Summer camps are about more than just outdoor activities and tackling "The Blob"--they're about making connections that last a lifetime.
Counselors' lives can be enriched as much as the campers' through summer camps.
Allyson Houlton, senior in elementary education, spent last summer volunteering with Camp Smile-A-Mile, or Camp SAM, on Lake Martin.
Houlton, a member of Tri Delta sorority, said the camp is one of her sorority's philanthropies.
"It's just a summer camp where kids with cancer can go and have fun and ride on boats and do all the things they normally wouldn't be able to do," Houlton said.
Houlton volunteered last summer with her sorority sister, Elizabeth D'Amico, and worked with children ages 6 to 12.
"I wanted to become involved in Camp SAM because my uncle passed away from melanoma two years ago, and I saw the effect it had on my family," D'Amico said.
"I could only imagine how harder it would be for a child to go through something so terrible."
The children travel in buses from a hospital in Birmingham to the camp.
Houlton said she met campers in all different stages of cancer; some of the children were going through chemotherapy during the camp session and others were in remission.
"Some of them have been coming for years; they had cancer when they were 7 or 8 years old ... and they're doing great right now, but there's always that fear that it's going to come back," Houlton said.
Camp SAM includes activities like snorkeling in the lake, paintball and archery.
There is a memorial garden on the campsite in honor of children who previously attended the camp, but have passed away. During the week, the children are given the chance to talk about camp friends they have lost to cancer.
"Just hearing them talk--7-year-olds that sound like 30-year-olds--they've had to grow up so fast, and they always have the biggest smiles on their faces," Houlton said. "It just makes you realize how blessed you are to have every day and to have your health."
She said the volunteers and campers formed strong bonds and a "camp family" during the short week they experienced together.
"I used to think, 'How can you have a camp family after one week?'" Houlton said. "But, I mean, you see it after you experience all that love."
Houlton will be volunteering with the camp again this summer.
Camp SAM is a nonprofit organization, and donations can be made on their Facebook website.
Amy Walker, junior in environmental science, spent last summer as a Camp Timberline counselor in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
Walker learned about Camp Timberline through a friend at Auburn whose sister had previously worked at the camp.
"When I got the job it all just kind of worked out," Walker said. "I worked last summer and I'll be working there this summer too."
The camp aims to teach children about Christ through outdoor adventure such as mountain hiking, art and everyday sports.
Walker said Camp Timberline sets aside two different times during the day for the counselors to discuss certain topics with the campers: "chalk talk" in the afternoon and "roundup" in the evening.
Walker said the best part about working at the camp is forming connections with the campers and other counselors during the short month and a half she is with them.
"You meet these people, the type of environment you're in, you just get to know them so well and especially own a spiritual level," Walker said. "You just kind of connect with them all; it changes you as a whole.
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