Letters to Campers

Girls, this is my advice for you as you go to SuperCamp this summer =)
Every experience is what you make of it. For example, you could go through high school being really angst ridden, not making friends and not joining any groups, clubs, or sports. In doing so, you probably wouldn’t have a very good high school experience. You would be angry, lonely and frustrated. You will find that SuperCamp is very similar to that – as are most experiences in life – you can choose to engage and take advantage of every learning opportunity and live every moment to the fullest, or you can sit back and be a bystander.
There will be kids at SuperCamp that don’t want to be there. Don’t worry about them. You want to be there and you SHOULD want to be there. It is an absolutely awesome experience. You will learn a lot about yourselves as well as learning lots of cool techniques that will make school a whole heck of a lot easier for you. (I’ll just call them Jedi Mind Tricks, you’ll have to wait and see what they are!).
I know being in high school is rough. Middle school was probably even tougher (or at least it was for me). I was always worried about what people were thinking of me. “I just KNOW everyone is looking at the zit on my chin!” or “I really wish I knew how to talk to boys and not sound like an absolute idiot” or “Will they notice that I am wearing the same shirt twice in one week?” or even better, “My parents in no way understand me.” It is hard constantly worrying about what other people are thinking about you. And honestly, you are thinking about them so how could they not be thinking about you? Because of this, there is a chance (if you were anything like me) that you are guarded. That you don’t go out and act silly because you are kinda worried what people will think of you, that you don’t share all of the tough stuff in your life with everyone. SuperCamp is a real opportunity to depart from that. Yes you will make friends but there is a very real chance that outside of Facebook (if you choose to accept their friend requests), you will never see these people again. In a way that makes it awesome. You can be so incredibly honest during your time at SuperCamp. You can be honest with yourself, honest with others and really embrace the experience and not worry what other people will think of you because after 10 days you never have to see any of them ever again (with the exception of one another).
With that said, you will meet tons of amazing people and really bond with them. You are going to go through an experience with them that is like no other. Remember though, that these people aren’t any different than the kids at your school; the popular kids, the dorks, the hipsters, the skaters, etc.
Now telling you anything specific about your time there would be not very cool because one of the best things for SuperCamp is not knowing what to expect. However, I will recommend that you bring rubber flip flops for the shower, a little fan for your room (because it gets HOT) and a really open heart and mind.
I can’t wait to hear what you think of your time there. It changed my life and I am confident that it will do the same for you!
Hugs from your long ago babysitter,
Julie