Benefits

First of all, I had a such great time working with all the campers and mentors this summer! It was such a great experience to learn about each individual kid and realize how much they are dealing with at home.  Their emotions and actions during camp definitely represent some of the things that they might be dealing with at home.  However deep down, these kids are so sweet and are using their strong attitudes as a way to cover up the wounds inside.  I have learned that I am so grateful of having such a good support system.  These kids have so much potential if they had the constant support system behind them.  

My patience for kids has definitely changed a great deal.  Even though I have worked with kids in the past, these campers definitely tested my patience everyday.  However as camp went along, I learned that kids love to test your patience.  You can't get angry cause that will never solve anything.  In addition, being able to actively listen to these kids definitely helped a lot as well.  Some of these kids just need someone to listen to them.  They aren't able to have that at home, which is why they sometimes just want to talk about the issues that are occurring at camp, but it also sometimes leads to other issues they might have with themselves or at home.  

Just being able to be a part of these kids' lives and making somewhat of an impact is a fulfilling feeling.  I loved watching these kids come to camp with such a great smile and excitement.  Just being able to see these kids have a great time and seeing them smile and laugh were the greatest benefits.  Hearing Jonanthan say that he was going to miss us was such a great feeling and knowing that he wanted us to be there and keep camp going made me realize how wonderful these kids really are.  They just needed an outlet to be themselves and camp was that to them.  

This was a great experience and I learned so much from each individual camper.  They are so different in many ways, which made camp so interesting everyday!