Hey, Camp Fans!
Our 2018 ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest produced great results this year in which we ask campers and parents alike to write in about how the camp experience went. Ask and we sure received! We got such a great turnout that we’re still sharing them this far into 2019! Here is another installment to our contest collection!
Today’s submission comes from Aaron G. who sent in a retrospective look from adulthood at his time at summer camp! Check it out: 
"I went to camp as a shy 6-year-old for one week. I cried the entire time because I was not ready for camp. So why is this a good story you may ask? Well... the staff from counselor to director comforted me through the entire episode. Anyone of these people could have given up and sent me home, ignored me, or become upset with me. Instead, each person that I encountered helped me differently. One person may have hugged me and said it was ok; the other may have given me a pat on the back and said, ‘Aaron you got this.’ Or still yet a firm ‘Aaron, you are going to be okay, let's do…(X). Each of these people helped to lift me up when I was feeling down. I did not realize the support I had received at the moment because I was a 6-year-old only child with poor social skills—now I am a 31 year old with better-ish social skills. I did return the next year and I was a different kid. It was not til too many years later that I realized how they treated me and how it made me feel even after many years. This feeling of love, connection, and support are what I have decided to live my life by. I want to help support campers that may be like me to have the positive experience I had. I have been involved in camping ever since. (Minus one year where I wanted to make real money—the worst summer of my life.) This love for camp and desire to keep the tradition alive is what caused me to pursue a full-time career in camp so I can support that mission all year round for many children to come.”
Excellent, Aaron! Summer camp folks really do such an awesome job, don’t they?! It’s very refreshing to hear that summer camp has influenced your choices as you begin this juncture of your life. It’s an understatement to say that it’s easy to let money drive you, but true it’s wise of you to not let money be your chief motivator. Enjoy surrounding yourself with true wealth each summer, Aaron and thanks for sharing your piece about your relationship with summer camp!
The camp that Aaron attended was Camp Fair Haven. To anyone else interested in this camp for your own camping experience, be sure to check them out sometime and, as always thanks for reading!
- John