My Girl Scout Summer
Ever heard of summer camp? I had but wasn’t sure if I belonged in one. Little did I know, Girl Scout summer camp is all the awesome things people say it is and MORE!
Last Spring, my troop leader told us that Girl Scouts has camps just for girls where you can learn all kinds of cool things and do the activities you really like. When my mom signed me up for Resident Camp, I was really excited because I had never been to a summer camp before! I was also kind of nervous too because I had only ever slept over at my friend Sophia’s house, so I wasn’t sure what it was going to be like spending a week away at camp. The night before I left for camp, I started thinking about being away from home, my parents, and my dog, and I was starting to worry I was going to be homesick.
Mom and I had to wake up super early because camp was an hour and a half away from our home in Columbus. There was dew on all the windows of mom’s van and we could see the sunrise peeking through the clouds. I tried to sleep in the car but I was too anxious about camp. What if I don’t make any friends and I have to spend the whole week eating by myself. What if the activities are too hard and I can’t do them? What will it be like sleeping in the woods? Maybe I will find some cool rocks!
When we pulled into camp, there was fog hovering above the creek that flows under the camp driveway. Willow greeted me and my mom at Bear Creek Lodge. She’s the director of Camp Molly Lauman, but want to know a secret? Willow isn’t her real name. It’s her camp name! We didn’t find out her real name until the end of the week! It’s actually Megan! (Don’t tell anyone though.) Everyone gets their own camp name. Anyway, after Willow checked me in, my cabin counselor, Cricket met me at my cabin where I was going to sleep. She showed me my bed and introduced me to some of the other girls. There were twelve Girl Scouts in my cabin and everyone was from a different city! There was a girl from Marietta, one from Chillicothe and one from Mansfield. The girl from Mansfield’s name is Emily and we decided to become camp buddies! We ended up giving each other our camp names! She gave me the name, “Rocky”! She said it’s perfect because I like to explore the woods for cool rocks. I gave her the name “Fin” because she’s a wicked fast swimmer like a dolphin! After we met everyone, Cricket told us it was okay to be uncomfortable and that we were going to practice being comfortable with being uncomfortable this week. Soon enough it was time for bed and me and Emily couldn’t stop giggling and it actually helped me fall asleep!
As the sun rose the next morning, everyone at camp went to Bear Creek Lodge for the flag raising and then we all ate breakfast together and we did that for all our meals. The first day of camp was super fun because we got to explore the outdoors, one of my favorite things to do! Remember that creek I told you about? We got to splash around in it! We were wading in the water knee deep and looking for creatures like crawdads and tadpoles. We even saw a snake sunbathing on a log that was floating. It was super cool! Then we gave each other mud masks. That’s right! Mud masks! We used the mud from the creek that had all kinds of minerals in it, and we painted each other’s faces and arms with it then took photos of each other. Cricket even let us paint her face too! A girl in my group said she had earned a geocaching badge last year where they got to discover rocks and minerals. I think I’ll sign up for that one this year!
Our next activity that day was super cool too. I tried tea (real tea!) for the first time. Cricket hand made us each tea packets and I learned about the process of steeping tea leaves. I didn’t like it very much but I’m really glad I tried it. Cricket said it was important for us to try new things, so we know more of what we like or don’t like. Discovering more about me is fun!
I also got to try archery for the first time the next day. It was so fun, and I felt just like Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games! I also attempted the slingshots, but it was a lot harder than I thought it would be, but Cricket says, “Practice makes perfect”!
There was a team activity that day too. We helped each other through an obstacle course in the woods. This was my favorite part of the whole week because it felt like we were in a fun maze on Survivor! Cricket taught us a bunch of camp songs on our hike out to the course. My favorite is a repeat song called, “Princess Pat”. What’s a repeat song? It’s a song where a counselor shouts out each line and then we all repeat after her!
We did a trust fall at the end of the course where you fall backwards, and you have to trust your group to catch you. I was really scared at first that they weren’t going to be able to catch me. My stomach felt really tight, and my hands were shaking a little bit, but Emily said she’d go first so I could watch what it would be like. Plus, our other counselor, Meatloaf said that Girl Scouts are always there for each other. After that it didn’t seem so scary and when it was my turn, I was actually excited, and everyone caught me!
I’m really looking forward to going back to camp next year! I can’t wait to see Cricket, Willow, Meatloaf and Emily again! I think I’ll try jumping off the diving board next summer too. Emily and I decided we are also going to sign up for the same Day Camp session next summer! Everything that I was worried about on the drive down to camp ended up being okay and working itself out. I didn’t have to eat alone, I made a friend right away, I was actually good at and really liked the activities! Trying new things seems a lot easier now.
I’m so glad I got to experience Girl Scout Camp. I’m really thankful to the people that make camp happen for Girl Scouts. I never would have tried tea, archery, or faced my fears! I’m going to tell my troop that we should do a troop camp weekend together too! I think every girl should get to go to Girl Scout Camp so I’m also going to tell my friend Sophia that she should become a Girl Scout like me so she can go to camp too. There’s no place like it – my home in the woods. See you all next year!
