Volunteering in 2025
Volunteering is probably one of my favourite things to do in summer, and this summer, I did four straight weeks of it! Some people may think being a summer camp leader is easy, but it’s in fact, quite the opposite. my third week at camp our group had a little girl go missing, and we searched for her for about 30 panic fueled minutes until we learned that her grandparents had picked her up early from where the kids were because the little girl was bored. the second week, A little boy almost sprained his ankle slipping on the numerous spills of water the children are so prone to making. I also had a lot of situations I needed to deescalate because of kids throwing fits, like the time I was playing candy land with a bunch of kids, and one boy who was playing that wasn’t doing so well, literally threw the board into the air, hitting multiple people with marshmallow and ice cream figurines. the first week I found a wasp nest in the playground where the kids were playing and putting on sunscreen, and one boy, god knows what was going on in his head, was standing directly on the nest! it wasn’t all terrifying and stressful though. I learned how to make paper airplanes and fortune tellers a while ago, and when I started making them for the kids, the demand was very high. I received a lot of really sweet drawings from a bunch of kids, and at week four I was declared one little boys favourite “girl volunteer” which made my day. Our group/camp went to lots of cool places, like the pool, lake, and a ton of playgrounds. My arms were very sore at the end of all four weeks from throwing balls for children that have the stamina of a horse I tell you. setting up games and crafts was a lot of fun too, and I spent many minutes helping kids make light sabres out of pool noodles which consequently, I was brutally attacked with in the pool later. I also made a few friends this summer, which was nice because in previous years it’s been difficult to make friends at camp, so it was cool to connect with fellow volunteers. lastly, I got to help with the pool activities this summer, which involves handling the rope swing, which is very fun. a few leaders knew how to do flips which was very impressive for most of the kids. And that was my summer as a volunteer summer camp leader.