Kamp Kiwanis

Camp Kiwanis executive director Rebecca Lopez picked me up from the train station and I learned we were going to a special needs camp. We arrived at camp at dinner time and did a tour then almost immediately went to dinner and I have to admit, I was very intimidated.

I walked into a large, loud hall that was full of people, and I hadn’t met any of them yet. I generally felt like an outsider, so I sat at a table of women and tried to make small talk, but quickly shoveled my dinner into my mouth and scurried off back to the staff office.

Later when the campers were in movie night, Mike and I got more of a briefing of all the things we would need to know to work at camp. For example, we learned that this is a no-touch camp which means we try not to pull the campers or us much physical contact other than helping them with getting around, high-fives, and side hugs.

Then all the campers went to get their daily medication and Mike and I had to do medical questionnaires with the nurse on staff later to make sure we were ok. She also did a lice check, which was my first ever! It was really weird to have somebody who wasn't my hairdresser fishing around on my head, but it needed to be done. Another unexpected but very rational rule is that we had to hand over all our medication. I'm actually glad they told me that because it would be very dangerous to have a camper go into my bag and reach my ibuprofen or something. This made me realize how detail-oriented one must be to work in this kind of environment, there's so much to remember.

Later in the night, one of the staffers took Mike and I to Wal-Mart and on the way home she explained to us that camp runs 10 minutes ahead of schedule so that nobody's ever late. As many questions as I asked, by the end of the conversation, I was still not 100% sure about whether she meant that we should try to get to an 8pm meeting by 7:50 so that everyone was guaranteed to be on time for 8pm or if it meant an 8pm meeting would literally start at 7:50pm. I figured it was the former.

Camp counselors normally hang out in the staff area at night, so Mike and I worked in there before bed. We chatted with some of the counselors about how it is to work at Kamp Kiwanis and they said it was definitely a challenge. One of the girls explained that crying is a regular occurrence because of how tough the job can be, but all the counselors also talked about how much they loved being here and they seem to have a genuine affection for their campers.

I worked a bit more on the computer and noticed people were clearing out pretty early. I looked at my computer clock and thought we still had a few minutes, but when I was walking to my cabin I got scolded for being late for my 1am bedtime. I asked a counselor what time it was and he said 1:08, but when I got to my cabin I saw it was actually 12:58. So ok Carielle, 10 minutes early really does mean 10 minutes early. Oops!