Personal Narrative: Camp Kesem

Before parting ways, our camp director gathers the counselors around to tell us, “Be the person who your campers think you are.” I reflected back on what I just endured through in that past week and how my fellow co-counselors and I made this camp come to life. This was my first year in Camp Kesem, a week-long, overnight camp designed specifically for children affected by their parent’s cancer, and our week of fun just ended. As I continued dedicating myself to this organization for the following three years, I abided to our camp director’s motto and had to acquire all characteristics of the honor code in order to become a better leader.

Initially, the idea of working with children compelled me to join this organization. I thought joining

He began to cry as I started comforting him, and at this point I was stumped. I used all the strategies we learned during training, but nothing truly worked. As I sat there thinking of other useful tactics, I noticed his colorful Spider-Man backpack. “Wow,” I said, “Is this Spider-Man fighting Rhino and Shocker?”. Being a huge Spider-Man fan, I couldn’t help but point it out my favorite superhero. “Yeah! Do you watch Spider-Man too?” he asked. “Of course!” I replied. Immediately, the idea of missing home left his mind and was filled with exciting Spider-Man stories. Because of my camper, I learned that compassion can go a long way if one is truly genuine.

After being heavily involved with the Camp Kesem for the past three years, I cultivated several skills that taught me to become a better leader: being honest, compassionate, and respectful. No matter how much studying is done, these skills cannot be studied solely with a paper and pen, but rather through experience. It makes much discipline to perfect these skills, let alone become a strong leader. After working with my co-counselors in Camp Kesem, I believe I proudly represent the honor code for the Texas A&M College of