I spent two weeks in August nestled in the woods of rural western Massachusetts. During this time, I served as a camp counselor at a sleepaway camp for 200 kids aged 10-17. The one thing all of these kids had in common was a passion for creative writing. Part of my job was to help facilitate daily workshops and electives where I got to witness the metamorphoses that occurred over the course of camp. During the first writing workshop on the day the kids arrived, we encouraged our workshop members to read aloud. Most of them chose not to. The ones who did share often prefaced their reading with a disclaimer that their writing wasn’t that good. As artists often are, they were being far too harsh with themselves.
One thing that WCM has always held to be true is that every student has something to say. Every kid’s perspective and ideas are worth communicating. Our job as coaches or educators or mentors is simply to help them communicate their thoughts eloquently and logically. Being immersed in the camp environment reinforced my dedication to uplifting the voices of young people. I found myself gaining inspiration from the kids I was working with on a daily basis. Not only were they visibly gaining confidence in their abilities as writers - within days the kids were gushing about their characters and the plot twists they had planned - but they were also blossoming within their social lives. One of my favorite moments from camp was when one of the campers in my bunk, a 14 year old girl who had a speech impediment and had previously been very quiet, offered to read some of her work aloud. Her peers were incredibly supportive, and she continued to share a bit of her story with us every day for the rest of camp.
There is something so magically vulnerable and nostalgic about summer camp. It reminded me how life-altering even the most subtle influence can be when you’re young. I think that as we age, we forget the violent turbulence of adolescence. Every mistake seems world-shattering, and every gloomy mood feels like it will last forever. If we, as adults who have chosen to work with kids, are to do our jobs well, then we ought to remember the value of kindness and of treating each student like an individual. With WCM, we have the opportunity to help each student we work with see the value within themselves. My goal as a coach and as a coordinator is to never allow myself to see this opportunity as mundane. The fact that we get to have a hand, no matter how small, in the shaping of a child’s confidence will never be anything but utterly special.
