Success Story Session I

Each Session at camp we are asked to write a "Success Story" about one of our campers. Here is mine.

Katoryis arrived at Pfeifer Camp with a shy smile on her face and a quiet demeanor to match it. In fact, for the first few days or so, she did not do anything especially right nor wrong. She slipped right under the radar; a learned trait to help protect her from any kind of attention in general. She was the kind of camper that makes life easy for a counselor that has to give their attention to so many other campers. As her counselor, this realization of how easy she was making life was the first red flag that there was more going on inside her than she was showing. The thing about Pfeifer Camp is that it forces a bunch of children to get out of their comfort zone by challenging them in the classroom and in group building and self-discovery. All of the comforts and distractions of home are taken away and then they are faced with the habits that have been formed in their lives. For Katoryis her habits were self-destructive and she was crumbling from the inside-out. She was the perfect camper for so long because she was putting up a front of being happy and content. In reality, she was breaking and was having the most difficult time keeping up her façade. She was bottling up her emotions and when she was finally faced with them, she slowly got to feel the experience of living her emotions. As the oldest child in her family, she had to put on the perfect face to not make anyone upset. She had to keep her feelings inside because no one had the time or energy to deal with them.  Along with this, she didn’t have enough people telling her how amazing and how strong she has been. Gradually, she learned healthy ways of dealing with her emotions and she started the process of loving herself.  She learned what an authentic life can look like, which led to a renewed view of herself and therefore a better ability to connect with those around her. She discovered that she had things to share with the group and that the other girls looked up to her for her strength and hard work. The world outside of Pfeifer Camp may not have changed, but Katoryis has. She has found a new voice. A voice that is not stifled by the world, but instead a voice of self-assurance and pride.