Journal Entry 1 Part 2

 

 

The above picture is a photo I took from Woodlands Camp in Cleveland Georgia. This is a place that means a lot to me and tells a large part of my personal story. 

I first visited Woodlands as a camper the summer I turned 8, June 2008. It was the first time I would be away from my parents and home for anything more than a sleepover with a family friend or a relative. I remember fighting back tears as I watched my mom pull away from the parking lot. My memory from that first summer at Woodlands is blurry, I remember nothing other than my counselors name and how I was made to feel at woodlands. Maya Angelou once said "they'll forget what you said, they’ll forget what you did, but they will never forget how they made you feel", and that quote almost exactly describes what the place in the picture means to me. 

Woodlands is a place with organizational values that places people first, a place that strives to make every single camper and guest feel at home. Woodlands also gets its mission statement from the Bible, 

Micah 6:8 says "He has shown you O man what is good and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, love mercy, and. walk humbly with thy God". This Bible verse turn. mission statement has had a profound impact on my life. I continued attending Woodlands as a camper until I aged out the summer I turned 18, and in the 2 summers since then I  have served on summer staff at Woodlands. Working at woodlands has allowed me to give back to this generation what the generation above me showed me, and the impact a college aged person can have on kids is massive. A privilege that most college kids aren't aware of, but if realized could bridge the gap between the isolation so often felt between age gaps.

On top of the home woodlands became, and the instruction and training received there, woodlands also provides an environment without the distraction of social media and culture. During you week of camp you are asked to leave any device at home. This has a massive impact on kids, as according to CNN they often spend more than seven hours connected to a device every day. This staggering statistic is troubling as time spent online is linked to mental health issues. The fight against the crippling affect of technology and social media on our mental health is a new fight, a war that's inaugural battle is being fought by my generation. No generation before us has had to balance the reality of our physical lives with the expectation and comparison found in the life in our pockets.  That is why what may appear as an ordinary summer camp means so much to me as a young person in the first quarter of the 21st century. It is a place that acknowledges my generations greatest needs, authentic connection, an example to follow, and an escape from the grip of technology and social media. 

 

This is a photo of my cabin during a week of camp, summer 2021.