"I was struggling trying to decide if I wanted to go to university or take a gap year/ work straight away. I wanted to do something different and had always dreamed about doing something like camp America, so I thought I’d just apply and see what happened. Little did I know it would be one of the best decisions I ever made. 

For anyone thinking of doing camp; I would say to bite the bullet and just go for it. It’s weird to think that doing something like Camp America gave me so much confidence and thought me so much. It taught me so much about myself and what I wanted to do in life but it was also the best thing I’ve done so far in my life. I made friends for life which I never thought I'd do.

I had an opportunity to travel after camp finished both times and saw things I probably never would have been able to do if I hadn’t gone to camp. And I had the time of my life! For those of you that don’t know, you get roughly a month on your visa after you finish camp to basically do what you want within reason. So the first year I met up with a few people from home that were also doing camp America and we traveled east to west through Canada back into America going west to east heading back to New York to catch our flight home. It took some planning but we visited visiting over 12 places in less than a month. Then the second year I went on a road trip with some girls from camp and my partner came out to join us also. Though both times I had planned what I was doing after camp. You didn’t even need to do that - most people waited till they made friends at camp and made plans then or booked onto the trips that Camp America had to offer. 

In a way doing camp influenced my career path, as I said it gave me so much confidence but also made me realise I have a passion for looking after people and trying to make sure they get the best care or the best in life. So after I finished camp I decided to become a carer for the elderly for a year and then I finally get the courage to apply to work at a local hospital which is still where I am now and have been for two years, slowly progressing and learning so much."

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