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Camper Turned Camp Counselor

Chris "CJ" Bennett, 18, is graduating from high school in June. He recently spent a day touring the university he is going to call home for the next four years with his good friend, Jen, whom he met at summer camp about eight years ago.

Back then, CJ was a self-described bratty little kid going to Camp Sharwood at the city park in Woodland Hills, Calif. "I was one of the worst campers ever," CJ admits. Apparently he tried really hard to drive the counselors crazy. "I would tickle them or poke them when they didn't want me to. I refused to stand in line and would throw tantrums and be really competitive with the other kids," he recalls. Later, when he became a counselor-in-training (CIT), the counselors told him that they shuddered when they learned that Group 10, CJ's group, was going to be under their charge.

Jen, whose camp name was Goldie, was one of the counselors he felt comfortable with. "She was kind of a rebel herself," he said. "I could go hang out with her and be myself." They were both soccer players and saw each other often at the local soccer fields even though she was about four years older than him.

"I look up to her," CJ said. "She liked to make the kids laugh and she always had fun but she never sacrificed what she believed."

After being a camper at Sharwood for four years, CJ had to decide what he was going to do the next summer. His feelings about camp were so good, and he had made so many friends, that he didn't want to leave, so he decided to apply to become a CIT the next summer. "At first I thought they might not hire me," he said. "I was just grateful they saw in my interview that I was done being a stupid camper and ready to take on some responsibility."

It was an amazing experience for him and for those who had him pegged as the worst camper ever. CJ says he turned into one of the best CIT's ever and became a truly beloved counselor. He said that in a weird way, the fact that he had been a well-known problem-camper ended up working in his favor as a counselor.

Campers who are problems for the counselors are often seen as being "cool" by their peers. When he made the jump to counselor, that coolness still clung to him. But it also gave him some authority. CJ says he understands the mindset of the up-and-coming "worst campers" and that gives him a better insight in how to make their camp experience better.

"I just love making the kids laugh," he said. "I'm a complete goofball in front of the kids whether it's shouting, making funny faces - just doing anything that makes the kids have fun." It makes him feel good and when the kids come back to camp, the first they do is come running up to CJ and give him a hug.

When CJ learned he had been accepted to California State University Northridge, he called Jen, who is currently a student there. She immediately offered to give him a tour of the campus and clue him in on all those little things that can ease the transition to a big new place.

CJ says he has developed other good relationships at camp, too. "I keep in regular contact with 90 percent of my camp co-workers who are all two to three years into college," he said. "I know that on any given day I could call on any of them to get help. We have a tight bond."

He explained that working eight or nine hours a day, five days a week together during the summer really does turn the counselors into a family. Those relationships then carry on outside of work. "We hang out, have dinner, go to movies and they become your best friends for summer," CJ said. "I always look forward to camp, to the good times."