Nam & Karla’s End of Camp Reflection

We ended Session 2 last week, and can’t believe the summer is coming to a close! Before we end our WSC 2021 summer, we want to share some reflections and highlights. 

Session 2 brought a lot of surprises, and was different in many ways from Session 1. Since it was our last session, we gave it our all and strived to do even better.  We had high expectations to meet from our first session, and even more by the time the second session started. We wanted to follow the high standards we set for ourselves to be prepared, but we also knew we would have to be able to improvise and improve a lot of things along the way.

With a new set of campers came a whole new set of investigations. This pushed us to use new materials, ideas, and protocols that we hadn’t tried before. No doubt it was a challenge for both of us, the counselors and campers, but it was an opportunity for us to learn more and overcome. And we did! 

While the topic of pollinators was our camp theme, we gave our campers protocols that went beyond just investigating pollinators. Whether it was using pan traps for insect collection, microscopes and dichotomous keys for identification, fruit flies to investigate insect decision making, or observation protocols to research pollinators in the field, the experience of doing science research was extremely valuable for us and the campers. 

Session 2 was a landmark in this new program and each camper had their own personality and character. We will never forget the lessons that they brought upon us. This summer, we learned what it means to be a leader, work as a team, and got to know different types of people along the way. 

- Karla & Nam