This is my third summer volunteering at Aaron’s Acres as a buddy. I learned about the program through my involvement with Boy Scouts. The executive director of Aaron’s Acres, Risa Paskoff, came to one of our troop meetings to explain what the volunteer program was all about and to ask for our help. She shared with us that she needed more volunteers for the camp. I thought it sounded like a good experience and decided to volunteer to see what it was like. I am glad I did, as it has been a very rewarding experience for me overall.
I learned quickly that my volunteer experience would bring both victories and stressors, and each day would be a learning experience. The experience taught me to see how each individual child learned, how the group worked together as a whole and how I needed to adjust in order to help in each situation.
My first year at camp, I had many victories and faced many challenges. My first camper that I was a buddy to was an 11-year-old boy in a wheelchair. He refused to go near the pool during swim time. Slowly but surely, I managed to get him in the pool at least three times during my time with him, which was very rewarding for the both of us. I also made a connection with a 12-year-old girl camper. I had lots of fun playing tag and teasing her, even though she wasn’t the camper I was responsible for. It was nice that as a buddy you also were able to interact with other campers. For the second week of my 2-week volunteer time, we switched campers and I became a buddy to a 6-year-old boy. He also didn’t like the pool, and instead, wanted to throw the ball on the side. By the end of the session though, I got him in the pool and swimming around, and he loved it! He now says it’s his favorite part of camp. It felt great to be part of such a positive change.
My second year also featured rewards and difficult situations. I was fortunate to work with some of the same campers I worked with in my first year. It was a great feeling to discover they remembered me and were happy to work with me again. However, a huge stressor was that I became a buddy to an 8-year-old boy camper that hit the other campers. He would try to punch someone he didn’t like and would try to leave camp. But after working with him, I had what I view as two major victories. One was teaching him to express his emotions with words rather than punches. The other was playing the game, Buzz Lightyear, with him in order to keep him calm and to have him have fun in the pool. It helped me to learn patience, to learn how important paying attention to my camper at all times was, and it was rewarding to see that I was able to make a difference with him.
Now I’m starting my third year volunteering, and so far, it’s been great. I am currently the buddy to an 18-year-old boy. He is very well behaved; he listens to what I say, and we have a great time together. The only difficulty I have is that he dislikes one of the kids in our group, which interferes with his participation, but it’s getting a lot better because we are teaching him how to deal with his emotions.
Throughout this experience, I have had lots of fun, feel I’ve made a difference and have learned many new things. Most importantly, I have learned that even though these kids have disabilities, they are not so different from you or me. They just like to have fun, to have a good time and I’m happy to be able to help to give them that opportunity.
This volunteer position has also prompted me to pursue a career in special education teaching. I don’t think I would have pursued studying special education in college had it not been for my volunteer experience at Aaron’s Acres. I look forward to continuing to learn and grow while making a difference in others’ lives.
