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Summer Fun in the Sun

Name: Steven Adams
From: Washington, DC
Votes: 0

Summer
Fun in the Sun


I have volunteered as a camp
counselor at different sports camps since I was thirteen years old
and I have accumulated over 700 community service hours dedicating my
summers to helping children improve their athletic ability while
having fun. I started out as a counselor in training and worked my
way up to lead counselor over two summers. My general
responsibilities included leading sports activities to teach children
ages six through twelve athletic skills and ensure that the campers
had a good time in a safe and supportive environment. It was
important to quickly gain the trust of parents and put their minds at
ease when dropping their kids off. I was responsible for helping to
train counselors and I also managed the lunch breaks. The biggest
challenge that I had at this camp was making sure that the counselors
were attending to the children and doing what they were supposed to
be doing. Sometimes the other counselors acted more like children
than the children. I learned a great deal about leadership and the
importance of making sure that the counselors didn’t have idle
time. One of the things that I think made this camp so special was
that each week, I wrote up to 40 personalized letters of
encouragement to each camper in order to demonstrate my commitment to
their growth and development.

My
high school is the only public high school in Washington, DC with a
wrestling team, and we compete against exclusive private schools
across DC, Maryland, and Virginia. I have wrestled for four years
and this is my second year serving as the team captain. My wrestling
coach asked me to volunteer as a coach at a non-profit camp called DC
Glory Wrestling that served children from low-income families. The
only wrestling these children had ever seen was World Wrestling
Entertainment, and the children were eager and excited to learn
official wrestling rules and guidelines. I helped coach them and
showed them different drills and techniques. It was thrilling to see
them cheer for each other as they were able to participate in
wrestling matches with each other. Volunteering at the camp resulted
in building the character, sportsmanship, and physical abilities of
up to 150 children between the ages of six and twelve. These children
learned how to play different sports and got an appreciation for
teamwork and the joy of being outside. Often, children living in the
city do not go outside and play either due to safety concerns and/or
because of the lure of technology, video games, and social media.
The campers learned how to challenge themselves while making friends
and building their skills in different areas. This experience showed
me how my efforts could influence others, and has inspired me to
launch more wrestling programs in Washington, DC, especially in
low-income areas, in the future.