Why Camp Is a World of Its Own

People often ask me why I continue to return to camp summer after summer. I used to struggle to answer this, simply going for the cop-out answer of, “it’s hard to explain.” However, after starting The Compass Project, and experiencing a summer away from camp, I believe I have found why I love camp so much. Summers at camp are unique in the sense that the community is a bubble away from the outside world. With no tech for campers, and counselors being too busy to often be on their phones, the outside world rarely leaks into camp. Because of this, camp is a special environment where kids can escape any stress and spend a summer where their biggest worry may be winning a game later in the day, or hoping there is an empty spot on a waterskiing boat. I believe the reason why this is so unexplainable to someone who has never gone to a summer camp is that this environment is impossible to replicate in any other situation, as how can you describe something to someone who has no idea that this thing could even exist?