Keeping Summer Camp Magic Alive Through COVID-19

At the end of summer camp 2019, as we all said goodbye to SNC for the year and started to make plans of returning in 2020, we did not anticipate an obstacle quite like COVID-19. As the pandemic started to grip the nation, life as we knew it was about to change. It didn’t take long for my college to shut down, originally only being an extended spring break, which quickly turned into remote learning from my hometown for the rest of the year. Friendships made at school were suddenly taken away, plans that were made for the end of the school year, all gone thanks to a pandemic. Yet, despite all of this, SNC 2020 still happened as planned, with a few adjustments of course. 

Coming to camp wearing a face mask would be the first noticeable change that took place in the summer. As I showed up, the bright smiles I was used to seeing on the first day back were replaced with a piece of fabric that made breathing more difficult. Usually during staff training, all the male counselors would sleep in one cabin and all the female counselors would sleep in another cabin. This year, we were split up, having to open multiple cabins so that we could minimize the risk of spreading the virus if one of us had it. Despite this, some things didn’t change. We still created strong bonds with each other and grew from strangers to friends, we still laughed and joked, it still felt like we were at camp. With camp set up and ready to go, there was only one crucial piece missing, the kids.

Our first session is always the shorter Discovery session. It is designed for campers who have never been to Swift to feel out if this camp will become their new summer home. In previous years, our biggest worry was homesick kids, as many of them had never been away from home for two weeks. This year, we had the unique obstacle of COVID, which would test our abilities as a team, communicating with each other if we were worried about a possible case of COVID, enforcing children to wear face masks in hot and humid weather, having a UV light in the cabins, and having a reworked schedule. With all of these changes, some of the returning counselors wondered if it was even the same camp we had come to love. As it would turn out, it was. It became clear quickly that there did not appear to be any cases in camp, and as no one could leave and come back, all worries of spreading the virus were gone and we got to enjoy camp as we knew it. After the first week, we relaxed COVID restrictions, the masks we once wore over our faces were no longer present, instead replaced by the beaming smiles of kids. 3rd activity and Free Time came back, which was fantastic, because even counselors love Free Time. Camp was back to normal, and there was no greater feeling. As the second week came to a close, so too did the session, and we sent home all of our new friends happy, dirty, tired, and most importantly, COVID free. For them, it was the end. For us, it was merely the beginning.

While Discovery felt difficult with COVID policies, the first Explorer session would present a new issue. Many kids in these sessions have been coming here for years, and they knew how the schedule worked and what camp felt like, so when that was all changed due to a virus, they faced a similar problem the returning counselors had. Was this the camp that they had grown to love and call home in the summer? The hardest part about this session was not being able to hug all the kids you remembered from years prior as they got dropped off. We had hit the reset button, our guards were up, and we were ready to beat our invisible virus enemy again. As a counselor, I am always shocked by how much the kids change over a year of time. In the months we aren’t at camp, little boys and girls turn into young men and women. Some kids feel like they’ve grown a foot since you’ve last seen them. Seeing these changes is one of the most exciting parts of this job, because even though they’ve changed on the outside, they are still the same kids on the inside. There were several returning campers I didn’t recognize at first glance due to their growth and the face mask over their mouth. After settling back into our COVID scheduling, it again became clear that the chances of the virus being present here were quite low, and a bit into the second week of camp, we relaxed restrictions. All of a sudden, it was back to normal, the bell woke us up, we stood shoulder to shoulder in the bathroom all trying to brush our teeth, and we high fived and sang on our way into the dining hall. Camp was back, and for a longer time during this session. Free Time and 3rd activity allowed us all to meet new people and make new friends, whether they had been coming for years or this was their first year here, camp was in full swing. Smiles, laughter, and singing filled the dining hall, and the returning campers remembered why they come back every summer. The second week quickly came to a close and the third week flew by, bringing us to the end of another session. Again, we sent the kids home happy, dirty, tired, and COVID free. 

When the final session of the summer came around, we knew COVID cases were rising, and some of us began to worry about having the virus at camp. As the final group of campers arrived, we all had to put masks back on and completely restart, which was very difficult for both staff and campers who stayed for 6 weeks. We had just enjoyed living mask free at camp, and for one last time, we started all over again. However, the first week flew by and we once again began to relax COVID policies more and more, until we were able to return all the way back to normal camp. The last session always feels the fastest, and this one was no exception, and felt like it ended as quickly as it started and the summer was coming to a close. Due to our strict policies, and possibly a little bit of camp magic, we were very fortunate not to have a single case of COVID amongst campers or staff.

We always tell the campers that camp is a magical place, and some choose to believe it, and some don’t. After this summer I can say, without a doubt, this is the most magical place to exist. Despite there being a pandemic, we still had camp. Even with COVID restrictions, we still had fun. And even though case numbers grew as the summer went on, no one here ever got the virus. Against all odds, we had another successful summer, filled with laughter, singing, and a ridiculous amount of sand in everything we owned. We would wake up every morning, feeling thankful that we were at camp, having fun, and being safe, even if it meant wearing a face mask. But the days where the masks came off, there were screams and cheers of joy, because it meant that we were finally back home for the summer, the way we wanted it to be all year. And it made leaving even more bittersweet than it usually is, because we overcame an invisible enemy, by working together, by using patience, knowing the best days were ahead of us, and by uniting as a community to ensure we could all get the experience that we wanted to have. If that isn’t the very magic of camp at work, I have no idea what is. This summer exemplified what camp is about, adapting to change, working together, and overcoming any challenges that come along. With summer 2020 behind, we are already looking forward to summer at SNC 2021. Until then, keep smiling, respect one another, and when it’s summertime again, we will be up here waiting for you to return.