Camp Berea

For those of you who don’t know, I spent 7 weeks of my summer on Catalina Island serving at a camp called Campus by the Sea, and two weeks serving at a camp in New Hampshire called Camp Berea.

I got to be Princess Ana for one night!!

Eighteen staff from Campus by the Sea headed to Hebron, New Hampshire after being on an island for 7 weeks. We arrived in Hebron on Sunday, May 3^rd fresh off of a Red Eye flight from Long Beach California. I have to admit, the first few days in New Hampshire were difficult for me. My body was tired, I was in a new environment, and I was busy preparing a familiar program for an unfamiliar environment. One of the biggest changes for me in this transition was getting a new teaching partner. Unfortunately, not everyone from the Campus by the Sea program staff got to go to Berea so I got the opportunity to work with a guy named Micah instead of working with my previous partner, Seth. It was so cool to see how well Micah picked up the 4 and 5 year old curriculum so fast and did it so well! The kids loved him and he was such a great partner.

Sweet Michelle, I love her life

One of my campers from last year

            There are many differences between Campus by the Sea and Camp Berea but one of the biggest is the children. It seems silly but its true. The kids generally have a harder time leaving their parents for the day. They are less comfortable with us as teachers and the parents have a harder time leaving their kids with us. Even though we had that hurdle, each week ended with the kids being happy to be in class with their teachers and new friends. Micah and I really depended on God to give each kid peace about being in class and we got to see God worked in each of their lives in simple ways. Although I spent, most of my time with 4 and 5 year olds, I also got to invest in the lives of my 6^th and 7^th grade students that I had last year at camp Berea. It was really great to see how they have grown physically and spiritually in the last year! I also really enjoyed the quality time I got to have with staff. We had great times of running in the rain, finding caterpillars, dancing, and serving campers.