Good to be Back
What’s it like being back at camp?
This is the question I asked the boys in our second oldest cabin yesterday. Many of them have been waiting two years to return to the mountain, and they’ve had to sacrifice time with friends, or activities they enjoy. Over a hearty dinner of chicken, mashed potatoes, warm rolls, and kale salad, I asked these rising 9th graders how it feels to be back in a setting where they can explore the outdoors and be with other people.
Last year without camp, they didn’t get to participate in some of their favorite activities. Mack wanted to mountain bike, William wanted to paddle, and Mike wanted to horseback - all things that were difficult to do back home. “What did you miss the most without camp?” I asked them. “Getting away from my family” they said at first, laughing.
However, once they settled down, they said that what they missed most last year wasn’t actually the time away from parents or even the activities. It was the friends. The absence of community last year is something we all felt. The friendships made at camp are also a recurring theme when people talk about what makes camp so meaningful, and they’re the main reason why it feels so good to be back this year.
Most of the boys in this cabin had been to camp before, and they returned for the friends. Even the campers who had never been to Falling Creek before this summer, came because their friends encouraged them to join. Reid came for the first time because of his friend Jman, and Mack brought his friend Will. Though there were some in the cabin that knew each other before and some that didn’t, you wouldn’t have been able to tell.
This sentiment was shared by their counselor, Alex Paris. I asked him what he missed in a year without traditional camp: “I think I missed the people most. The people and the relationships and the camp culture.” Alex reflected. He’s been a camper for 6 years and counselor for 5, so he’s made a fair share of connections over the years. Alex knows firsthand about the positive impact that a great counselor can have, and about the deep friendships that boys can foster at camp.
“Even after working at an all boys school, nothing is near as fun or has as deep of a community as this. When you talk to people, they always talk about having ‘it’ at camp - I don’t think having ‘it’ at camp is having the loudest personality or being the wildest guy - I think it’s about developing those relationships that help build and spread this community. I think that’s what ‘it’ is. I called my boarding school ‘home,’ but it’s not the same home as I feel here.”
Alex worked an abbreviated summer last year as an Expeditions leader, but he’s happy to be back in a cabin on the mountain this summer. “I still got a lot of that community last year in a different way with my friends on staff, but it was mostly just the friendships with the campers that I missed.”
You can already see the way that the young men in Alex’s cabin look up to him - right before the meal started, Alex was at the front window getting water for the table. When his campers didn’t see him at his seat, they immediately began asking where he was and making sure he would still be sitting at their table for dinner. They joked with him during dinner, told him about the waterfall hike they all went on together, and when Alex asked them to help clean up, they obliged without protest. It’s exciting to see the budding relationships happening already on the second day at camp, but it’s also no surprise.
Campers and staff alike have been craving this kind of brotherhood and time for fellowship - finally we’re able to come together and create a community in person again. Here’s to the next couple of weeks together at camp!