Harper Cummings

As a child, I always regretted hearing the dreaded words “time to pack your trunk” until about six years ago when I convinced my mom to switch summer camps. I suddenly became excited to start a new chapter of my summer camp life in a new place where the only people I knew were my little sister and cousin.

My first year was exactly what you would expect when you have ten middle school girls live together. Drama, jealousy, boy-crazy conversations and then repeat.

In my second year, I was moved into a cabin with a different group of girls, some of which I previously requested not to live with. On my first day, I was miserable and wished I could’ve been anywhere else. As the week went on I started to grow closer and closer with the girls, until we became inseparable. That year I met some of my best friends that I’m still lucky to have in my life today.

In our third and fourth years, we were moved from campers to workers. Our job was to be the camp’s busboys and waiters. We worked hard and had so much fun while doing so. Due to covid, the different terms merged and before we knew it we became one large group of friends.

In our fifth year, which was this past summer we became counselors, and even though our main priority became the kids rather than our personal fun we still had the time of our lives. It was a different type of fun, as we were all adults now but we all loved to see the formation of the younger groups as we were all in their position a couple of years before.

Although this may not be the most interesting of stories, my time as a camper and counselor showed me the value of friendship outside of the superficial and toxic world of social media. It shaped me into the person I am now and allowed me to have many life experiences I could not gain anywhere else.