into the verses of the song. We had so much fun that by the time we got back from our little loop around camp, dinner was ready and the counselors were worried that we’d gotten lost. We ate dinner before playing the game.

Anyway, Lauren is just really good at engaging kids and making something arbitrary really fun. She’s full of energy and spirit and can put a positive spin on any situation.

Stay awesome, Lauren.

Claire

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