What an incredible first half of my summer so far. I have been serving for the past 5 weeks at Camp Hale in Center Sandwich and so far I have felt many feelings while I’m here but regretful has not been one. I could have never imagined a more perfect place for me to be this summer. It all started with a couple of training weeks. In those first couple weeks there were no kids and no counselors on camp yet so I had the place all to myself and a couple administrators at the camp. I took this time to explore the camp and busy myself with activities during the day to prepare the camp for the children who came up about 2 weeks later. To make the camp easily accessible for many (especially young children) me and my partner have been clearing trails of much of the large debris that fell over the winter months. While doing this trail work there have been many discoveries that get us talking with the children and each other.
One of the most interesting discoveries has been sawfly larvae. If you’ve never heard of these insects then it may be worth it to look up a picture of them. Upon clearing a rock wall with a large drainage area in it we stumbled across the larvae when we saw a large fern that had grown with the ends of its leaves balled up. Since we were very curious as to why this was we carefully broke open the balled up section to a cocoon-like enclosure that housed one of the alien looking sawfly larvae. It was an incredible find and something that I never would have discovered if I had not been cleaning around the area. I have also discovered a love for slugs while I am flipping old and decomposing logs. I will make sure to attach a picture to this to show just how incredible they are up close.
The first thing that the campers know us as are “the people working in the woods”, but as the sessions go on it has been incredible to work with the counselors on creating an interesting and informative nature curriculum to teach the campers. I have had a blast connecting with the campers and helping them learn about nature and conserving the environment. My favorite parts of the day are after I have completed a big task and get to take the time to enjoy the lake with the kids by swimming and enjoying watercraft. I also get to be with the kids while they spend their time on surfaces that we have groomed. It is incredible to receive a thank you for doing the work that makes the lake and the rest of the camp more accessible for everyone.
As the summer goes on I cannot wait to explore more of the lakes region and have a blast with the campers and counselors while making the trails of camp hale the best they can be!
Alyssa is currently in pursuit of her BS in the biological sciences at the University of Manchester. You can read more about her here!