Sam - Age 14

Hello. My name is Sam. I am 14 years old and I have been at Camp Emerson for 2 years. This is my camp story.

I really loved Color Wars time at camp. It was a fun time where you could truly build a team and connect with lots of other kids across all age groups. I hung out with campers I had never seen before during Color Wars and became good friends with them because of it. I always felt the most energetic, happy, and excited during Color Wars time. Although I never won it, I still had fun fighting to win it. I enjoyed how into it everyone was, and how everyone, no matter what age, took it seriously. It made it all the better.

I remember my first year at camp. We had Monopoly themed Olympics. I woke up the first day, not knowing what to expect, and heard the chime of the Monopoly theme song playing. It was six in the morning and I didn’t know what was going on. Suddenly, a bunch of older kids banged on our door and ran into our bunk. I was so confused, crazed out, and shocked. They gave us tickets and ushered us out of the bunks and into buses that drove away. It was so much fun to go to the local bank, where Jen was waiting to give us instructions. I was thoroughly surprised and impressed by the beginning of Color Wars. It made me feel very excited to see what was to come.

From the moment when I woke up on the first day to the moment when the winner was announced, I had a blast! Those two days were the best! We played so many fun, competitive games against our friends and I remember wanting so badly to win for our team because the spirit was soooooo high. Everyone loved it and was trying so hard to t win. It was wonderful! I’d experience competitions like this in the past where everyone tried half-heartedly and without much emphasis or effort. In this case, it was nothing like that. Everybody was amped up for Color Wars.

Playing Monopoly in the dining hall was great. I couldn’t believe that the whole dining hall had been rearranged to fit a life-sized Monopoly board with life-sized pieces in it. It was magnificent. I loved rolling the “dice” for our team and moving our giant wheelbarrow around the board.

The final performances were also amazing. I remember being one of the actors in our skit and being so excited to perform it in front of the entire camp on the final night of Color Wards. I really gave my performance my all and I think it truly paid off, because everyone was clapping and screaming at the end. Performing our team’s song was also incredible. It felt great to be in sync with everyone else, singing a song we had just learned that morning and knowing it like we knew our favorite song. The feeling I had when the winner was about to be announced was indescribable. Although we didn’t win, it was all worth it. At first, I was upset. But as I thought about things, I realized that the fun of Color Wars isn’t in winning, it’s in the actual two days of competition and team building and spirit. Just walking around camp with my team, chanting “Worldwide Wheelbarrows!” was fantastic! I couldn’t have asked for a better two days at camp.

I loved Color Wars at camp. It was a truly unique experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. I will never stop saying, “Go White Team!!” Whenever I thinking about Colors Wars, it reminds me of camp and how much fun I had there. It makes me sad that I am not there right now, but I do have all the photos to look through of those awesomely amazing two days!! I am Sam, and that is my camp story.