By Skylar and Jillian (Arava Girls 2 Campers) 

Yesterday for bunk free choice, our bunk (Arava Girls 2) wanted to do baking with Jon & Ellie at their house. When we got there, we were told that their oven wasn’t working. Although the news was disappointing, we ended up just hanging out and talking with them. We didn’t get fresh baked cookies (instead we received yummy ice pops) but we got a great experience by listening to their camp stories. We learned all of the color war themes from when Jon was a camper and Ellie’s crazy stories from her years as a counselor.

Once we were done talking about the past camp years, we did a bunk bonding activity with Ellie, where we met her friend Wanda (a paper gingerbread lady). We went around the circle saying mean things to Wanda, while ripping her up. By the end Wanda was hurt by our comments, both mentally and physically. We then passed Wanda back around the circle giving her compliments and piecing her back together. Even though she was pieced back together, she was still hurt by our mean comments.

As a reminder to be nice to our fellow bunkmates, we hung Wanda on our door to remember that bad words can hurt people. Coming into our last week of camp, we want to keep in mind that we should always be nice to each other.  Camp gives us a the chance to practice kindness and compassion towards everyone.