For the Sophomores and Juniors, 4th and 5th graders respectively, it is typically their first summers away from home. It is a time of great highs and lows from the excitement and happiness of the daily camp activities to moments of sadness and loneliness. I, myself, had an emotional roller coaster for the first couple of summers at camp. There were times where I was having the greatest moments of my life but also moments of dejection. I was homesick and felt isolated despite the people around me always welcoming and including me in all activities. But then I remembered what I was told by Kevin Grey, the Sophomore Group Head. He told us on the first night that our “big brothers”, the Senior buddies we were paired up with, were there to be a person to whom we can feel safe and a person we can go to in times of need.
I then walked over to my big buddy’s bunk and asked him if he wanted to have a baseball catch with me—like I always did with my father when I needed support at home—and without any hesitation, Gary stopped what he was doing with his friends, got his glove, and went on front campus with me. Gary was not only there for me that first time but also every time I needed him. When the seniors came back from their trip, he came to my bunk to tell me he was back and handed me a stuffed animal he got during his trip. This was not just any stuff animal though. He remembered me telling him how much I loved the movie Shrek and how Donkey was my favorite character. He then went the extra step and got me a stuffed Donkey replica from the movie. Gary did not go away after that summer; we remained really close friends and stayed in contact. Three years later when he was a JC (Junior Counselor/first-year counselor), he was my bunk’s counselor. Even though I was in upper camp, there was one night when I needed him. He took me out on the porch and sat there talking to me for a couple of hours before I was ready to go to bed. This is the beauty of the Big Brother tradition. Kids seven years apart become connected by chance, and two, three, four, eight, years and counting later, we are still best friends. Age is but a number, an insignificant fact at camp, but Sons of Equinunk remember, “The friends that [we] have made will be faithful ‘till the end.” |