CIT Guest Blog: Part I

     This week we are going to be featuring guest blogs from our CIT campers from last week.  They are giving details about their experiences as well as their overall impression of what it meant to be a counselor at Camp Whitman.  Our first blog was written by CIT counselor, James Yoon.

2014 CIT campers and counselors

Reflecting upon my Counselor-In-Training experience at Camp Whitman, I can only recall fond memories. My experience as a CIT was not only eye-opening, but it taught me skills that would be useful for the rest of my life.

One thing I learned from this week is that being a counselor is not easy. The second thing is that it isn't impossibly hard, either. Although it is quite a big responsibility to babysit twenty campers for over 100 hours. Yet, a counselor is a teacher, a parent, a social worker, a spiritual guide, all built into one. And that's what's so rewarding about being a counselor. It's beautiful. Glorious.

CITs working with our day campers

During this week, under the direction of my phenomenal counselors, Ileya and Jess, and our Graded Camp Coordinator, Courtney, we spent lots of time interacting with campers of various age groups, skill levels, personalities, and cultural backgrounds. Slowly but surely, we learned to lead entire activities smoothly with minimal help!

More than anything, my experience with the Pine campers was the most meaningful to me, mostly because I had a prejudice toward people with disabilities before. To be completely honest, I used to feel scared and uncomfortable around them. However, from this experience, I finally understood that people with disablilities are human beings just like us and that they deserve to be respected like anyone else. They have a strong faith too, maybe even stronger than any of ours.

Speaking of faith, we looked into that during this week, too. With the guidance of Pastor Colin, my fellow CIT campers and I explored our faiths and assessed our connection with God. As Pastor Colin put it, we began telling each of the beginning of our personal stories, of why we are where we are today. Through this experience, I came closer to God and formed strong bonds with other campers, counselors, and of course, Pastor Colin.

So that was my week. I bonded with remarkable people, built my faith, and learned priceless leadership qualities. I can't really ask for much else.

James playing the piano