Seneca Stories: Cameron

 

 

 

Cameron shares his experience working at Seneca Hills.

 

 

Transcript

My name is Cameron and this is my first year as a counselor. I’ve camped here for about six years.

 

How did you first hear about Seneca Hills?

I first heard about Seneca Hills through my church when they offered to pay half for it. So that was a big plus. And my first year I remember, I was camping here. I was so homesick. I was like I’m never coming back. But I had a good time. And I came back for another summer and other summers. I think I came for like six years. But it was awesome. Changed my life. I think that I started accepting Christ for the first time, like as my own, like personal faith here. And since then, I’ve just loved this place. So many memories here. And that’s why I chose to work here.

 

 

What are some fun memories you have from camp?

A lot of shenanigans with counselors doing crazy stuff. I remember one year, one of our counselors challenged us to do some random task. I think it’s like a challenge course thing. He said, if you guys can do this, I will shave my head. We did it and he shaved his head bald, and it was amazing. I’ll never forget it. And then all kinds of other stuff. Like I love camp games. I love playing sports and like, you know, just random athletic things. And that’s fun. And there’s a lot of that at camp, too. So a lot of fun memories.

 

 

What were your favorite parts of camp as a camper?

Chapel was always really awesome. Worship was always super fun. And the seed songs were awesome running around and doing crazy stuff. And then it taught me how to worship and see people older than me worshiping, which is very beneficial because it took away some of my fear of worshiping. And then just getting poured into from chapel speakers. So that was awesome. And then the more fun side, just like dumb games, I remember playing a game called ultimate ultimate, where we would play ultimate frisbee with a dirty diaper. And it was quite the experience. But it’s fun, and something that camp only offers.

 

 

 

 

How have other staff impacted you?

I’m encouraged that there’s other people that are willing to do the same thing. Because I mean, I have like a solid job lined up for this summer. And I mean, I had all this stuff for college lined up that I could have filled my whole summer with other things. But like I said, I’m gonna take this month, and I’m going to give it to the Lord and let Him use me. And it’s so cool seeing so many other people who have that same drive and that same motivation to serve camp and to serve the Lord in such awesome ways and exhausting ways. But it’s awesome. It’s really, really cool. It’s encouraging.

 

 

 

 

What are some ways you’ve grown in your faith this summer?

Two big ways. One, I’m realizing more and more God does not use you in the ways that you want to be used. Hardly ever. I remember. I mean, coming to this camp I saw counselors, like do certain things like okay, that was really fun that wasn’t and so with that knowledge, it kind of came into it saying, This is what I’m going to do, this is what I’m not going to do. And then I was put on Edge, which I’ve never done. And I was like, Oh, this is going to be you know, quite the experience. Very nervous, very scared about that. But it was awesome. It was a great week. I had a lot of awesome conversations with the campers, I even got a letter from one of them, which was very, very encouraging. And so that was really cool. But the ways in which I wanted to be used by God…He didn’t use me in those ways. But he used me in such better ways that helped me grow and help other people to grow. And then another thing that I’m learning is to pour out into other people, you need to be poured into yourself, which I didn’t realize at first. I thought like I’ve been poured into my whole life, my parents, my people, like people at church, whatever. And now I’m just going to give that knowledge to other people. But if you just give and then God doesn’t refill you, it’s exhausting. And so reading my Bible and attending chapel and just like being involved, has been super, super helpful. You know, trying not to get tired or trying to do a one on one whenever all you want to do is take a nap.

 

 

 

What would you say to someone on the fence about working at Seneca?

Do it. Um, I don’t know, it’s, it’s a great time. I’m sure everybody said this money is not great, but that’s not why we’re here. Um, I think it’s an experience that you really can’t get anywhere else. Just seeing the kids learn. And having it click for them is awesome. doing one on ones. Interacting with the campers is super, super fun. And just seeing them get up to all kinds of shenanigans, whatever you turn away for, like five seconds. But it’s an awesome experience. You grow in your faith, you learn things that you won’t learn anywhere else. And it teaches you perseverance, and working hard, because they leave on Saturday, and then they’re back on Sunday. And it’s a very quick turnaround. So by the time you’ve slept, showered, done your laundry, there’s new kids. So you know, just kind of rolling with the punches is one thing I’ve learned here too.

 

 

 

Anything else you would like to share?

It’s awesome.  if you want to work here if you’re thinking about it, if you’re on the fence, just do it for a summer. You have what, 60? 70? summers in your lifetime. Only certain amount of them you can actually work here. Just try it. Just try. It’s a great experience and I’ve learned a lot.

 

 

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