Child Observation Report

There is a feeling of satisfaction when staring at my blackened, disgusting feet that is nothing like anything else. Each toe and crevice is crusted in a filthy glase of dirt and dusty grime. I am thinking if I have to pick my feet out of a hundred others, I would not be able to recognise which pair was mine. My sandals look as though they have been dragged by a herd of rhinos for hundreds of miles. There is something magnificent about looking down at my feet after a day at summer camp and thinking, “Yes, I did something great today.” I volunteer as a teen staff at a summer camp called Camp Winnarainbow, located in Laytonville, California on a piece of land called Black Oak Ranch. The camp has been open for forty years now this July and was created by the iconic hippie Wavy Gravy. Wavy created the camp as a place where children of all ages, ethnicities and backgrounds can come together to create a

As a teen staff, I live in one of the tipis for my time at camp with nine to twelve girl campers. The campers in my tipi, I have full responsibility for. The system of having tipis is designed to create the idea of a family in each one. For my time at camp, my co-staff and I help the girls in our tipi to bond, make friendships, and make sure that they are getting the full camp experience. We are in charge of sleeping in the tipi every night, making sure the girls are getting along, and to treat every girl like a sister. I am there for the campers as a role model and a person they look up to with utmost admiration. When I was a camper at Camp Winnarainbow, I remember thinking the counselors were the most amazing people I had ever met. They were so fun, weird and silly that I wanted to be exactly like them when I grew up. Now as a teen staff at Camp Winnarainbow, I strive to be the same camp counselor as I saw the other counselors to be when I was a