CWE

Starting freshman year of college can be intimidating no matter how far you are traveling. Programs like Camp War Eagle are created to make the transition from high school to college easier for freshmen.

“I was so nervous because I’m from Chicago and I’ve never been to things like an SEC game before,” said freshman in pre-business Marina Schroeder. “But Camp War Eagle has definitely made me feel more confident in my decision in Auburn.”

This year's Camp War Eagle staff consisted of 20 parent counselors, 36 camp counselors and four head counselors. The head counselors are chosen out of the best camp counselors from the previous year.

Head Camp counselor Will Gibson, a senior in industrial systems engineering, said everyone involved with Camp War Eagle works incredibly hard to make certain it improves each year.

“I think my general overview going into preparation had been how can we make it the best and most informative,” said Gibson. “We wanted to make it exciting for everyone and figure out a way to cater to each individual.”

According to Gibson, the Camp War Eagle staff works hard to prepare students for life at Auburn and things they will see on a “day-to-day” basis.

“We try to give students an overview of what attending Auburn University will be like for the next four to five years, and for a day and a half camp that’s impressive,” Gibson said.

Gibson said they especially try to ensure that the in-state and local students are just as excited by the new information from the camp as the out-of-state students are.

Thomas McCauley, a freshman in psychology, said he assumed Camp War Eagle would be boring for someone who is from Auburn, but he was surprised.

“Going into camp, I had a big head and didn’t think I would need to listen to anything,” McCauley said. “I didn’t expect to make personal connections.”

This year’s Camp War Eagle was the biggest yet with a total of 4,849 students in attendance. Gibson said it took extensive planning to not only improve upon last year’s camp, but to also work around all of the construction that was happening downtown.

“We had to change certain routes and weren’t sure if we would be able to use Mell Street or not,” Gibson said. “We really wanted to find a way to make sure things like ‘ice cream at dark’ were still possible.”

One of the biggest changes this year was moving the overnight stay from the Quad to the Village.

“Because there was so much maintenance that needed to be done on the Quad, we were asked if we would be able to house the students in the Village and I think it worked out great,” Gibson said.

The pros and cons of Camp War Eagle vary from freshman to freshman, but “making new friends” seems to be a common pro.

“I felt like I could ask my camp counselor anything,” McCauley said. “She really broke the barrier between upperclassmen and freshmen.”

Schroeder said she too enjoyed making friends with people, but the only downside of camp was the food.

“Personally, I didn’t love the food choices,” Schroeder said. “It would have been cool if there could have been maybe more eating at restaurants.”

Junior in physical activity and health and Camp War Eagle counselor this year Nicole Moss said as a camper she wishes they would have placed more emphasis on the different clubs and getting involved.

“As a freshman I thought that I should wait until I was older to get involved with any clubs,” said Moss. “Which is why I made sure to really emphasize to my campers the importance of getting involved as soon as you can.”

She said one of the best aspects of Camp War Eagle is the welcoming family aspect.

“Camp War Eagle is a great way to see that there are so many people that care about you and your success and really want you to succeed,” Moss said. “It really is an Auburn family.”