My Pre-Departure Thoughts:
I will be at camp in less than a week. It’s amazing how fast the other 200-something days seem to have flown by relative to the final few, very long days prior to my departure. Needless to say, those of you who follow me on twitter may have noticed I cannot contain my excitement! While many of my friends from school have ventured off to travel through different countries, intern at hospitals, and sublet apartments in New York City, I ended my sophomore year at Cornell looking forward to going back to the same place I have gone every summer since I was in third grade (that makes this summer #12!!!).
Without a doubt, Camp Seneca Lake is a place of growth, inspiration, and self-awareness. However, the expectations around all of these attributes, and how they are formed, was brought to my attention when a few weeks ago I read an entry in my friend’s blog as she reflected on her preparation for her service-learning trip to India. She was talking about the rhetoric surrounding these types of experiences – those that are intended to “change your life”, “make you a better person”, and “give you a better perspective”. These well-intentioned, yet vague sentiments immediately reminded me of how many people often look towards and define our upcoming experiences at camp, expecting to return home a “changed person”, a “better person”. As my friend rambled on, she pointed out that maybe it isn’t about the expectations of what will happen and how it will happen, but rather it’s about embracing the empty space that is the unknown and allowing the raw experience to fill it. How true! Part of the magic of camp is how a single summer, though different in many ways from each of its pasts, can encourage the same development of independence, friendship, and self-identity. There is no rush; just let time do its thing and the magic will follow.
As we enter the last week and half leading up to the commencement of CSL 2013, I can promise you that it will be a summer to remember, but the question is not “How will you remember it?”, but “How will you live it?” How will you approach the bunk nights, the mass programs, and the nights spent stargazing? Will you let them just fill you? Well, that is up to you. I am so excited to see what this summer has in store for us and I hope you all are too!!!
Sarah Kaufman
Assistant Program Director
