By Noel Slusser
FAIRMONT — What is the best way to spend your summer vacation? The answer is simple, summer camps!
With the hot summer sun and great friends there is no better way to spend the three free months that students are allowed to escape from homework and tests.
The variety of camps has increased a lot in the past years. There are camps for every sport imaginable, 4-H camps, conservation camps, music camps, and the list just keeps growing.
Many of the camps only last a week, but during that week people get to see and hang out with other people that they do not get to see throughout the year.
Summer camps are a great way to make friends and to get out and be active. They are a great way to get exercise when the sports seasons are at a stand still. These camps also help students meet other students who attend different schools.
Amber Golden, an upcoming junior at East Fairmont High School, goes to student council camp.
“I go to meet new people and I am kind of shy, so it helps me with my social skills. Actually, that is my favorite part of Student Council Camp,” she stated.
Many people go to some of the same summer camps but almost everyone goes for different reasons.
EFHS junior Logan Carpenter goes to Marion County’s 4-H camp.
“I go because it is just a nice escape from all of the chores I have to do and I can just relax and be myself.”
Brooke Morris, also a junior at EFHS, goes to the same camp as Logan, but for a different reason.
“I go to meet people from all across the state and see people I don’t see during the school year and it is fun! My favorite part of the camp is seeing all my old friends and meeting new ones.”
Twelfth grader Allison Riddle and eleventh grader Abigail Harden both go to East Side’s Band Camp for a week in the summer. They both go to learn the field show for the following school year but their answers varied on what they enjoyed most. Abigail’s favorite part was just hanging out and relaxing in the sun, while Allison’s favorite part was the dance at the end of the week.
Athletic camps are also a big social part of the summer, but they also offer help in the performance of the sports. Eleventh grader Jordan Alonso goes to Marshall University’s summer volleyball camp.
“This camp helps to improve my volleyball skills and gets me ready for the season. I love being around people that love the sport as much as I do.”
“I like to go to camp to improve my tennis game,” says senior Matt Talerico who attends the Wave Tek Summer Tennis Camp.
However, some people go to sport camps just to have fun and to play the sport they love. Nicholas Bonnett, eleventh grader from EFHS, goes to Kentucky University’s Basketball Camp, “just to play and have fun.”
With so many camps to choose from it is hard to plan free time for yourself. But if you choose the right camps, then free time will come while you are there. It is really helpful to most teens today to get as involved as they possibly can. The friendships made over the summer teach social skills and how to manage long term relationships without neglecting friends from home. Summer camps help make teens well rounded and at the same time help them to relax and enjoy just being who they are.
