Dan Godshall

My name is Dan Godshall, I am 32 years old and I am from King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. I am just one of an amazing team of Head Counselors on camp. I am currently teaching Physical Education and directing the basketball and volleyball programs at The American School Foundation of Mexico City. I have been living in Mexico City for a total of six years now.

My first summer at camp, I arrived with three of my friends from college, Slippery Rock University, having never been to a camp myself. My first position on camp was as a Rock Climbing Specialist, living in a bunk with GC boys. I had been studying to be a health and physical education teacher, and in all honesty, I came to camp with the intention of padding my resume and doing something I had never done before graduating and getting a job. That one summer changed everything and altered my course completely. I did not know or expect that I would be approaching my 13th summer this year, having spent every summer of my 20s at camp.

In my time at camp, I have been tasked with many different roles including Rock Climbing Specialist/Director, Waterfront Director, Color War and Olympic captains and Head Counselor to almost every division on camp at one time or another. I am happy to say that was able to witness camp blossom to its current stature from where it had been a few years ago. This kind of growth comes from special people, the kinds of people that camp seems to assemble every year.

Some of the best moments from my camp memories are the times I stop for a second and I think “what am I doing right now!?”. That could relate to being on the trapeze, dressing up as a clown, delivering a terrible Justin Beiber performance on stage or dancing on a table at a meal. There is a long list of things I catch myself doing at camp that simply would not happen anywhere else.

Since coming to camp for the first time in the summer of 2006, I have been completely consumed by camp. My summer plans are a given whenever someone asks. The biggest problem I have when asked that question, is how do I explain camp? My teacher friends always ask why I do not take the summer off. The answer to these questions is simply because of the people and the stories. Over the years at camp, I have met literal thousands of people from all over the world. With those people, I have developed relationships worth crying over on the last days of camp, in two months time.

Each year is different, but the memories keep pilling up!