Standing in a seemingly endless line in the blazing and shimmering sun, I take off my Houston Texans hat and wipe my forehead. Struggling to hold onto the excessive luggage my mom forced me to pack, I inch closer to the front. There are seasoned veterans near us, singing songs at the top of their lungs.
“We’re singing these songs because you’re going to learn them, and then they’ll be stuck in your head forever,” they said.
I am extremely nervous, anxious, and most of all excited to start Camp CAMP, a summer camp designed for people with mental and physical disabilities located in Center Point, Texas. My brother and I went for the first time this year. I went as a counselor, and my brother came as a CAMPer.
My experience was far better than I ever could have imagined. My first CAMPer was shy, but I quickly discovered how awesome he was. He loved doing word searches (luckily I brought one by an off-chance), and he loved swimming.
My second CAMPer was immediately outgoing and we became best friends. We made a friendship club with matching bracelets and spent hours in arts and crafts and at the basketball courts.
When I wasn’t with my CAMPers, I made a lot of friends with my fellow counselors. When I was with them we did so many ridiculous things from screaming inside jokes across camp to playing card games that were topped off with hilarious dares if you lost.
I had many adventures as well, such as being saved by bubble tape in the middle of the forest, rescuing a pygmy goat, and being alone in the pitch dark with friends avoiding the camp’s ghosts.
I had heard of Camp CAMP from my parents and then from the camp director, who had come to my class to recruit us, but I had no idea how important it was to so many people with disabilities and how much it affected them and their families. It can be very difficult throughout the school year for parents, and Camp CAMP is a vacation for both the parents and CAMPers. It gives them many more fun activities to experience and opportunities than they would normally have at home, and above all, they’re happy.