My summer camp for this year ended June 23.

I’ve been going to Baconton Missionary Baptist Church’s Summer Camp in Walthourville since the beginning of it when I was 5 years old. Sister Felecia Thomas was our first director.

I always come to memaw’s house for the summer for about a month just to go to camp. We would go on field trips, get t-shirts, book bags, and water bottles.

The ladies in the kitchen, Sister Helen Woods and Sister Johnnie Hampton, also make good hot meals. The camp is a great way to make new friends for the summer.

Every Friday there is fun day. The waterslide is outside and you have water games. Me, personally, as I got older I hated being on the waterslide. Fridays were fun though.

When Sister Thomas left and Sister Olivia Branch became the director, I remember she would have her daughter Ashanti teach us dances for the presentation on the last day for the parents. The dances were awesome, and I really enjoyed them.

There was one time when I was in Sister Rosa Walthour’s class and for our presentation Rodney Starr and I had to act like we were going on a date. It was to show etiquette, but was kind of awkward for the both of us.

Sister Olivia left because her husband is the Army, so then we got the wonderful Sister Wanda Bush. Sister Bush, with the assistance of Sister Ann Pray, really upgraded the camp. This was around the time, I really enjoyed camp because I was in my last years of being a camper.

My favorite age group I was in was the 12-14 year olds because of Minister Crystal Ball. She really brought energy to the camp and was cool. I loved being in her class because we would learn new things and do awesome experiments such as building a big house with blocks.

Now, it was my time to graduate from being a camper to a camp helper.

Last summer was my first time being a camp helper, and I thought it was going to be hard but it was actually fun. I even got to teach the 5-6 years old the last two weeks with this girl name Kayla.

This summer I helped Jakeisha Daniels with the 9 to 11 year class. They were a little rowdy and a hand full (at times), but the class was really a funny class.

We made slime with them, and I remember Jakeisha saying "this is really fascinating."

And it really was.

The camp went to the buffalo farm in Townsend; that field trip kind of scared me just a bit. It was a nice trip overall though. This year was certainly an experience, but I enjoyed it, and look forward to next year.