Camp K Weeks 1-3

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart” –Helen Keller

This is a quote that I’ve always liked, but never really understood until I spent some time at Camp Kostopulos .  Campers at Camp K affected me in ways I never imagined possible.

Each week we would work with a different population of campers, week 1: adults with cognitive disabilities, week 2: teens with cognitive disabilities, week 3: children and teens with physical disabilities, week 4: children with cognitive disabilities, week 5: adults with cognitive, week 6 teens with cognitive.  Each week would bring different challenges, obstacles, joys, tears and laughter. 

Week 1: I had three girl campers, 2 girls who had Downs syndrome (Ke and Ni) and one girl who was deaf with moderate mental impairment (Ka).  They were beautiful campers, SO much fun to work with.  I really enjoyed the challenge of getting to use the sign language I learned in college.  The best moment during this week was encouraging Ka on the high ropes course, signing to her encouragement and explaining how to complete each element by acting it out on the ground.  Her shrieks of joy at her accomplishment once she had finished were met with my ASL applause of shaking my hands in the air above my head and giving her a big Camp K side hug (no front hugs at Camp K). 

Week 2: I had three campers: two boys, one with Williams syndrome (C) and one with PTSD (R) and one girl with Downs (W).  This was the week with teenagers which means this was a week with lots of hormones and love.  Each of my three campers had love interests at camp, I felt like I was a mamma watching each of them to make sure they wouldn’t sneak off into the woods.  I did a little counseling when C’s girl was flirting with other boys, I was given appreciation for not poking fun at R’s romance like other counselors were, and was constantly watching W because her mother gave me MANY warnings about her behaviors with a boy in a different group who had gotten too physical last year at camp. 

Week 3: This was a different kind of week for us in AmeriCorps.  There were much fewer campers this week so we weren’t assigned any campers actually, just a group to help out.  Additionally we would be doing grounds and maintenance work at least 2 days during the week.  My group only had a total of 7 campers when normally group size is right around 15.  Another unique thing about this physical disabilities week was that the majority of campers were in wheelchairs.  I had a lot of really great conversations with campers this week about how nice it was to be at a place where everyone was like them, in an environment where they weren’t seen as the “different” kid or as a “disabled” and not being able to do certain things.  At Camp K everyone was equal, at Camp K you can do everything.  Even for sports and games Camp K had brought in basketball and rugby wheelchairs (which are SWEET!) Everyone, even kids who could walk, even counselors, got in the wheelchairs to play.  Everyone on even playing ground.  It was powerful.  Best moment: watching friendships develop between three girls in our group.  Worst moment: missing out on high ropes because I was pulling weeds.