The Classroom of the Summer

Fishman, S.  http://blogs.trb.com/community/news/davie/forum/2009/04/summer_camp_registration_begin.html (Photograph of campers jumping off a dock) 2009.

For five summers of my childhood, from the time I was in the 2nd grade until the summer before my 7th grade year, I spent my summers at the the top of the Appalachian Mountains in a small summer camp called Camp Gwynn Valley. It was a sanctuary of learning new things, meeting new friends. Little did I know how much it was enriching my mind with things that cant even be taught in schools. The camp taught me so much about life's lessons, and taught me that being a part of the environment is important, and also that friends can impact you and stay in your hearts for the rest of your life.Those days I spent at summer camp, I am beginning to realize, were more of a "school about life" than a school for learning math problems, history details, and english language compositions. Camp taught me how to interact with big groups of kids my age, and how to be able to tolerate people of all different backgrounds, with different lifestyles, and with different personalities. I learned how to appreciate the environment while at camp as well. I learned about the ways you can harvest food and how to appreciate eating healthy as a way of life. I experienced rock climbing adventures, canoeing, hiking the Appalachian Trail, biking, craftsmanship, singing songs, camping trips, horseback riding and much much more. At Gwynn Valley I learned how to appreciate wildlife at it best, and how preserving it is the only way that our lives are going to be lived to the fullest, and how preserving the environment will allow for many generations after ours to proser. Yes, in the classroom during the school year, children learn multiplication tables, stories about the history of nations, and how to read and write with appropriate grammar, but yet there is so much more to learn when your at such a fruitful age. Going to camp gave me the opportunity to learn beyond the books, and to carry those skills I learned those summers with me throughout the rest of my life. I still keep in touch with my counslers and my friends, and I remember each and every precious moment that I had those summers that I will always remember. If I ever get the chance, I would love to create some sort of non-profit summer camp for kids who are not financially priviledged, yet still deserve to gain all the experiences I did while attending camp. All kids deserve to have something this enriching to fill their summers with, and something to bring them outside of the classroom and still have fun while learning. Camp Gwynn Valley was my summertime classroom, and I will use what I learned there in my classrooms someday!