Thank you, Jaycie, for choosing to write your college essay about good old Camp Birch Hill. We could not be more honored. Please enjoy Jaycie’s incredibly honest perspective on Camp and how it has been influential in her life, especially in the years after camp. I’m so glad that at camp she feels absolutely at Home and I think that resonates with so many of us past (and current!) Birch Hillers. Thanks again, Jaycie! I am sure the college of your dreams will be touched by this essay! – Your BH Fam

It’s eight o’clock on the first morning of summer, dew still fresh on the grass. Sleepy eyes of all ages trek through the field and assemble within a circle of trees. All heads turn to the center as the campers are greeted with an echoing “good morning” call. As the minutes roll by, the air grows brimming with excitement. The activities of the day are listed and jokes told as the kids tremble with anticipation of the events that lie ahead. Finally, everyone is asked to extend their left arm, and draw their right arm back. As the word “Yahoo” bellows through the campground, they all pump their right fist into the air and run off to start a day filled with activities. This is how everyday in my paradise begins. This is how a day in Camp Birch Hill begins.

As you enter Camp Birch Hill in New Durham, New Hampshire, you start your experience by shutting off your cell phone, and either handing it in to a counselor or sending it home with your parents. As trivial as this may seem, it’s a key factor in what makes camp so special. Without cell phones, kids are forced (in a good way) to make friends and try new things. It allows for a much-needed escape from real world pressures, and allows you to enter into the “Birch Hill Bubble”.

This “bubble” is the judgement-free, worry-free zone that is Camp Birch Hill. As Alexa — a camp director and very influential person in my life — would say: camp is a place to “let your freak flag fly”. By this, I mean that what isn’t the social norm at home, is celebrated here. As someone who has never fully fit in with any group in school, I found it easy to make long-lasting frienships here.

Camp, in itself, is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. After attending camp for three consecutive summers, I completed my final year at Birch Hill in 2012. I was a “counselor in training”, otherwise known as a CIT. As a CIT, I took on camp in a whole new light. I was a model for younger campers, as our group was composed of the oldest kids in camp. We planned dances and shadowed counselors and led activities. I learned valuable leadership skills that I’ve implemented throughout high school. I would also leave camp having grown as a person, with the confidence to express myself freely and the skills to be successful.

Although it’s been two years since I’ve been to camp, the impact it has had on my life is always prevalent. When I feel out of place I remember Alexa’s wise words. When I’m nervous to do something for the first time I remember when I was afraid to go zip-lining but conquered my fear and then went three more times. When I’m upset I remember Camp Birch Hill. I remember the view from the top of Mount Monadnock that time we hiked it. I remember how incredible it feels to run through the soccer field during that night’s game. I remember the feeling I had every morning when I woke up surrounded by the people I knew would be life-long friends. I remember Birch Hill during all these times because it’s the one place where I feel absolutely at home.      

Submitted by Jaycie Stoopack