This year I was able to attend my school's annual Science Camp from the 17th to the 20th trip for 6th graders as a camp counselor up in Sonora. Basically I got out of school for a week in exchange for sleeping in a cabin with about fourteen 6th graders and making sure they followed the rules in such. The perks to being a counselor included: bossing around little kids, free meals all week, a trip to the mountains and other places like Calaveras State Park and the Moaning Caverns, etc. Overall this experience was a great way to get me out of the rut I've been in, cheer me up and help me discover new things about myself.
Tuesday, November 20th: After a short, two hour drive on a cramped school bus we arrived happily at the camp grounds. We were off to a late start, when we got there we were rushed to get situated and to catch up with the other school that had apparently been there for an hour already. The first thing Sean (a fellow classmate and counselor) said when we got off the bus was "When's lunch?" For those that know Sean, this isn't a surprising question. The counselors got sent off to be assigned their dorms and lectured on what it takes to be a good counselor and role model to these students. I was thrilled to be the leader of Oak Cabin, because when I went to Science Camp in 6th grade, Oak Cabin was the dorm I was part of. Afterward we met our students and took them off to lunch, Spaghetti. I was honestly surprised. Real, actual, authentic, quality meals were being served and it was indeed delicious. This was the first of the many great meals to come. At this point I was able to meet some of my students and get to know them a little bit, but I'd be damned if I was able to remember their names by the first night. Later on we teamed up with the girls cabin and met Ben, our "Naturalist" as they call it, and we had a fun little hike. After the hike came dinner, after dinner came the camp fire meeting where the Naturalists addressed both schools as a whole and told them about the fun week we'd be having, after the camp fire came bed time.
Lemme take this time to explain the rules and rewards that were explained to me:
Superior Dorm: Granted to dorms that manage to stay completely quiet from bedtime at 9:30pm to wake up call at 7:00am. This reward is worth the most points.
Golden Broom: Granted to dorms that manage to meet all the standards for a clean dorm room every morning at 8:40am. The points for this varied.
Helping Hand: Granted to dorms that stick their necks out to help out the Naturalists with such things as cleaning up the cafeteria, etc. Worth very little points.
That night, the students made it impossible to receive the Superior Dorm reward.
Wednesday, November 18th: I awoke to the resonating sound of a dozen whispers at about 6:30am, a half hour before scheduled wake up call. But I got them in line and later we earned the Golden Broom. The day went by quite simply after that: Breakfast (PANCAKES!), hike, lunch (HOT DOGS!), hike, dinner (FISH FILLET!), and some weird dance party with a few dorms in the cafeteria with games and such. The exciting part of the day, however, was the showers. We, the counselors, were finally allowed to shower at 4:00pm and it was refreshing despite being in a locker room with other men showering (a few of which I've never met because they were from the other school), but it felt so good. To my surprise the shower went on instantly, spewing out icy cold water at several miles per hour. For about two minutes I pressed myself against the wall, out of the hose's way until it heated up to a comfortable warmth; it was then when I was able to peacefully shower. I felt bad for the 6th graders though; while us counselors had no limit to how long our showers were (as long as we were on time to pick up our kids that were currently at recess), the 6th graders all got a grand total of three minutes each. Now lets think about this. These children are probably on their first trip away from their homes and family, already freezing due to the altitude, and are expected to get nude in a room full of their peers and shower in a completely different room full of even more peers. And to top that off, they get three glorious minutes to complete this, two of which are will be freezing cold. I'm glad the showers weren't like this at the place I went to.
I'll take this time to explain this camp's "Scat" song. For I had a really big problem with it because it wasn't nearly as awesome as the one I learned.
There's went:
"It starts with an 'S' and it ends with a 'T'
It comes out of you, and it comes out of me.
I know what you're thinking, but don't call it that.
Lets be scientific and call it Scat!"
While mine went:
"Scat makes the world go 'round!
The forest can't survive if it's not on the ground.
So when you step in a lump of scat
Just jump for joy and say 'that's where I'm at!'"
Mine was clearly superior.
Later that night, my cabin came uber close to getting the Superior Dorm award, and they should have gotten it, but life sucks and so do adults.
Thursday, November 19th: This time I was actually able to sleep until the wake up call and was greeted with a wonderful hashbrown and scrambled egg breakfast. On this day we took our field trip to Calaveras State Park to learn about Sequoias and then to the Moaning Caverns.
I'll now take this time to explain the disciplinary system this school had in place for the 6th graders, a basic, three step system:
Step One: A warning and a talk with your teacher.
Step Two: A painful call to your parents explaining why you're in trouble.
Step Three: Expulsion from outdoor school and possible suspension from the regular middle school.
I bring this up now, because on this day one of my students in particular got to his Third Step, all of which I missed. Apparently before we had even left our school, he had gotten into a fist fight with another student, earning him his first step. On this Thursday he got his next two steps by repeatedly flipping off a group of students on separate occasions but for the same reason: They were teasing him for having homosexual parents and calling him, too, a homo. Typical 6th grade bullying. I felt bad for the kid, he was actually one of my better students while he was around, and it was a big bummer for him to get expelled on the day before we left. So my cabin went down from fourteen students to thirteen.
That night after dinner was the famous Night Hike, in which we take our cabins and lead them through the forest at night without flashlights or any light source and laugh at them for tripping all over themselves in the dark. It was fun, though not nearly as great the night hike I attended in 6th grade.
Friday, November 20th: Today was the last day, and my cabin had Flag Ceremony.
I'll take this time to explain such things as Flag Ceremony.
Flag Ceremony: Depending on the time of the day, the cabin either takes out the U.S. flag and the World flag and raises both on the flag pole, or they take down the flags and return them to their resting place.
Meal Time Duty: The cabin gets to the cafeteria early and helps set up the tables and prepare some of the food for the upcoming meal.
Bathroom Duty: The cabin is in charge of cleaning the dorm bathrooms and earns themselves a point for cabin inspection. The cabin simply picks up garbage off the ground and counters and makes sure everything is tidy. They don't need to scrub toilets or sinks or anything.
After Flag Ceremony was breakfast, and then the morning hike. This time, however, I volunteered to be the counselor from each group to help pack all the luggage into the U-Haul along with Alex, Sean and Ashley (I still can't believe Matt made Ashley go and handle the luggage while he enjoyed his nice hike, but Ashley says she volunteered). So we spent a good forty-five minutes separating and packing luggage in a manner that allowed it to fit into the small U-Haul we rented. It was fun, and got our blood pumping enough to warm us up in the cold and get out of taking care of 6th graders for a while. But soon afterward we caught back up with our hiking groups and continued the day. After lunch we embarked on our trip back home.
This was a great and wonderful experience. Ultimately it led me to realize more about myself, and try to become more of a leader figure with the ability to assert my power over others, which was always a fun thing. And it got my mind off all the worries the world had been shoving down my throat up until then, so it was a great stress reliever, just like with Arsenic & The Old Lace just a few weeks prior. But I must say that the play probably caused more stress than it relieved, while the Science Camp experience was pure relief, and it came when I needed it most.
Well, I shall end this monstrous wall of text now, and I should have more to say after Thanksgiving. So until then, ta-ta for now!
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-Sachi
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