By: Dani Copeland, alumna
I spent a total of ten summers at overnight camp. Prior to my six summers spent at you URJ Camp George I had attended two other URJ camps. After two summers spent at one and another two at the other I began to think maybe overnight camp just wasn’t for me. But then I ventured to Camp George. The beautiful nature, the engaging programming, the strong sense of family and Jewish community and those infamous Camp George sunsets, best viewed from the ski docks or the porch of the chadar. It was easy to see that this was the place where I was going to set some roots and be able to truly grow. I had found my home away from home.
The Summer of 2006 was my last summer at Camp George. I spent my final summer in a new role, as the Head of Land Sports and as a C.I.T. staff member. Summer of 2006 was filled with so many great memories. I remember an epic lip sync battle between C.I.T.’s, a crazy intense game of staff GaGa set up in the Chadar, a wonderful rendition of Hairspray put on by the C.I.T’s, and a Mario Brothers themed Maccabiah. A summer filled with beautiful Shabbat services, followed by Laurie’s famous shabbos brownies and a sweaty song sesh. I remember the C.I.T. boys passing down the tradition of performing the haka to the Barak boys.
The C.I.T.’s put on an incredible end of camp banquet with the theme of high school graduation. The chadar was decorated like a high school and we all played our parts, we had the crazy art teacher, the jocks, the goths and geeks but center stage was the senior class (the C.I.T.’s) who were “graduating” from campers to staff!
Of all the wonderful memories of that summer, the best part was working with the C.I.T.’s. Having spent my C.I.T. summer at George, I knew the C.I.T.’s were going to have the best summer of their lives! You grow, you figure yourself out, you learn how to communicate with people, plan programs and learn time management. All of these skills that transfer to the real world were gained in the beautiful warm environment of Camp George. I was thrilled to be working with the C.I.T.’s, helping them realize their full potential and guiding them on their way to becoming staff members. That group of C.I.T.’s was very special to me as many of them were the campers I worked with as a C.I.T. myself, four years prior. They had helped me on my journey to becoming a staff member and now I was guiding them on the same path. One of those campers turned C.I.T. recently shared the following with me, “You made an awkward, quiet, shy and homesick camper into a strong, unapologetically authentic, weird and confident woman I am today.” I knew from those words that I had done my job.
A few years after my final summer at camp I realized that my work at George had led me to my career path. I knew I wanted to work with children, guide them on this adventure of life and teach them valuable lessons along the way. I decided to go back to school and get my Masters of Education Degree. Camp George helped me understand my life purpose. I have been a middle school teacher for eight years now. I will forever be grateful for my experiences at Camp George as they molded me into the person I am today!
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