Happy Campers

In preparing for my new teaching position, I picked up a Rick Wormeli book called Meet me in the Middle, which (among many more practical ideas) suggested taking your middle school students camping. My initial reaction of, “You, sir, are crazy,” faded a little as I realized I had, in fact, just taken a bunch of middle school students camping. The idea of doing it through school and not VBS still seems a bit out of place to me, but here are some of the things I see in my 9-16 year olds at JOY camp every year that keep me coming back. 

• At camp, you are free from self-consciousness. Really. “Making melody in my heart unto the King of Kings- thumbs up, elbows in, knees bent, turn around….” means nobody is worried about how ridiculous they look. They’re too busy laughing. 

• You have a taste of independence. Will you still brush your teeth if Mom isn’t there to remind you? How many times will you leave your water bottle some place you can’t go back for it?  

• You experience conflict resolution done right. All these wonderful new people you just met, and far more often, those wonderful friends you brought to camp with you, become world’s most infuriating people by Wednesday. Having a place where you can practice settling those conflicts in a respectful way led by some amazingly patient people- wow. There’s a reason they’re called counselors. 

• You can test yourself out with new experiences. This is a great way to learn things about yourself. You won’t immediately become an expert at archery/canoeing/climbing the rock wall, but what a chance to try something you never tried before. This gets even better when you try challenges as a group.

• You have people to look up to. Counselors are old enough to be cool and in charge, but not old enough to be old. Watching counselors interact with each other- and watching campers watch counselors interact with each other, temporarily joining into this community- that’s a highlight. 

• You are part of an intentional community there to celebrate God. Watching a stage full of kids singing and dancing to some super praise music, hearing testimonies of people whose stories have been changed, seeing teary kids go down to pray- it is more than worth all the sunburn, homesickness, and bug bites.