What Defines Me?

              In my opinion, a defining moment is something that sticks with you forever, something that you learned from or something that helped you grow as a person. In the summer of 2006, I attended a week of summer camp at Cairn Family of Camps with my good friend Grace. Shortly after, she moved to Alberta but we continued to go to camp together every summer. This past summer, we attended the Leader In Training (LIT) program for the month of August. The month consisted of a week long canoe trip around the Hudson's bay area, covering over 40 km, 2 weeks of sessions and training to be a counselor, a week in cabin where we job shadowed the counselors, and the last week was basically just having fun times together before we had our closing ceremony. Majority of the LITs had been going to camp together for many years so it was nice to spend a month with such great people. On the canoe trip, I learned a lot about the other LITs, portaging, cooking food on an open fire, and proper storage for food and supplies so animals cant get to it. Although the sessions were a lot like school, we learned valuable things like how to tell if a child may be abused at home, how to run a campfire, different learning styles, different love languages, how to belay someone on a rock wall, how to run a TLC, how to set smart goals, how to handle bullying, how to work with children who have disabilities, how social media impacts us, the importance of diversity at camp and how to be your best self. I was also able to renew my emergency first-aid and receive my bronze medallion and bronze cross. During my in cabin week, I was with a group of 8 crazy girls. They got along great and I was able to really see what counselling is about, the difference between taking care of them and caring for them, especially because one of the cos had to leave halfway through the week so I was able to really step up and get involved. During the month, I also received my camp name, which is a name that is unique to you and its the name you go by at camp, mine is Rizma. Overall, this past summer I developed a deeper understanding of myself, who i really am, my faith and how to be more aware of the feelings of those in my community. I look forward to working at camp next summer,
and receiving my 10 year paddle that will be hung for staff and campers to see.