Y Talk: It’s Not Just Camp by Kacey Sherman

As a 7-year-old, going to overnight camp was something I dreamed of after watching movies like “The Parent Trap.” I went with a friend from home and my baby blanket tucked away in my sleeping bag; I was set for a week of nonstop fun. I learned the ways of Camp Thompson, like keeping my elbows off the table and being quiet past Silent Rock. And I discovered many new activities that I’d never done before, like canoeing and archery. I can remember many moments from my first summer, the summer of 2001, like they were yesterday. I remember my counselor, my cabin mates and many other new friends I made that summer. I didn’t know much about camp other than it was a great time and I wanted to go back.

My parents sent me back to camp every summer until I was too old to be a camper anymore, and some summers I came for two weeks. I joined the leadership in training (L.I.T.) program because it was two weeks at camp, and we got to stay over the weekend. Those two weeks I spent at camp, with a group of nine other 15-year-olds and two counselors is what made me fall a little harder for camp. I got to work with a team, and I wasn’t just participating in activities anymore. I was learning how to teach them; I was learning what it took to be a part of something much bigger then myself.

I became a Counselor in Training (CIT), which is when I really decided that being a counselor was something I wanted. I always said all I wanted was a camp shirt that said, “staff” across the back. I soon learned that it was much more than a fancy T-shirt. I was in charge of more and had a lot more responsibilities. I was learning more and more of the behind-the-scenes stuff. I learned to belay, I learned what to do when the food truck came, and I learned how to deal with homesickness.

In my first year as a counselor, I had groups of girls, and ran my own activity periods with the lesson plan I chose. I learned how to deal with more serious situations like medical emergencies. I continued to be a counselor for another summer, where my love for camp only grew more and more. It was in this summer that for the first time, one of the campers who I had as a CIT became a counselor. I’m not just a part of a camp staff. I am a part of something so much bigger. In November after my last summer as a counselor, I received a text from Justin Rose (former Camp Thompson Director and current Senior Program Director at the Y). The text was a message he had received from a camper, who had said that because of me she had the best summer of her life.

Not only am I a Camp Thompson alumni camper, I also have completed the entire training process from camper to counselor. This past winter Bipp (Brittany Sneeringer, Camp Thompson Director) asked how I would feel being out of the cabin, and taking more of a leadership role as Program Director of Camp Thompson. In the Spring I went to the American Camping Association Tri-State conference in Atlantic City.

I’ve learned so much from being at Camp Thompson, and as I sit on the porch of the Warner’s Lodge, looking across the field at everything I’ve loved since I was a 7-year-old, first-time camper, I think about all my amazing experiences I’ve had here. The lessons I’ve learned here in this field and on these trails can only be taught by experience.

When people ask why I love it so much, and why I volunteer to come here when I’m not on the clock, the only answer I can give is, “because I love it.” Camp has taught me not only physical skills, but also leadership qualities, teamwork qualities and skills that not just anyone has. I can finish a food challenge and I can start a fire to burn a rope in less than eight minutes, but I can also remember all the words to “The Cannibal King,” and teach a camper how to tie their shoes. All of this shows it is so much more than just a camp, and it’s so much more then just a job. Camp is a way of life, and something that is bigger than any one person who has worked here or been a camper. It’s not just camp.

-by Kacey Sherman, Camp Thompson Program Director & CIT Support Staff​