Hey guys!! Wow, it’s hard to believe this is really the end of camp! You guys are all amazing for doing this! I’m just so proud of all of you for going to camp and pouring so much effort into it, for caring so much!
I’m just really proud of you for partaking in this and caring and creating great stories, going through eight hour capture the flag sessions and everything you all did. I’m proud of Lily and Amanda and myself too to doing this, for creating ridiculously complicated rules and guidelines for a new game for organizing camp hss and making it happen.
I’m really thankful to Amanda and Lily for doing all the art for camp hss and for making the clues in the scavenger hunt hard to find (I’m looking at you :3c) and for creating and editing camp hss’s tumblr and for helping mod the chats and just everything. Lily, you kept us on track and made sure we actually came up with new events, made sure our events were practical and helped create some guidelines. Amanda, you had the initiative and the dream that started it all. I never thought when I agreed to helping you run a hss summer camp on tumblr that it would turn out this expansive, this amazing.
Also I’m really glad that all of you campers were super patient with us and never called us out that we never posted the results whoops.
Camp hss was really fun and really amazing that we could all band together and create this.
I don’t know what else to say except, to quote Lesile Knope, you are all beautiful tropical fish.
So this is uh... well, this is it. Our last camp banquet before we all go home and hit the books again! Summer went by really fast, don’t you think?
I’m not very good at this whole speech stuff... but, I can’t really say bye to everyone unless I do this whole speech stuff! So I’m going to stop stalling and just get right into it.
Thank you for making this summer memorable. Each and every one of you. When you all showed up on the first day, smiling mostly, excited to see what Camp HSS had in store for you.... it made my heart swell with joy. I was terrified, as a first-time counselor... but I was also prepared to make this the most fun summer ever for everyone! And it was. It was fun and sometimes it sucked and sometimes it was weird but overall... stellar. I think we’ve all bonded. I’ve gotten to know so many people that, away from this camp, I would’ve never known. I know it was part of my job to help keep this camp running, but really I think all of you did that!
You’re all extraordinary people. I hope you loved Camp HSS as much as I loved it. And saying goodbye... well, it’s so bittersweet. I-I hope... [sniff] I hope you all leave here knowing that, even though it was just your home for the summer, that it was--is home. And once you’re a part of this weird little summer camp family, y-you’re a part of it forever!
Thank you!”
And that’s Amanda’s speech! Now a few words from, uh, another Amanda! Same one, but different, ya dig?
Camp HSS started out as just a summer camp AU that i was planning on doodling every now and again, but it developed into something more. I don’t know when it happened, but one day it was just like... hey, Camp HSS could be MORE than just another little AU. It could be a fandom experience. Something that’d get people really involved and really bring people closer, really bring friends together. Camp HSS became really... important to me in that aspect. In bringing fans together in a project that would put everyone into teams and put creative minds together into one jam-packed event of FUN.
And for the most part, it was that! A fun event that wouldn’t have been possible without all of you.
I’m first going to blast huge love to Lily and Grace for running this with me. IDK how it happened, but I am so dang lucky to have best friends that listen and wanna aide in my crazy hatched-out-of-sudden-inspiration ideas. They were really the ones who kept the camp running and I owe them SO much. (and have something for you guys too! you’ll see!) Grateful to always have an “us.”
And, of course, huge love to all our campers! Your enthusiasm for this crazy project and constant cheering us on kept us really motivated to keep it going; even when we found ourselves way caught up in real life. Seeing you all working so hard, making new connections, caught up in the excitement of a virtual camp... that was a great motivator. Thank you for making me feel like I was part of something really, really good.
Now that I got the thank yous out of the way, time for something way cheesy.
“Summer camp” has always been an idea that filled me with all sorts of nostalgia... that was barely mine. I mean, I grew up in a perfect summer camp environment as a kid, and even went and stayed at a summer camp there for a couple of nights (for the first and last time! it burned down the next year in a forest fire. go figure, am i right. ANYWAYS)
It took me a while to figure out why, oh my lanta, was I so... nostalgic about summer camps. And when I realized it, I laughed to myself for a few minutes. Then thought about it some more. Then went, “oh.”
