by Julia Johnson
Friendship is forever at camp. As a second year VAMPY camper in 2014, I met a girl named Alexa Davis on my hall. We became fast friends, both during hall time and our Mathematics class where we were each taking Algebra 2. Between figuring out problems, walking to lunch, and sitting on the brick wall outside our classroom during breaks, we were hardly ever apart. We even ended up on the same hall again the next year at VAMPY. When we weren’t at camp, we were still communicating via social media. We both went to The Gatton Academy at the same time, and now we are both back as camp counselors this year, living on the same hall.
It’s amazing to look back at our camp memories and talk about our friendship with our campers. The friends you make at camp aren’t just for three weeks only; they are for a lifetime. As VAMPY moves into its final days, campers are exchanging phone numbers, notes, and friendship bracelets to remember each other by. As I hear them making plans to meet up after camp and see their excitement for the future building, I cannot help but think back on my time as a camper and the lifelong friendships I made. It is beautiful to now be a counselor and watch the same thing happen for my campers.
