Camp H.E.R.O: Counselor
"Training & Reveal"
The first 2 weeks of being a camp counselor for the City of Bryan was 2 weeks of training: the first week being lifeguard certification and the second being camp counselor general training. The first two weeks were rigorous, but they were important not only to be prepared as a camp counselor, but also to meet fellow counselors and build friendships that could be taken into camp. During the second week of training, it was explained that there were 6 camp sites: 5 being sites for Summer Parks Program-the free camp through the City of Bryan-and 1 being the site for Camp H.E.R.O-the paid camp for the City of Bryan. Right away Camp H.E.R.O sparked my interest because it ran longer than SPP, there seemed to be more structure, and most of Camp. H.E.R.O was held indoors. The directors of SPP and Camp H.E.R.O, Whitney Gully and Katelyn Arrington, watched us during training, and by doing so decided which camp site they felt we would best excel at. On the final day of the second week of training, it was revealed which camp site we were assigned to, and to my delight I was assigned to Camp H.E.R.O-the afternoon shift-along with the friends I had made during training.
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"Camp Hero: Day-to-Day"
The first day at Camp H.E.R.O was extremely overwhelming! I missed the first week due to family vacation and was thrown into the routine that all my fellow counselors already had a week to get used to. Though I was overwhelmed I quickly understood the routine and day-to-day operations. I also established myself as the decisive counselor--the counselor who quickly made decisions when faced with adversity. Each day the afternoon counselors (myself included) come into Camp H.E.R.O at 12pm, the middle of lunchtime for the campers. We usually each lunch with the campers, then go outside for an hour of recess. I am usually playing knockout with the kids or being the four square judge. After recess we move indoors for water/bathroom and move into "centers," which are just rotations between the four rooms we have occupation of at Bowen Elementary school. Centers are usually based upon the theme that we have each week. For example, one of our most popular weeks was "Frozen" week. One of the games we had was a "snowball fight" which was basically dogeball with rolled up socks, or "snowballs." After centers we go back outside for snack and more freetime. At the end of the day we then have free time, which is board games and a game played in the gym (the gym game usually led my myself), while the children then get picked up by their parents. When all the children are picked up, we then have cleaning duties and a staff meeting over what happened that day and what we can improve on as counselors. Camp can sometimes be stressful, but I love my campers and I am so sad this is only a summer internship and not a year around job!
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"Camp Hero: Field Trips"
One very cool thing Camp H.E.R.O does is take the campers on field trips. Most of the field trips are in the morning (AKA the morning counselors take the kids on these field trips) but I, being a part of afternoon staff, was able to be a part of 3 field trips with camp hero: 2 being movies and 1 being an all day trip to NASA in Houston. Field trips can be stressfull- especially with my age group of children (4th-6th graders). These kids are just now reaching their rebellious stage and love to push the counselors buttons. I try to be extremely fair with my campers and by doing so, can get them to listen to my instructions. Nasa was very entertaining for the children, especially because we had a tram ride. My group ended up not being able to fit on the tram ride back to the air conditioned main campus of NASA, and my campers started to get fussy. I thought quickly and while we waited for the next tram, I played movie charades with my campers; I acted out popular children's movies and my kids shouted out what they thought it was. I was able to entertain my campers for about 20 minutes, and my fellow friend/counselor was able to get pictures of me doing so--which are hilarious and truly capture how much fun we have and the love we have for our campers!
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**We were not allowed to have our phones at Camp H.E.R.O, so any pictures are limited. For further proof or to answer any questions, contact Katelyn Arrington at [email protected]**