When I was growing up, I attended various summer camps and I hated most of them. I did tolerate one camp, however, and I ended up going from a camper, to a counselor in training, and then eventually being hired as part of the maintenance staff. I did do some traditional maintenance tasks like cleaning up trash and mopping, but the majority of my work was odd jobs around the camp. This culminated in two fairly large construction projects which I worked on near the end of my time at the camp. One of the more significant ones is a “legacy board” which retiring counselors can sign as they leave. A picture of the completed project is shown below. While it was not an overly technical task, it was a major success and it greatly outperformed its predecessors. In the past, counselors would create one of these boards and the entire structure would rot within a few years. The one that I built, however, is still standing strong to this day and I built it all the way back in 2013.
The other major project that I completed was building a bridge over a small stream. I examined designs of other foot bridges around town in order to see what ones stood the test of time and which did not. This project did not appear to be very important at the time because it simply offered an additional side entrance into the main grounds of the camp. However, a few years after I originally built it, they began using it as the default entrance to the camp. The previous main entrance has been closed due to nearby construction for quite some time, so this bridge offers a convenient solution. This bridge has also stood the test of time, and the camp has even used the small bridge to drive trucks into the camp and has had no issues. It feels quite rewarding to have left the camp with these somewhat permanent objects and to be able to return from time to time and see that they are still holding up strong.
