Sunday Snippet: Gravitating Towards Camp

This week on Sunday Snippet we will hear again from one of our older campers in the Leadership Academy Program as a Counselor -in-Training. Last week we read the words of two long-time campers and the story of their friendship and the larger community at WeHaKee, and this week our CIT had something to say about gravitating towards camp. Sure, there are tons of great activities and fun things to do, but what’s the real pull for girls to stay in touch and even return again and again to camp? This is what she had to say about her own camp experience, shared with the camp at our Council Fire.

“To both love and to feel loved is to feel the sun from both sides. If we’re sticking with this analogy, Camp WeHaKee would be located smack dab between two suns. Campers, counselors, and the WeHaKee community are like plants, lucky enough to drift between these suns, every year if we are lucky. But even when we’re not if that sweet spot, it’ll always be a part of our orbit, whether we are here once or every year. That means, no matter where in the universe we are, that light—that love—of camp can reach us. To me, being at camp means the joy of living the people around you. It means feeling loved from the moment you arrive at camp. Being here, one can feel the exhilaration and freedom of letting go of the perceptions and limitations that have defined you… There have been years I have come to camp thinking it may be my last year, but every year something compels me to come back. That something is the feeling of coming home to my family, because family isn’t always blood. It’s the people who accept you for who you are, would do anything to see you smile, and love you no matter what. It’s because, as I’ve grown in the WeHaKee community, my orbit has drawn me back again and again, to the place in the light of two suns. It’s drawn me to the community where I am loved and can love. Because what matters at camp isn’t the number of beads on your nametag, it’s about the difference we make in each other’s lives.”

We would like to thank our CITs for sharing their special thoughts about WeHaKee! Stay tuned to Sunday Snippet for more thoughts straight from the campers next week!