Camp Anne Again... The Sequel. 2025

After taking a year off last year to visit Mexico instead of camp it's crazy to be back at this home away from home.

8th to the 15th of June- Cabin Leader training....

Well this year I return as a Cabin Leader instead of Counsellor after being asked back in January. This week was incredible. The cadmin (Cabin Leader and Admin) team is amazing. Great personalities and I can tell we're going to be a great family.

I participated in SKIP training, painting the cabins, cleaning everywhere and preparing for the new counsellors to arrive. We had our own fun activities in the evening where we made a camp bingo, watched movies, played pictionary and guessed who said what in a kahoot. We then finished the week with a game of paintball for a little bonding and celebration before a challenging summer ahead. Prior to this paintball game as six cabin leaders we were trying to predict which cabin which cabin leader was going to be head of. We decided at the end of the paintball games we would line up, state our predictions and then the admin team would get free fire to shoot those of us who's predictions were wrong. Well I of course was wrong and had two paintballs shot at me but neither exploded. Unfortunately one of us got shot twice in the private area... probably wasn't the best idea. However I found that my second summer I would be back in my home cabin Birch!! It is a mixed counsellor cabin with male only campers. I was very happy about this. Birch is the smallest cabin out of all the cabins which I was a bit apprehensive about but ended up loving as it meant we were all a lot closer, I had less campers to learn and worry about and it was a lovely cabin to be in.

I will never forget the 15th of June. All day I was anxious / excited to meet the new members of Birch. The 14th I had three returning staff arrive, two from last year, one from 2019.

I remember sitting at the second table in the dining hall- Birch's table sat ages as every other cabin got 2 or 3 people before my first one arrived.

I was definitely the most excited and very intimidating to the newbies as I would stand up and celebrate everytime a new person came in (that's just my nerves).

They were a very shy and tired group so weren't bed very early on.

We then got a training week together where I learnt I had the most introverted cabin members which was interesting as I was probably one of the most extroverted cabin leaders.

Any way the training in the day was pretty standard and boring but what I will share is the OCF activities in the evening- all about bonding and competition (I am very competitive!!)

OCF= Organised Compulsory Fun....

Well night one (16th) was American Icons- I was thrilled only female cabin leader of a mixed cabin. I felt I needed to be a male American icon so my cabin picked.... Donald Trump. So I was painted Orange. Told how he would dance and made a speech all about Birch being the greatest.

The other two females were Sabrina Capenter and Chappell Roan so my quote was- Some of us were put on this earth to be sexy and others funny. I was put on this earth to be funny.

The males were then Post Malone, Magic Mike and beyonce.

Night two (17th) - Food challenge. This was probably my most unexcited challenge.

The cabin leaders have to participate but we were given the best one... Watermelon and soy sauce. Now as a very competitive person and someone who was leading a male and mixed cabin I had to prove myself. So I smashed that watermelon and won by a solid 30 seconds to 1 minute for my cabin. I luckily didn't vomit but had a great time.

We then tied with two male cabins so cabin leaders had to verse again eating a spicy Dumpling where mine was filled with three cloves of garlic and a lot of spice and going against 2 Latino i came dead last. So we finished in third place.

Night three-(18th) Paint war. Tonight we had to decorate a flag to put up in front of the cabin. As Birch is a tree just like all the other cabins are named after it was a bit challenging to think of an idea but we decided on random things accossiated to the cabin and starting with B. We had bears in a croc. A bald Eagle. An American flag of course... as we were the Donald Trump cabin. A tree. Camps rocks with our hand prints on them. This then finished with everyone being covered in paint but was a fun time.

Night four- (19th) Mini games. As a very introverted and non-physically strong person cabin we cam last in this but it was good fun. We had a dancing challenge where I saw one of the guys in my cabin do the splits. We had to carry water from one bucket to another with whatever we had on us- t-shirts, Shoes, out mouths. We had a scavenger hunt and a basketball challenge. It was the capture the flag game that my cabin was the first people out.

Night five- (20th) Slip n slide. This one was very funny and I thought we would lose but actually came forst or second. We had to jump obstacles, slip down a tarp and finish with flipping a cup.

Night six- (21st) The last night we had to do a Talent show. I had prepared my cabin with dance party songs and then we worse glowsticks and performed in the dark. It was very fun and cool!! But we finished the entire OCF in second to Foxtail. Very disappointing but it was good fun and i definitely had the most spirit. We then ended the entire week with a Party.

Sessions:

The work at camp was a lot of course. Up at 6:30-7am awake until 11pm-1am. As a cabin leader I was taking care of all my counsellors and their campers. In session 1 it was the first time 90% of my cabin had worked with disabilities before so it was a big challenge. I learnt a lot about myself and my leadership skills. I burnt myself out trying to be cabin leader, a floater and a counsellor 24/7.

I did love my cabin and all the campers we had.

Session 2 was my favourite for the personalities of campers we had in the cabin. Especially one camper that was just a fun ball of energy and wanted to give you hugs all the time.

Session 4 was my favourite in regards to the family vibe in my cabin everyone was joking around, having fun and working together which was so nice.

During intersessions I went to Lake George where I enjoyed the night vibes as well as six flags which was a lot of fun. We also had a BBQ which was very nice.

I then also went to Atlantic City where I enjoyed some Karaoke, watching fantastic four at the cinema and getting up at 5am to watch the sunrise.

We then had a training day after Atlantic city before kids session started where we did pool games and fun where Birch came last again. But it was good fun and again had the most spirit.

Session 5 being the last sessionni wanted to make the most of it with my cabin so we played games together everynight including charades, guess who is who- baby edition, who said what and celebration a graduation for one of my counsellors who decided to stay longer at camp instead of going home to graduate. We put on a little ceremony at the cabin for him.

I also started some Prank wars including a water fight during cabin meetings, sneaking into a cabin and taking counsellors (and one campers- whoops) shoes in the night and hiding them around camp. And potentially being involved in putting Halloween directions in the directors office....

I definitely got to enjoy more of camp nearer the end as I made the most of it and focused on the fun. Think i might have to do it again next year to keep the fun all summer long...

But thank you to the incredible Cadmin team, cabin leader team and my Birch Family!! Wouldn't have been the same summer without each and every one of you ❤️.

Thank you Camp Anne for truly being my home away from home and allowing Mr to be 100% me all the time. I even finished the summer with winning 1st for Camp spirit which was such a nice way to end it and see what impact I had made on people this summer.