By Jake Klingensmith
Geza Head Counselor

This is my fourth summer as a counselor at GUCI, and over the years I’ve had a lot of time to figure out what my role as a counselor is and what kind of counselor I want to be. I’ve spent three years at Carnegie Mellon, a school that is very heavy in technology, and I see people spending a lot of time sitting in front of screens. I see the amazing things that can happen on those screens, but I know there are more amazing things that happen out in the world—especially at camp.

As human beings we have an unbelievable potential to create and to interact with the world. During my time as a counselor, I‘ve noticed that many children today spend more and more time engaging not with the world around them, but with a screen—TV, iPads, etc. My goal as a counselor is to show my campers just how big and amazing the world is, so that when they go home, in addition to an awesome summer, they have a more open mind, a stronger urge to explore, and a broader vision for the future. Because of this, the moments at camp that have the greatest impact on me are when I recognize that my relationship with a camper has paid off.

One thing that I value very highly that I try to pass onto my campers is the idea that all living things are important and sacred – no matter how annoying or buzzy or strange – so when campers tell me that they just saw a really cool insect and they didn’t let anyone smash it, to me those are the most important moments of camp. Those are the times that I know that I’ve changed someone’s life and hopefully made the world a slightly more tolerant place.