Camp Empowers Young Women

By Camp America on 06/03/2020

I grew up in the noughties, before smart phones and Instagram and I still had a multitude of pressures and insecurities, like most teenage girls do. With the rise of social media, I can’t even imagine how much pressure young teenage girls must feel now.

Trying to fit in, but stand out, be beautiful like the array of gorgeous girls on Instagram, learn all the new TikTok dances, wait with anticipation for your crush to snapchat you back, go to insta-worthy places, or find out you’ve been left out of a whatsap group. It boils down to the same pressures, just hugely amplified by technology.

That’s one of the reasons that camp is such a unique and special place. It allows young girls to have a break from their everyday pressures and step into the safe bubble of camp. Being a counsellor watching these young girls grow and enjoy their time at camp, getting back to basics, is such a rewarding experience. Because camp is a place where you can be whoever you want to be; you are judged on kindness over Instagram likes, you are equal to the boys, you can be messy, you can shoot arrows or go mountain biking without being judged for not acting like a lady. You don’t care about what you look like, you just care about having as much fun as possible.

As a counsellor you are a big sister to these young girls for a summer and empowering them to be confident and to ‘just be you’; that’s a pretty cool job. It not only affects the young girls that look up to you, it makes you a better person too. All that empowering young girls, it rubs off on you; and if you can bring it back with you from camp, it can truly change your life.