I didn’t expect camp to change me. The first time I went, I was a ten-year-old kid with a short attention span and a lot of attitude. I was also a first-generation immigrant, trying to figure out how to navigate a world I didn’t fully understand, without much guidance. The odds didn’t feel in my favor. I showed up ready for camp carrying nerves, uncertainty, and the weight of being completely on my own, I had no friends coming into it, no family, just me.
As we pulled up to the Gardena center, I remember thinking, “This is a recipe for disaster.” My insecurities were rising, sitting heavy in my chest, ready to spill over into tears.
But the tears never came. The moment I met my counselors and cabin mates, something shifted. There was something different about this place, this community. Maybe it was the quiet moments under a sky full of stars, far from distractions. Maybe it was the people, offering kindness without expecting anything in return. Or maybe it was the first time I felt safe enough to let my guard down and just be myself.
Camp has a way of breaking down walls and building something stronger in their place. It nurtures the kind of confidence that every kid deserves to develop, but not every kid has the access to do so. I’ll never forget laughing with people who felt like strangers just hours before, or opening up in conversations where vulnerability was met with care, and feeling a sense of belonging I had never experienced.
Over the years I kept returning. Growing up here, I learned that I don’t have to have everything figured out. That growth isn’t about becoming someone completely different; it’s about accepting who I already am and choosing to move forward anyway. Camp doesn’t magically fix everything. You don’t walk away after one week as a completely different person. But it gives you something more important: it provides encouragement, perspective, and the motivation to keep growing long after the week ends.
From camper, to volunteer, to now assistant director, camp has played a big role in shaping me to who I am today. It’s one of the biggest reasons I push myself to grow so I can be the kind of role model I once looked up to in my counselors that made that one week in the summer unforgettable.
And that’s the real impact of camp. It may only last a week, but what it gives you can last a lifetime.
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