What Did You Do This Summer: Telling a Counselor’s Story

After spending a summer working at camp, one of the most common remarks we hear from young staff members is that it’s “indescribable.” Spending a summer as a camp counselor, immersed in a caring, diverse community focused on the well-being and faith formation of young children, surrounded by new friends in God’s beautiful creation, is a hard experience to summarize briefly. Where does one even begin?

Lethu Nkwanyana, a summer staff member from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa described it through poetry:
How do I summarize 
a summer into a song,  
or preserve a paradise 
into a poem?  
Can I compress these adventures 
into a paragraph?  
Only those who have experienced 
can truly understand.  
I remember the echo of our prayer 
gliding across the lake.  
It's moments like these  
that make life worth living.  

To be a camp counselor  
is to unwrap all the love in you 
like a Christmas gift,  
unraveling layers of your heart 
that you never knew existed.  
Sometimes, share a joke;  
the campers' giggles become medicine.  
Their smiles  
can heal a wound beneath your soul.  
Like marshmallows, we are all soft.  
Vulnerability is the bridge that we build,  
connecting hearts and souls—  
a community.  

Astounding how a single summer can harbor lifetime memories.  
I remember a child's goodbye,  
their eyes brimming with tears.  
I couldn't help but sob,  
shaking uncontrollably.  
That's how it feels  
to impact a life positively—  
divine.  

Camp is not a coincidence.  
To see the kids smile  
is enough.  
I am enough.  
Let's gather around the campfire.

We could not have said it any better. Gather around the campfire with us this summer! If you or someone else in your life are looking for summer employment, we'd love to visit. Learn more about working at camp.​

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