Author: Aaron Tell

Hello everybody! My name is Nikki Nystrom. I’m a 24-year-old from Pittsburgh, PA. Let’s take it back to the beginning, where I first met the Leahy family at my university’s career fair in 2014!

My senior year of college was just around the corner when I stumbled across the Camp Chen-A-Wanda booth and thought “Why not?!” because I had no idea what I wanted to do or where I wanted to be post-college; I thought this was the perfect time for an adventure and what an adventure it has been!

I joined the Chenny family as a General counselor and loved every second of it. The friendships I made with everyone around me were so genuine and incredible, and little did I know, it would only continue to get better!

During my summer camp career, I have been able to work as a Basketball Specialist, Group Leader, and now a Head Counselor for Navajo camp! Being a camp counselor can be very challenging, but there are a ton of benefits from it as well. Over the last few summers, I’ve learned how to be a great role model, leader, and friend. All of my campers mean the world to me and the bond we have built will always have a special place in my heart.For me, the best part about working at camp is seeing everyone have a great time while making new memories. Having a great time is what camp is all about! I’ve had the opportunity to experience some AWESOME activities, day trips, and days/nights off while working at Chenny. This past summer, I was able to take a trip to the West Coast and see a ton of remarkable places with the GC division. The memories I have made in the last few summers will never leave my head and I’m always looking forward to making new ones every summer. Chen-A-Wanda has had such a huge impact on my life. I feel that I have grown into a better person every time I step foot in camp. Thank you, Chenny, for giving me new friendships, experiences, and of course, Ruben! Hurry up summer 2018!!

 

My Chenny story starts back in 2002 when I started at camp Chen-A-Wanda as a Middy girl at the age of 10. Previous summers before, I had spent my summer days at a local day camp on Long Island and was getting bored. I wanted a change and a new experience. When I toured Chen-A-Wanda, I instantly felt at home. The atmosphere, the warmth, and camp spirit were contagious and I knew this was going to be my summer home for a long time.

However, I started camp that summer in 2002 and cried every day. I was homesick, missed my friends and parents, and didn’t think it was the place for me. I was comforted day after day by amazing counselors, Head Counselors, and friends, but that was a very hard summer for me. My parents remember driving halfway to camp to get me but turning around knowing this was an experience I had to get through on my own. Little did they think I would get off that bus on the last day of camp and say to them “I think I want to go back next summer.” I think their faces dropped to the ground. We spent a lot of time preparing for that next summer, hoping it would be different. I was eager to go back and they were hoping I would be less homesick. I was anxious but wanted to try the experience again and give it my all, and I did.

Going back that following summer was the best decision I ever made. Without camp, my life would be completely different and I would be a totally different person then I am today. I spent those next summers Inter to CIT, creating bonds with my camp friends, walking arm in arm down girl’s side, living in a bunk with my best friends, chanting during meals in the dining hall, spending most of my days on the tennis courts, joining sports teams (although I was never a great athlete), working on my summer tan, walking up the hill and creating memories that would last a lifetime. My camper days were some of the best days of my life. I looked forward to camp every summer, living 10 for 2 to spending time with my camp friends.

My transition from camper to counselor was scary. How could I go from living in a bunk with my camp friends to being a counselor in charge of my own campers? However, my Junior Counselor summer was one of my favorite summers at camp to this day. I lived in a bunk with my Freshmen girls (who are now about to be CIT’s and Junior Counselors) and had amazing co-counselors. I loved bonding with my campers and I made new camp friends while keeping the old as well. I went on to be a counselor for three summers becoming Olympic Captain, Color War Lieutenant and being awarded counselor of the year. I thought my counselor years couldn’t get better, and then I became a Group Leader for the Inter girls in 2012. I loved being a group leader for my Inter girls and building relationships with my counselors as well. However, nothing can compare to the day when Gary Shields called me to base camp to ask me if I would come back the following summer to be an Assistant Head Counselor. I was nervous, scared, and excited all at the same time. Of course, I said yes and started Summer 2013 in Mohican Camp (middle ages) under Amy Simmons, one of my best camp friends to this day. That summer was truly amazing. Since then I have been in both Navajo and Mohican camp as the Girls Head Counselor with each summer getting better and better than the last. Now, I am entering my sixteenth summer at this amazing place as the Mohican girls side Head Counselor for the sixth year and I am so excited what this summer has in store for me. In the offseason, I took a career path that would allow me to come back to camp summer after summer. In the winter I work as a Special Education Teacher in Manhattan and just completed my master’s degree in General Education and Special Education 1-6. My job is both rewarding and challenging, but working with kids, I knew was always my path in life.

Throughout my Chenny journey, I have met many people that have helped shape me into the strong, kind-hearted, loving and independent person I am today. I have learned many life lessons, fallen in love, and created friendships and memories to last a lifetime. I have watched my campers grow from little girls into young adults and helped them along the way as they became counselors to their very own campers. Camp has been an amazing experience for me and I am so excited to see where the next chapter takes me as the rest of my journey is still to come! Bring on Chenny 18!!

How Lucky Am I? I have been a camper since I was 5 years old. Yes, 5 years old (at my first camp) and when visiting day came and my parents ran over to hug me…I wouldn’t get up from my Nok Hockey game (lol). My camp day memories are as clear as the day they happened; being a Color War Lieutenant, a Color War General, creating and publishing the camp yearbook to candles floating on the lake as we sang our alma mater on the last night of camp…I was simply heartbroken when I took my first job and had to give up camp.

But I got another chance and I am still able to say #ILive10For2! My journey at Camp Chen-A-Wanda started the summer of 1995 when I was looking for a camp for my son, Howard (some of you may know him). We toured 3 camps, and this is the camp he loved.

Howard spent 2 summers at camp before my husband, Evan, started to work as the camp doctor for the first two weeks of the summer. In 2001 when my daughter, Sheri, was old enough to go into a bunk I was hired to work in the office.

This will be my 18th summer at Chen-A-Wanda. As the Office Manager, I work with everyone from Campers, Parents, Counselors, Support Staff to Head Staff. I do a lot of behind the scenes, from creating parent information, camper forms, scheduling camper phone calls, to making sure your camper has his/her allotted spending money for their trips. During Orientation Week, when I speak to the staff I always tell them, I am the person to ask when they aren’t sure who to ask since either I will know the answer or else I will know where to direct them.

How does one describe Chen-A-Wanda – it’s the place where as soon as you step on the camp grounds, you feel as though it was yesterday that you were with “your family.” It only takes hours for the “first timers” to be a part of the family! It’s a place where you can be yourself, where you grow and mature. It’s a place where you are ageless. It’s a place that time stands still, yet it flies by.

One of the greatest joys is seeing the personal growth of the kids. Before they know it, they are Junior Counselors, making that hard transition. But then, they realize how much fun it is, being looked up to, creating relationships with their campers just as they had looked up to their counselors.

There is nothing more beautiful than leaving my Mountain Top room as the sun rises; walking down the hill to beautiful Chenny Central. The start of another fun-filled day of music, activities and awesome singing in the Lodge. Watching these kids (staff included) dancing and singing their hearts out is indescribable. The icing on the cake, watching the sunset over Fiddle Lake as we close the office for the night.

Last weekend Evan and I drove to Pennsylvania. We went to some of our favorite places in the area before stopping at camp to drop some things off. As we drove down Camp road we saw people ice fishing on Fiddle Lake instead of boats and swimmers. It was quiet, but that feeling, that special feeling that I get every time I see the Chen-A-Wanda sign and I turn onto Camp Road was there…I knew I was home!