When nine high school cabin leaders accompanied the 8th grade class on their annual trip to Calvin Crest, Sept. 13-17, each one had unique experiences and memories.

Juniors Brady Lee and Trevor York, along with sophomore Maddie Yee, reflect on their time at camp.

Cabin leader Brady Lee performed magic shows each night during the evening program. But Lee suffered the consequences of a trick he performed during one show in particular, he said.

“Wednesday night began like every other night,” Lee said. “I ate meat loaf, mashed potatoes and corn during dinner time. I performed magic a couple hours later that consisted of sticking a deck of cards in my mouth, in order to find a card using ‘sleight of tongue.’ I triumphantly found the card in my mouth, but only later did I discover I had contracted a germ from those cards.”

As a result, Lee experienced stomach sickness throughout the evening.

“My stomach began aching around 11 p.m. I felt something churning within me, so I went to the bathroom and threw up. My dinner looked noticeably different than it did earlier that night,” Lee said. “I found myself in that bathroom two other times during that night, throwing up.”

Despite his unfortunate condition, Lee maintained an optimistic attitude.

“As I sat in my bed in the wee hours of the morning, I decided to make this experience positive and productive,” Lee said. “I silently prayed for each one of my cabin members as they slept.”

Like the eighth graders, the cabin leaders were given free time. Counselors spent these two and a half hours catching up on sleep, doing homework and enjoying social time.

Activities such as paddle boats, the rock-climbing wall and zip-line were also available. Maddie Yee and fellow counselors spent their time on the paddle boats one afternoon.

“During one of the counselors’ free-time periods, we all wanted to go on the paddle boats,” Yee said. “We put on our life jackets and decided to all pile into one boat. We had been paddling for about a minute when Brookie [Stobbe] and Dana [King] started to freak out, because the boat seemed too low in the water. We all began to worry about sinking, but eventually we laughed the situation off.”

As the only sophomore, Yee was the youngest counselor at Calvin Crest. She imagined there might be a struggle for authority due to her young age, she said.

“As the youngest counselor, I was only two years older than the campers,” Yee said. “At first this thought scared me; I was really nervous about connecting with my cabin and whether or not I could handle different situations. However, by the time I arrived at Calvin Crest and met my cabin, I knew God was going to use me as an example for him.”

As in the past, the eighth graders participated in skit night. Emotions ran through the students as they wondered what their peers might think of them up on stage. The skits covered everything from princesses to dance crews.

Counselor Trevor York particularly enjoyed practicing the skits with his cabin, he said.

“For the skit my cabin pretended to be a boy band dance crew,” York said. “My favorite part of Calvin Crest was rehearsing the dance moves with my cabin. At first it took forever to get my kids to pay attention; they wanted to do their own thing, but we came together and got some good practice in.”

“I learned all sorts of new crazy moves, like the ‘one-armed handstand’ and the ‘shopping cart.’ When it came time to perform our skit, I cranked up the music on my laptop, and we rocked out.”

York appreciated having the opportunity to share wisdom with his cabin, he said.

“Quite honestly, I saw a different part of myself in every one of the kids when I was in junior high,” York said. “I’m so glad I got to grow closer to the kids and teach them what I’ve learned through my failures. They wanted to learn more about how girls and dating should be treated.”

For more information, read the Sept. 1 article, Upperclassmen counsel Calvin Crest campers.

Writers Brady Lee, Maddie Yee and Trevor York contributed to this article.

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