Camper Turned Counselor

This Tuesday at Camp is one of those classic camp days you never forget. We have morning activities, afternoon activities, then finish the night off at Huawni Pond – Fishing! You can read more about Fishing and what that tradition means to us at Camp Huawni from a post I had last session, here .

Today, rather than Fishing, I wanted to focus on one of our counselors, Will Speer. Will has been a camper at Huawni beginning in the summer of 2007. Last summer, he was a part of our Counselor in Training, or CIT, Program. This is something we offer for students that have just graduated from high school as a sort of ‘work crew’ for Camp Huawni. It’s all of the cleaning, yard work, behind the scenes serving that campers usually never even think about while attending camp.

More About Will

I asked Will why he chose to be a part of the CIT program at Camp and he let me know that as a camper, he always thought about being on staff. “It was something to look forward to” he told me. Campers look up to their counselors and much of our staff is made up of previous campers wanting to see the different sides of Camp Huawni. Knowing that this program is challenging, I asked Will what was something that the program taught him? He replied,

To think more about what I could do for others versus what I could do for myself.

As a college student, our first instinct is not to think of others before ourselves. The CIT program challenges these young adults to be able to change their perspectives and the way they view other people. Continuing on, I asked him how he thinks this program impacted him as a counselor.

I think if I hadn’t have done the CIT program, [camp] could be more about how I could make things easier for myself. Now, having gone through the program, I see more of how I can help others or help the kids succeed.

Will is making camp all about the kids. Kelsey Biscoe, our Women’s Staff Director, mentioned to me a few days ago that she believes some of the greatest counselors come from our CIT program because they view time with the campers as a privilege. Because their responsibility is their work first, the CIT’s spend time with kids after accomplishing all their daily tasks. They view the campers in a different way which enables them to work even more to accomplish our mission: Love the Kids.

Outside of Camp

I wanted to see what Will thought about the CIT program and if it had impacted his life outside of Camp, so asked about his Freshman year at Ole Miss. Specifically, does he think the program has changed what his first year of college looked like? He replied by pointing up to Adam Gallagher, the counselor working the Critter at the time, and saying:

Definitely. It made it really easy to make friends and connect with people – deeper than surface level relationships. I have a lot of unique friends from that, Adam being one.

Because of Will’s relationship with Adam, we were lucky enough to have Adam at camp! Adam trusted Will and came with him to Camp Huawni this summer, making our staff even greater. The CIT program enables us at camp to further our vision of having each camper and counselor leave our gates knowing their true significance and purpose. If you or anyone you know would be interested in our CIT program, learn more on our website !