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My First Camp Wannaklot Experience

By Robert Gillespie, LMSW, HoG Social Worker

Although I have worked in various special needs camps in previous years, I was filled with anxiety and trepidation as Camp Wannaklot approached.  Since I started working at HoG in October of 2010, Camp Wannaklot has been a constant source of conversation with clients and their parents as well as co-workers.  Everyone seemed to be familiar with Camp, except me.  To be honest, I do not like being outside for more than a couple of hours a week, so the idea of spending a whole week outside while meeting new people and learning about camp was intimidating.  Yes, I was excited to be roughing it with the kids, counselors, and my co-workers, but I was also nervous about seemingly silly things like who will be my roommate, with whom will I sit during meals, and do I have to go down the zip line?  With hopes of quelling my fears, many colleagues gave me encouraging comments and told entertaining stories of past camp experiences.  Yet I remained anxious until camp arrived.

The first day of camp raced by quickly.  I was busy meeting campers and counselors, helping Kim with the organization and flow of camp, and working with campers and counselors on issues ranging from home sickness to getting along with others.  I found myself laughing and joking and forming friendships with the two volunteers who were my roommates as well as with the other counselors.  At meal times I found myself sitting with various cabins, talking to campers and counselors, not once thinking of the unease I felt just days earlier. 

At some point during the middle of the week I had an epiphany. Camp was going to be over in a few days, and all the fear inside of me was an ancient memory evaporating as soon as the first camper set foot at Camp Twin Lakes.  To my own surprise, I realized I was enjoying the great outdoors, despite the heat. With the encouragement of several counselors, I found myself pushing my boundaries by participating in a nature walk and, later in the week, zooming down the zip line. I even found myself acting silly at times, dressing in a sailor suit, along with a friend who was a camp volunteer, and acting as a restaurant waiter each night at dinner. 

It was at this time I realized the true spirit of Camp Wannaklot.  Defining one’s comfort zone then pushing oneself outside of this zone is part of why Camp Wannaklot exists.  I no longer viewed camp anxiously as a remote place in the woods sequestered far away from my air conditioned life in the city, away from my friends and the life that I know.  Rather, camp is a place where I was able to be in an unfamiliar environment with many unfamiliar people, trying new things and having fun while doing it.  I realized camp is a place of acceptance; not seeing differences as weaknesses but rather as strengths. 

As the last campers were boarding the bus to return home, I thought about the anxiety and fear I experienced before camp and the new perspective I have.  Tired, sunburned, and longing for my own bed, I felt sadness at camp’s end, but also sense of excitement about my awareness of the importance of Camp Wannaklot and the impact it has for not only the children, but everyone who participates.