By Lauren Fishman, Unit Head 

While Gimmel campers are beginning to prepare to go home from a two week session on Wednesday morning, Camp Kalsman 2017 Staff will be leaving our 7, 8, or in my case, 10 week summer, early Thursday morning. As usual, I am sure there will be many tears at the prospect of leaving our second home and our very dearest friends. I know I look forward to closing day the least because I know a piece of my heart will stay here when I leave.

This year, I have some things to look forward to, just as soon as camp ends.  Three days before I came to camp, I signed my first real contract for my first real job.  I will be a Special Education teacher at an elementary school in the Edmonds School District.  I will be teaching students in kindergarten through sixth grade how to read.  I have never been more excited and more scared to do something in my entire life.

This is my fifth year at camp and my second summer as a Unit Head on Leadership Team so I feel pretty confident in my role at camp and of my knowledge in the camp community.  This new teaching job is the first time that I do not feel confident because everyone I will work with is older than me and has more experience, which is completely opposite from camp.

While there are many things that I am nervous about, I know that I will use the skills I have gained from camp to help me through when I am struggling.  I know that I am rich with resources, both people to collaborate with and written text to learn from.  I know that I am wise with the knowledge I have gained in college and that I am a smart person with good intuition.  I know that I am honored by my students because they have a desire to learn and I have a passion for teaching them.  I know that I am strong with skills that my students need to learn to become independent thinkers and individuals.  And while this isn’t a part of the theme, I know that I am loved and cared about by my camp community.

So yes, even though leaving camp may be sad, challenging, and will definitely make me want to come back for a sixth summer, I know that camp has blessed me in more ways that I can even imagine.

P.S. I literally cried while writing this post. I love camp.