Well Wildcats, the weeks left in this semester are winding down, and realistically this is probably the last time you’ll hear from me. I receive my diploma after my summer internship at Camp Kitaki, and then I’ll be off on (as of yet, unknown) adventures.

 
We’ve had some good times. We yelled at this college and watched avidly as nothing changed for the better. We discussed some of the issues challenging our world and how, hopefully, everyone could be a better person.

 
But before I leave you, I want to bring it back to the reason I began writing in the first place.

 
Kids.

 
Camp has changed my life, definitely for the better and for good. Working with kids in a myriad of different ways is the most frustrating, incredible, annoying and amazing thing I’ve ever done. Every child should have the chance to go to summer camp and just be a kid.

 
We are lucky at Camp Kitaki to have the opportunity to offer several camps for kids with different needs and abilities. We offer weeks where we have specially designated cabins for kids with a variety of necessities outside the norm.

 
We have a week with kids who have asthma and often are unable to climb the rolling hills that make up a large portion of our groups.

 
A week with kids who have some variation of heart problem, many of whom have had at least one, if not several, open-heart surgeries in their lifetime.

 
A week with kids for whom walking is sometimes painful, or climbing, or even getting out of bed in the morning, because arthritis has become a reality far too early in their lives.

 
We have a week with kids whose behavioral or mental abilities might not normally allow camp to be a possibility.

 
And we have a week with kids who are deaf or hard of hearing, and coming to camp might otherwise be a nightmare without interpreters and others who dedicate their time.

 
All this, while camp is still in full swing with an assortment of other campers, with other levels of need and all deserving of our attention and devotion.

 
I am incredibly blessed to work in such an environment that puts the needs of children above our own. Because, as cheesy as it sounds, they are our future.

 
When I think of the issues these campers face, I don’t always picture children. My mind usually bring up images of adults when I consider crippling arthritis, or a need for open-heart surgery. And while not all of the needs we serve are detrimental to those living with them, there are children and people everywhere in need of love and support.

 
For example, on April 23 there is a volleyball tournament to support the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. You have to register by Friday. But get a team together at $10 per person, and you’re helping our innovative world find a real cure for juvenile diabetes. How crazy! (Check it out for real, register at the Student Activities Office!)

 
Now, in that cheesy, fluffy way you all love me for, I leave you with this from Steve Jobs:
“Things don’t have to change the world to be important.”