As many of you know, I've worked at a summer camp as a counselor for the past three summers. The pay is awful, parents don’t tip enough (if they tip at all), the kids are annoying, there are bugs everywhere, we’re often short-staffed, and I love every minute of it. My first two summers I worked with the youngest age group, the 3 to 6-year olds. I loved being their counselor because they're super funny and a lot of fun to be around. Because they are so young they need a lot of work (such as helping them get changed before and after going on the water slide, for example) but I still loved that age group.

Last summer, the week before camp started, my boss informed me that I would not be working with the younger kids for the third summer in a row, and that instead I would be with the oldest group, the 11, 12, and 13-year-old campers. I was very upset at first. I had heard nothing but terrible things about that age group. The counselors that had that group the previous two summers always complained that they were rude, disrespectful, didn't listen to directions, and were mean to each other. I went into it thinking I was going to have the worst summer ever, but I was quickly proven wrong.

I could easily write an entire novel about each one of my campers and how amazing they are and all the great things they did over the summer, but I think this one story will give you a pretty good idea of how great my group was.

It's now the second week of camp. Nothing too eventful happened the first week, since the campers were still in the processes of feeling out me and my co-counselor, and we were still doing the same for them. The second week we had a few new kids that did not come the first week, including a kid that we'll call Bobby (not his real name). Bobby has autism. He's a super nice person, and he is still able to do a lot of things, but he has an individual aid at school and it is fairly obvious to the other children that he is "different" than they are. I was worried about it since middle school kids can be cruel, and we had issues the previous week with campers using the word "retard" as an insult and making jokes about being "special". As I mentioned previously, I’d also heard nothing but awful things about this age group, including that they’re rude, disrespectful, and mean to each other.

The first day Bobby was at camp was the Thursday of week two. In the morning we played 4 square. The whole group (about 10 kids) played on one court, so there was a line waiting to play when someone got out. Ryan (not his real name) quickly made it to the serving box. Ryan is kind of like the "leader" of the group. He’s by far the most athletic camper, and he’s been going to camp longer than anyone else. He’s also friends with everyone. Ryan eliminated people until Bobby was in the box next to him. He then gently served it to Bobby, who hit it back to him. Ryan then "missed" the ball, and Bobby moved into the serving box. Ryan said “good job”, gave Bobby a high five, and went to the back of the line. I saw this happen and smiled at Ryan, but didn't say anything about it to him.

After lunch we played gaga ball, which is a game that is very competitive, and usually taken very seriously at camp. (Gaga ball is an every-man-for-themselves game that is similar to dodgeball, but you have to smack the ball into people’s legs instead of throwing it at them.) Before we started I noticed Ryan whispering to two other campers. Fairly early on Bobby was eliminated. Ryan and the two campers he was whispering to then began targeting the camper that knocked Bobby out, and encouraged others to do so as well. Ryan had obviously planned to protect Bobby, and help him win the game. By the beginning of the next game the message had spread to all of the campers in the group. They all tried to get each other out, but worked together to make sure Bobby stayed in. If anyone accidentally hit the ball near Bobby, they became public enemy number one. Everyone cheered for Bobby from the sidelines once they got out. Eventually there were only two campers remaining – Bobby and Ryan. Bobby hit the ball towards Ryan, who was "unable" to get out of the way in time. Bobby won. Everyone clapped and cheered for him. He danced around, and had a huge smile on his face. The same thing happened the next game, except instead of Ryan facing Bobby at the end, it was another very athletic camper. This camper was one of the campers I was most concerned about, as he was the one that was using the word "retard" as an insult the week before. He did the same thing Ryan did though, and let Bobby win. Bobby was ecstatic. He told me he "can’t believe it", and "maybe I am good at sports!" I’ve never seen a child that happy before. He was so excited to tell his mom at the end of the day too.

Ryan continued to help Bobby in various athletic activities the rest of the day Thursday and on Friday. I brought in candy for everyone on Friday, and let them know that although they don’t have to do that every time, and it’s their activity to enjoy too, what they did was really awesome, made Bobby really happy, and I was very proud of them. I already had my doubts, but that day confirmed it for me – everything I’d been told about that age group was a lie. They are all great people that care a lot about each other – the other staff members had just mistaken their middle school sense of humor for rudeness and malice.

Hopefully you enjoyed that story. I'm still incredibly proud of my campers, and I love telling this story to people whenever I get the chance. I can't wait to see them again next summer!