Submitted by Jess Moore
Volunteer counselor JuneBug and her daughter are attending camp at Sky High Ranch this week. Growing up in Massachusetts JuneBug attended Girl Scout camp in the hills between Fall River and Boston. Before camp, she had never realized that there were forests. It was the first time that she had been camping and she was hooked.
In her teenage years she was also a camp counselor here in Colorado and the counselor mentality has followed her through life. JuneBug, when not at camp, is a clinical psychologist and works at a high school in Colorado.
Following the time honored tradition of “Once a Girl Scout, always a Girl Scout,” when JuneBug had kids of her own, she enrolled her son in Boy Scouts and daughter into Girl Scouts, and also became her daughter’s troop leader.
As the troop leader, she organized plenty of camping trips for the girls, but recently wanted her daughter to experience the magic of Girl Scout camp, fully believing that the courage, exploration, acceptance that Girl Scouts provides is invaluable.
“Life is about transformation and change, and you can get stuck.”
JuneBug says that you may ask yourself “why doesn’t change happen?” When you step outside of your daily habits, that’s when you can change. This, to her is a cornerstone of the magic that surrounds Girl Scout camp. Character building is something you can’t always get in schools and camp life supplements a child’s growth. A lot of kids don’t have a space in which to change, because they can’t get out of their daily habits to change.
JuneBug still thinks of herself as a camp counselor at heart and would love to take the kids in high school out to do ropes courses or experience the outdoors so that their transformations can happen.
“Magic happens because you are stepping your foot outside of your comfort zone; you see things in a new way; and you are in a special place that is harder to get to in your normal day-to-day life. Camp makes you a better person for the world!”
As she and her daughter, who is in 8th grade, attend camp this year; they are in different units here at Sky High. JuneBug is excited to give her daughter the camp experience; she is hoping that her daughter will one day be a PA, CIT, and eventually a counselor because it is a magical experience in a persons’ life – not just for girls, but magical for staff and everyone involved.
“I wish that every girl (and every boy) could experience the camp magic in their lives.”