Thanksgiving is a time to reflect and think about all the amazing opportunities and qualities in your life you are grateful for and appreciate. A time spent with family, Thanksgiving reminds everyone to say what they are thankful for and to thank others for positively impacting their life. To celebrate this holiday, here are a few reasons campers are thankful for Camp Starlight.
- The Friendships: Camp Starlight is an environment that helps friendships that last longer than the summer bloom for campers. Camp friends are people you can truly rely on and think back fondly on. Camp friends are always there for you no matter what time of year which we are truly thankful for.
- The Counselors: The counselors at Camp Starlight push all the campers to go outside of their comfort zone. Whether it’s encouragement to make a new friend, instruction at activities, or the advice that’s given when needed, campers are thankful for the love and care our counselors provide
- The Fun: The campers are consistently thankful for the crazy fun they get to experience all summer long. From Evening Activities, to Krispy Kreme S-Days, and cheering for blue or white during Olympics, the campers really get to bond during special events. Campers are thankful for the memories these event creates.
- The Beauty: The lake at Camp Starlight hosts a myriad of activities and provides campers with a simultaneously exciting and relaxing space. The sunsets every evening at the lake are breathtaking and reminds campers how Starlight’s scenery is beautiful.
- The Memories: Thankful for all the amazing memories created summer after summer. From laughing hysterically with bunkmates, making a new friend, the opportunity to be the main character of the musical or nail a bulls eye in archery, campers are grateful for all the special memories each summer.
7 years ago, I started attending Camp Starlight. Coming from Florida, I didn’t know anyone here, and I was definitely scared and nervous about making friends. I remember my first day so vividly. I was on the last bus to get to camp, and when I stepped foot on the clinic field, I was surrounded by the group of girls in my bunk who all already knew each other. They had been here lower junior, and I was a new camper in their bunk. I wondered how I would ever get close to these 7 girls who didn’t know how to even pronounce my name correctly, and were already the best of friends. Looking back on this now, I should have noticed that if the rest of my bunk were so close from only spending 7 weeks together, there had to be something truly magical about Camp Starlight.
There is something about spending the summer at a sleepaway camp that allows kids and teens to connect in a way they just can’t at school. Maybe it’s the extended time they spend together or the fact that selfies and Instagram and the social media comparison epidemic is taken out of the equation at camp. Whatever the reason, campers are able to interact and build relationships on a deeper level at camp than they can at school or on sports teams at home.
When you go to camp it’s basically Halloween all the time! At Camp Starlight, there are so many opportunities where campers can express themselves by wearing a costume! We encourage our campers to be silly, the sillier the costume the better! Whether it’s wearing a crazy outfit on your birthday or your bunk just deciding to all wear your hair in a crazy style for the day, dressing up is just a normal part of everyday camp life. A tutu has become an acceptable outfit no matter who you are. Some of the most favorite special events and evening activities involve dressing up. Campers love themed dance parties, camp plays, getting decked out in blue or white for 5 days of Olympics. Camp reminds us that you’re never too old or too cool to dress in a costume. We wish we didn’t have to wait 8 more months to dress in costumes again!
When asked the question, “What’s your favorite part of camp,” I am sure many campers would say everything. Personally when I get asked the same question my response is everything as well. But what does everything really mean? Is it the sunsets on the lake every night? Is it the reveille that wakes me up every morning? Is it the laughter that I share with my friends every day? Or is it all of the small moments that count just as much as the big ones? Over the previous summers here at camp I have finally found the meaning of everything, which is a combination of each and every laugh, smile and memory made at this place. Sometimes small moments can go unnoticed, however appreciating special moments here can go a long way. When I was younger the walk to alumni field from my bunk was a long and tiring experience. The struggle of putting on shin guards then the socks and finally the cleats was a difficult process as an 8 year old. Now, as an upper senior the time spent putting on the equipment and walking to the field is all worth it. Searching for my shin guards, doing cartwheels to alumni, and the little thrill you get when you walk down the steep hill leading you to the rocks or being greeted by Whatley greeting us on the field are all the little things at camp that I appreciate. So, the next time you are asked about your favorite part about camp, take a moment to think about the times you’ve cherished and appreciated no matter how big or small the memory may be because, the underestimated moments are what make you appreciate everything that this camp has to offer.
Spending a summer at a sleepaway camp is a fun way for campers to gain a new sense of responsibility and independence. For many campers, their first summer camp experience is their first experience away from home. As they learn to navigate a new place, adhere to a new schedule and new rules, and adapt to many new personalities, they gain a sense of independence that will help them mature and grow in new ways. However, the kids aren’t the only ones who do some growing over the summer. When parents say goodbye to their kids for the summer, they get to see the result of all of their hard work, modeling, and teaching as their children go off without them. Although it’s a bittersweet moment, it’s a milestone for both parents and kids.
It’s easy for children to think of their entire lives in the context of their “nucleus,”’ their home, their community, their school, their family, their friends. They typically have no need to seek beyond their immediate surroundings, and their perspective of the world is seen through a restrictive lens based on where they live and the things they’ve experienced. Attending a sleepaway camp gives children and teens a way to broaden their worldview, to see themselves as a small (yet important) part of the bigger picture. Camp Starlight gets campers out of their comfort zones and allow them to catch a glimpse of how much world they have to explore.
Team sports like baseball, basketball, flag football lacrosse, soccer, and softball bring campers together towards a common goal. These sports encourage campers to work together on the field or court, which then translates to working together in other areas of camp life too. Playing a team sport allows campers to connect with other campers whom they may not have met otherwise.
Sixteen is not an age you would associate with a summer camp. When you think of a sixteen year old, words like “rock n roll,” “rebellion,” and “sleep in extremely late” flash like snapshots of your own teen years into your head. Teenagers typically want to get away from it all and live in the moment, but at Camp Starlight, sixteen year olds break these stereotypes as Counselor Assistants. Pushing the limits of responsibilities and taking the initiative to embrace upcoming adulthood, Counselor Assistants spend another summer at Camp Starlight in the in between stage of camper and counselor. Not yet counselor, not entirely camper, these kids enter a role entirely their own on campus and even though it is a unique role, these kids enter this sphere for a reason.
For many campers, Camp Starlight becomes a second home, a special place that welcomes you back every summer like family and supports you to be the best person you can be. Camp Starlight becomes a staple in many campers lives’ and for a few of them it becomes a home they never leave when they decide to return as counselors. When they left Camp Starlight they realized they didn’t want their last summer as a camper to be the last time they get to watch a sunset over the lake or sing a song around the campfire, they wanted to continue to live through those traditions. After spending eight summers as a camper that gets to experience all the playful fun of camp, campers will transition to the role of counselors to experience summer camp in a whole different way. Former Camper Counselors return to Camp Starlight so they can help campers live the same amazing summers that they once did. These counselors recognize that when they were campers, their own counselors were the ones to push them out of their comfort zone and pick them up every time they were down, helping them become the individuals they are today. This is why so many campers return to become counselors, they want to change lives the way their own lives were changed. They want to help a camper find their passion and make them realize that Camp Starlight is their home when they feel homesick. They want to help campers understand how special of a place Camp Starlight is and that the happiness they find here will guide them for the rest of their lives, but most of all, campers return as counselors because they want to spread the love they have received from every summer spent at Camp Starlight.