Special Section: Summer Fun
The program mission of Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) is to develop
the inherent potential found in the young women of Macedonia by providing them with the
skills and knowledge necessary to become active leaders in their communities.
This is done through experiential education that celebrates diversity, builds academic and
social competences, and promotes English language literacy, leadership, teamwork,
problem solving, and creative expression.
What Will Last Me
a Lifetime
By Carolyn Reinhardt
10 girls from 10 different cities with 10 different personalities
and 10 different reasons why they went to Camp GLOW.
When my girls walked up to the registration table, stuck
out their hands, and in the bravest smiles said “Hi, I’m….” I
couldn’t help but think what the week was going to bring.
Even with all the bumps we had to go through in the beginning, everything from freezing cold showers to killing rats with
trash cans, my girls were troopers. They worked through the
fact that they were not all from the same city, didn’t have the
same taste in music (but surprisingly did with books!), could
not get away from all the mice in our building, did not all speak
the same first language and did not know yet how to work together as a team to become this group who, by the last day,
were stuck to one another like glue.
Granted, when I signed up to be a counselor, I did not expect to hear shrill screaming coming from one of my camper’s
rooms. And I certainly did not expect to find all ten of my
campers crowded on one tiny bed clinging to each other while
my junior counselor ferociously beat the short life out of an
itty bitty mouse with a metal trashcan. But these are the things
I will remember about camp. While my campers and I enjoyed
the sessions, it’s the random memories that will stay with me
always. Memories such as walking into the last session of the
night to see the smallest camper in my group completely take
down our junior counselor in a vicious self defense move or
watching one of my campers (who had the most trouble fitting into our group) competing in the limbo contest against one
other person while the rest of our group kept cheering her on.
Seeing all my campers in a huge group hug on the last night
with the candle light illuminating their tear-stained faces,
watching them practice their group dance and having EVERYONE consistently mess up at the same part in the song and
burst out into laughter for three minutes afterwards, having
a human knot that took us close to twenty minutes because
three other outsiders couldn’t even help us figure it out (and we
never did finish it) all while my campers just kept making jokes
about the awkwardness of it all, to seeing them say goodbye
to each other at the bus station and remembering where it all
started only six days ago—these are the memories I will keep
forever.
All the girls that went to camp learned about each other,
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