If you were to ask any one of my friends back home what my favorite thing in the world was, they would, without hesitation, say SMA Summer Camp for Teenagers. And I am sure if you asked them to give any fact about me it would surely revolve around me and my camp experience. I can for sure say that I mention camp on a daily basis. I pride myself in making one connection or retelling, probably for the fifth time, one silly story every day. Most of the stories I tell my friends ends in them giving me a weird look or making a face that screams they do not believe me.
And as much as I hate to crush their assumptions, most of the
insane and completely unbelievable stories I tell are completely true. When I tell people at home about my crazy times buying the oddest gifts at Walmart for “Secret Friends” or about all of the times I wore a giraffe onesie out roller skating, no one ever believes me. But when I retell these stories to anyone who has ever attended camp, they laugh right along with me and return my tales with even crazier experiences of their own.
You do not have those sorts of connections back at home with school friends. That is just how overnight summer camps in PA works. For every crazy, great, memorable tale you tell, there are ten more just as great.
But perhaps the best part of my SMA Summer Camp for Teenagers expereince as a returning camper, is being around for that moment when a new camper really “clicks”. When I say “clicks” I mean the moment that a new camper "gets camp." If that
makes sense. That one instance on an activity or when talking to your cabin mates late into the night, when their eyes brighten. In that moment you can tell that that camper truly understand how amazing a place camp is. You see them look around
- Merina Madina!!