During the summer months, 40+ children explore Friends School and head out on adventures during 7-weeks of summer camp. It is always a delight when former students and FSP grads come back and work as Summer Camp Counselors. Cole Allan, Eloise Colhoun ‘23, Addyson Babcock ‘19, and Tess McNally ’20 are back at camp this summer. Here are a few reflections from being back at FSP this first week of camp.
Cole:
“I remember when I went to Friends School camp on Mackworth. It was magical. Now, I get to be a part of facilitating the magic.
During the school year, I’m back substituting in AfterCare after my semester at UMass Boston is over, but summer is different. I love watching what kids build together. In Fox Camp, it’s always about forts, streams, and getting dirty. There is just so much time and space to let kids' interests find them, rather than just in the few hours in AfterCare that I might see them.
I just love summer kids!
Eloise:
It’s a full circle. It’s incredible to be back at school as a counselor where I was a student. It feels so good to be out hiking on the trails with kids that I used to run on with the cross country team.
Summer camp and Friends School both integrate the outdoors into everything. Right now, I’m headed back to supervise Free Play, but it could just as easily be a recess on a Tuesday!
Addyson:
Well, this is my fourth summer back at camp. I feel like I am part of a community that I belong to, not just as a graduate of FSP, but as part of the fabric of summer camp.
It’s fun to see what has stuck around and what hasn’t. I think it might sound corny, but the spirit of the school is the same. Things that have changed make me a bit discombobulated, like not having the mound in the courtyard or adding the middle school wing. It still feels strange to walk down it.
But I think that it says a lot about Friends School that physically it's changed since I was a student, but spiritually it is the same.
And Tess, we can’t wait to see you at camp in a few weeks!