Stories from 2011 WKLT Kids Camp Counselors

Casey Sloan

"When I first decided to apply to be a camp counselor for the Women & Kids Learning Together Summer Camp, I thought of it as an opportunity to really affect the lives of the children participating, to act as a positive role model, and provide for them, in some cases, an escape for any difficult situations they might be facing at home.  And although I'd really like to sit here and say that I believe I made that profound impact on my campers, it was really them that significantly affected me.  I couldn't possibly have anticipated just how great and worthwhile my time was at WKLT.  In one short week, those kids managed to touch my heart forever."

 

Elaina Carlson

The most rewarding to me was how the kids took to me and fell in love with me.  When I was with my kids I experienced several touching moments where Jaden, who was very shy, hugged me frequently and wanted to hold my hand when crossing the street.  Julia wanted my help a lot on many things and it made me feel good to be wanted for help in her crafts and activities. Graduation was especially nice because I got to tell about my kids and they got to show off their crafts. Since Jaden was shy, Julia spoke for both of their story-in-a-box crafts." 

 

Hilary Harlan

"The most rewarding thing that happened to me was when Amanda's mom told us that Amanda wanted to say thank you to all the counselors.  I think this was so rewarding because it was really hard to get Amanda to talk all week, and when her mom said that, it meant that Amanda was talking about us at home.  She was excited about camp and was having fun, even if she didn't show it to us directly.  It was rewarding because it just showed that even the kids who we thought were really hard to crack were actually cracking, and we were affecting them."

 

Leah Railey

"The week I spent at the Women's and Kids Learning Together Camp (WKLT) was both grueling and experiential. I was so happy I got to spend so much time with the kids, since my prior experience involved three hours at most, but spending practically a whole day was a new and enlightening experience. Before I came to camp I was expecting the children to  take a long time to open up, but I was surprised at the number of kids that came in ready to have fun, even though still were shy and unwilling kids. I did expect some separation anxiety but not nearly as violent as the one I witnessed on the first day, when the girl cried and clung to her mom for dear life. Her mom had to take her to her first class before she was ready to let go, and even then she would cry each day about missing her mother. At first I didn't know how to go about it, but I began noticing things she liked that made her laugh and wipe the tears away."

 

Megan Harris

"My experience working for WKLT confirmed a few of my expectations. The kids did desire a lot of attention—but what kid doesn't! I don't think that I expected to come to love the children as much as I did. It was difficult seeing them all leave on Friday after seeing how much they had grown together over the course of a week.

My best experience at camp was watching all of the kids get involved and help each other in the field day scavenger hunt. It gave the children a chance to cheer one another on. I smiled when I saw the older kids holding the hands of the younger ones and posing as older siblings."

WKLT Summer Camp

 

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