Camp AJ and the Magic

Submitted by CAP Volunteer on Thu, 09/04/2014

This past summer I had the great privilege of spending 7 weeks serving as a camp counselor at Camp AJ. No one blog post could explain what summer camp is, at least no blog post from me, but I will try to tell you a little about summer camp. At the beginning of the summer, Mike, the Camp Coordinator, told us about this idea that there are some places where the division between Heaven and Earth is a little thinner than in other places. He told us that he believes Camp AJ is one of those places and that as people come here and volunteer, the mountain of Camp AJ grows a little taller and a little closer to Heaven.

I think that may be true. This summer I did not have insanely close connections to the kids that I met, but they were only here for a week and that is just a short amount of time to develop connections. I did have an insane amount of fun with the kids and that is a big deal. There was no moment when I felt like I made a huge impact in one specific kid’s life, but I know that some of my kids in my groups come from difficult backgrounds and you never know what you say or do that might make a big impact in a kid’s life. Talking to some counselors that were here as campers, that truth becomes evident. It is the small things that seem like nothing that end up meaning the most to the kids we serve.

There was one camper who had a huge impact on me, however. I will call him Jordan here. Jordan came to summer camp with a vision of a costume he wanted to make and a skit he wanted to perform at the talent show. He called this talent “Engineering.” At first I was amused by listening to Jordan talk about making his costume, but then I saw him in action. He had gathered up materials from Arts and Crafts and then on the day of the talent show, we spent our inside games time (and then the rest of the day until the show) making this costume. Jordan recruited all sorts of people to help. Several fellow campers, numerous counselors, and even the Summer Camp Coordinator all pitched in a played a part of making this boy’s dream come true. All the while Jordan humbly and slowly organized his workforce and communicated his vision to us. That camper had a vision; one that blew us all away. I had the honor of narrating the skit once it came time for Jordan’s performance. I was feeling the stress of making sure I gave all the details of the back story. I told Jordan that if I messed up he should tell me and I would fix it, but he told me it would be fine. I think I hit all the spots, but Jordan was just happy to be able to do his “Engineering” talent. It was a raging success. One counselor, who has come to camp for 6 summers, told Jordan that his talent was the most amazing thing she had ever seen at camp.

That week was pretty rocky for me. I was upset because camp was almost over and Mike was telling me that I was acting cranky. It was pretty rough, but after I helped Jordan, my week was completely different. Jordan broke something in me and after that I was a better counselor. Jordan has the Camp AJ magic in him and his contribution to camp grew the mountain of Camp AJ taller and closer to Heaven.

Anna serves at CAP's Camp Andrew Jackson. She is a member of the Jackson Volunteer Community and just began her second year of service. Opinions expressed in volunteer blogs are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of CAP or the Volunteer Program.

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