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I have known Deasarae for a year and a half now and have seen her graduate three times from Pfeifer Camp’s ACE program. In fact, I was her first counselor a year and a half ago and this last session made me the last counselor she would have as an ACE graduate. I have literally watched her grow into the mature young lady she has become. When Deasarae came to camp as a fourth grader she was timid, didn’t believe in herself, and was drawn towards the negative influences in the cabin. Throughout that first session, she and I had many talks about how her poor choices were impacting her life.  It was through those talks and her experiencing how positive choices could bring her positive results. The success she found during this first session was something she could take with her, and something that she continued to experience during her subsequent sessions. During this most recent session, I was most impressed with Deasarae’s mature ability to share her feelings with those around her. I often had her share her feelings with her cabin mates during difficult situations because of her eloquent way of speaking her mind and her prior experience at camp. This ability was something her cabin mates also looked up to her for. When Deasarae was put in leadership positions, she relished the opportunity and asked for more chances to work on her skills as a leader. Every moment I could, I praised her for the change I had seen since her first session. She came to understand the process of camp and the love that the staff has for the kids they work with. She came to understand that she was the only one in control of her destiny. She could pick the friends she wanted to be around, she could earn the grades she wanted, and she could be a leader if she wanted to be. She has truly exhibited the transformation Pfeifer Camp kids go through during their five weeks of camp.