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Candy Belisario

Candy's Story

If you were to tell someone one thing about Outpost, it would be...
...that this is a place where every day little acts of kindness happen every day. I can say that I've personally seen the great effect on the many lives camp touches. I constantly hear stories of siblings bonding and putting aside their bickering to sing camp songs at the dinner table, and I always run into camp families at restaurants and receive an excited hello from a smiling camper outside of camp! At Outpost you can catch up with someone you haven't seen for a whole school year or meet the best friend you've been waiting for your whole life. You come to camp knowing there's always someone to talk to waiting with an open ear on your best days, and then on the days that you find yourself off your A-game there is always someone that can help with a good hug and reassuring smile.

Candy as a brand new Junior Counselor during our first summer in 2002!

I never expected...

...To one day enjoy the mentor-mentee relationship with the Lower Camp Senior Counselors of '10 that I experienced as a Senior Counselor just a couple years before. At the heart of Outpost is the willingness to learn and grow - and the opportunity to watch your campers, Junior Counselors, and Senior Counselors do this personally and professionally. Like the Senior Counselors and directors I worked with in the past who helped shape my skills as a counselor as I worked directly with kids, I had the chance to help camp from the sidelines much like a coach. I saw these SCs quickly develop skills that are so crucial for making camp the fun magical place that it is meant to be. They had the same creativity and spirit on every day as I had done in years past. I will always remember the summer that I really felt like I became a mentor.

The moment that made me smile was...
...remembering my first summer of camp in 2002. That entire first summer was one momentous occasion that was the beginning of this legendary place. I volunteered for 9 weeks at 16 years old for the Senior Outpost Program (entire Senior Outpost program in 2002: 1 group!). I have a special little scrapbook at home with every single picture from that summer including both my camp groups and the 2002 staff. It makes me smile remembering who I was that year, who I looked up to, and who I wanted to strive to be like as my camp career goes on. I look back at the kids who have come here and stayed here. There are those families and familiar faces that make this camp more than a camp; I call this my summer home with all the campers and staff as my family. Nothing makes me smile more than knowing I was there to help be a part of that special first summer.

My most memorable group was WooHoos! because...
...This was the group everyone wanted to have in Senior Outpost: the kind of group that was easy going and all around fun with a little challenge on the side. They say you never forget that camper - the one that doesn't quite fit in, doesn't understand that he or she stands out a little, the kind of camper that challenges the best of us.

As a Senior Counselor you knew this camper was the one you'd be working hard to help fit in even when he told you he disliked girls a million times and that he had an enemy in the group that caused all his problems. I had an amazing middle school group with life-long Outpost campers, a great JC and a boy who just couldn't stand being in a co-ed group.

Throughout the session I saw him put up walls and draw the battle lines - then watched them crossed as Senior Outpost tried to push and challenge him past his comfort zone. He loved video games and there was nothing fun about hiking, rock climbing, sailing or snorkeling that would change his mind. I strategized how to help him fit in and like camp. I felt like I was getting nowhere fast.

The part that makes this group so memorable was sitting at the beach during our closing circle hearing the compliments from his peers that made this camper feel included with zero prompting from my JC or myself. These campers saw him as a friend that was scared and who needed a little time and understanding while being at camp. The moments that the campers shared were so inclusive to this camper, like when the group had done the funniest 'Janey got hit by a bus' skit in which he played a hilarious van driver.

I had a group full of the most caring middle school campers that have ever walked the face of the planet, who all were able to show compassion when you least expected.