On the last evening of leadership camp, my hallmates and I got together and sat in a circle. Everyone closed their eyes and our RA tapped a group of people to stand up. Then, those people would walk around the circle, and our RA would say something like, “Tap the people that you are going to miss after camp is over,” or “Tap someone who’s helped you through a hard time.” And even though I didn’t know who tapped me, I got a warm feeling inside whenever someone did. Even though I’d only known them for three weeks, they felt as close to me as friends I had known for three years.

During my summer civic leadership camp, I’d stayed in the dorms in UC Berkeley. Originally, I hadn’t wanted to go, and thought it would be a waste of time, but I was very wrong. This camp, or at least the residential side of it, is something I will always remember. I built meaningful connections, and I experienced a learning environment that changed my perspective on how we best learn.

Being away from home encouraged me to reach out and make strong connections with people. Living and exploring together allowed me to personally get to know my campmates. If I had never left home for these three weeks, I would’ve never met these people, but I’m very glad I did. From my hallmates, to my classmates, to my teachers, all of them had a big impact on me and made this summer one of the best I’ve had. Whether it was staying up late, having a deep conversation with my friend, or waking up to the sound of my hallmate yelling “Country Roads, Take me Home,” these memories are ones I can think back on and smile. Knowing that my teacher wasn’t going to give me a grade eliminated the tension of our relationship, and it’s surprising how appreciative I am for them after only knowing them for three weeks. Hearing how my teacher was a soccer coach for three different teams or how they struggled in school the same way I did was reassuring, and made them seem like friends, rather than teachers. My RA wasn’t there to punish us; he was there to take care of us, and was someone I could always talk to if I had a problem. When our whole hall wanted to play basketball, he vouched for us and brought us to the park so that we could. Everyone being there for me meant that I could have a little time to myself and let go of the usual teenage worries such as parental pressure and fitting in.

The positive environment at camp was made possible and influenced by the people. It was laid back and relaxed, and there was barely any pressure. When I was around my friends, I felt like I could be myself, and I wouldn’t get judged for it. The environment was different from my school or home. At school, there's always a pressure to fit in and to do well; you can’t really relax. At home, there can sometimes be a sense of my parents judging me, looking at what I do and telling me how I could do it better. But at camp, it was completely different. I felt like I could be myself without fear. We could make fun of each other and know it was all in good fun. The lack of pressure and the fact that everyone was comfortable with each other freed everyone to be themselves, and that made us better learners.

Leadership camp curriculum was based around service, leadership, and community transformation. We talked about topics such as privilege, social justice, and poverty, but also about assets of communities, social change, and entrepreneurship. We went into SF and Oakland to help out, going to places such as the Alameda Food Bank, Glide food kitchen, and the Boys and Girls Club. These field experiences and discussions brought everyone closer. We shared our opinions, and although some people disagreed with each other, we did it respectfully and learned from our different perspectives. Helping out the community goes both ways, and I think that it was rewarding, both to the people receiving help, and to us, the helpers. Knowing we weren’t just sitting on the sidelines doing nothing gave us a sense of fulfilment and working toward a common goal brought us closer together.

I took away several ideas from camp that could be woven into our society right now, especially in schools. The first thing is that schools could emphasize cooperation more, instead of competition. At camp, we weren’t competing for anything—there weren’t any grades, or marks or rankings. Instead, we were collaborating and working together to find a solution. In schools, everything is a competition—who can get the highest test scores, who can get the best grades, who can get into the best college, etc. We even measure students in a competitive way; saying a kid is in the 90th percentile means he’s better than 90% of kids. While competition can drive and motivate some kids to do better, I believe it’s too much at this point. At some schools, kids have killed themselves because they didn’t do well enough. A greater emphasis on collaboration and cooperation will be beneficial to most students’ mental health and learning. And secondly, let kids have time to be kids. At camp, we had free time where we could go around on Telegraph, buy food and boba, and just relax. In the evenings, we had time where we could just chill in the lounge and talk to people. I believe this time was very important for my life at camp, as it gave me time to relax and think about what I learned and get to know new people. In society right now, most high school students barely have any free time. Whether it’s homework, sports, music, or any other extracurricular, some kids barely have time to sleep, let alone hang out with friends. I think that this needs to change. Letting kids be kids would reduce stress and improve our attitude about learning. It’s important to be busy, but being able to relax once in a while is really nice. Hanging out with friends, whether you are playing basketball or shopping, is always better knowing that you don’t have a piano lesson or Chinese school right after. If these two ideas were changed, I think a lot of kids would be happier, and schools would have a better learning environment.

A big part of learning at camp was the field experiences. Seeing things such as poverty and privilege firsthand was shocking, and way different from seeing a presentation on those topics. I think we can set up kids for learning by giving them more opportunities to see things for themselves. If you’re learning about history, go to a museum. If you’re learning French, go somewhere where you need to use French every day. What you learn out in the real world will be more important, and stick with you longer than whatever you learn in a classroom. Obviously these things take a lot of resources, which schools currently don’t have. But I believe that they should. After all, our next generation’s education is worth however much we need to spend.

Leadership camp changed how I think about learning. I learned a lot, not only because of the great teachers but because of the people I was with and the experiences we shared. Their emphasis on collaboration rather than competition changed the dynamic of our class and allowed us to learn more. The field experiences gave us a new perspective. We were focused and well rested. We had fun. I learn better and enjoy life more when I’m having fun.