And then I cried.
Summer camps tell some pretty great “coming of age” stories. Summer camps bring together a big group of kids and lead them to all sorts of... shenanigans. Yanno, from someone’s first kiss, to overzealous and wild pride when you’re sorted into teams and play games, from sleeping in probably haunted cabins to canoes tipping over in the middle of the lake. Camp is always about experiences and memories and sitting around a campfire and letting these once-upon-a-time strangers know the deepest parts of you.
It’s about memories, and friendship, and about finding yourself when you’re still young. It’s about beginning to grow up.
And there’s something so... somber and comforting and beautiful about an experience like that all at once.
And I wanted to bring those feelings that I feel so strongly about to a fandom, a huge group of people, that I care so much about because I want to say, “Hey, here’s something a little crazy and out there. Come share this experience with me, because I promise it’s going to be amazing.”
And I really, really believe it was.
So, that brings us here! The end of a crazy wonderful idea that made me feel the somber and comforting and beautiful things I was hoping to, with a group of once-upon-a-time strangers that I feel like I’ve known forever now.
Cheesiness aside, really you guys, thank you. It’s been a heartwarming experience, with a bittersweet farewell.
So with that, Camp HSS has come to a close for 2016. Better late than never, right? I always think so.
Well, as you all know, Camp HSS is coming to a close. It’s been quite an eventful summer! Ya know, I just wanna take the time to thank you guys for taking the time to attend camp, take part in activities, and make new friends. Camp HSS wouldn’t have been possible without you guys, after all.
Thank you for being supportive of each other and us counselors. I know we had some ups and downs and rough turns, but all-in-all, I think we all did pretty well. Somehow we got through it all by sticking together. [Flashes a smile and a peace sign.]
Thank you for letting us get to know you. The experience we shared... is something that now helps define our relationships, our friendships. Maybe we’ll drift apart, maybe we’ll get closer. Who knows? All that matters is that the time we spent together was real.
[Chuckles, embarrassed.] (That got a little cheesy.) W-well, that concludes the end of my speech. So, um, now that summer’s over, stay safe. Do well in school or work. Be healthy. See you.” [Awkwardly gives two thumbs up.]
Wow! I can’t believe Camp HSS is actually over. It’s been four long months...
I’ll try not to get too mushy, so bear with me, yeah?
The whole event started from Amanda’s brain. No surprise, I guess. When she asked me to become a counselor, I was extremely thankful and honored. To think she would ask me to take part in this was unexpected, but it was a welcome surprise. Finding out that I had the chance to also do this with Grace made the event even better. Being able to partake in something this big with my friends was something I will be thankful for for a long time, especially as we all begin a new chapter in our lives. A huge thank you to Amanda for starting Camp and for connecting with campers in ways that I could not imagine. I think she really has a gift for making friends. Deep thanks to Grace, who was always the voice of reason, the fair judge, the brilliant thinker. Honestly, I don’t think Camp would have run as smoothly without your much-needed assistance and your smart ideas.
And of course, thank you, campers, for making Camp HSS possible. Somehow, after all this time, you guys stuck through with us. To imagine, the whole event couldn’t have been possible without the fandom working together. It’s pretty cool.
Delving into the topic of summer camp, I can’t say I dreamed of ever going to one. Rather, I tried to avoid them as a child... However, I do like the concept of a summer camp, with all the romanticized ideas and events that come with it. There’s something magical about the idea of making friends, of friendly rivalries and cabin teamwork, of first loves and first heartbreaks, of coming to camp inexperienced and leaving with a growth you didn’t have before. For those glamorized concepts, I think camp is wonderful. I think Camp HSS gave me a little bit of that vision. (Not gonna lie though; I can’t help but think of Camp Halfblood...)
That being said:
Overall, I think we all did a pretty good job this first time ‘round. However, even though the event is now over, I hope that some of you guys will feel more comfortable approaching each other than you were before. Thanks again, everyone, for taking part in Camp HSS.
