Annaliese Nelli

Since I was little, I have been attending summer camp in Flat Rock, NC; simultaneously, the conference center held a summer camp for adults with disabilities called Camp Joy. As I grew up, I continuously interacted with Camp Joy and saw many of the counselors I looked up to become counselors at Camp Joy.

I anxiously awaited turning 15 and being able to sign up for Camp Joy! When the day finally came, I was eager to see that I was selected to be a counselor/caregiver for the first session, along with one of my friends. The night we got to camp we had counselor bonding time and learned which special need adult each of us were paired to counselor! My camper was Cassie (the girl to my right in this photo), a 23-year-old with only 1/3 of her brain working and severe epilepsy. I was worried about Cassie being my first-ever camper because of the severity of her needs, but Cassie and I bonded immediately. Within an hour of being at camp, I was challenged with the first seizure attack; I was surprisingly comforted by it because it gave me the confidence I needed to trust myself with Cassie’s care and fun for a whole week — day and night.

The rest of the week consisted of lots of music and dancing, hugs, marriage proposals from male campers, and late nights talking with other counselors. As the full-time caregiver and simultaneous counselor in charge of creating a fun and loving week at the beck and call of our campers, we are given no personal time from 7:30 am to 9 pm. Therefore, nighttime is when all the counselors have fun and chat about the absurd things our campers did that day in order to laugh instead of cry.

I have continued to be a counselor/caregiver at Camp Joy each summer, even participating in multiple sessions some summers, and accumulated more than a handful of campers that I was able to share an irreplaceable bond. These experiences have also influenced me outside of camp: I conducted a research study with campers as participants and I chose a Social Work major because of my time at Camp Joy.