Interview with AJ

AJ Bott shares her experience at summer camp at Lake Louise Christian Community. She was introduced to the camp by her grandmother, who knew about AJ's love for the outdoors. The camp is located near AJ's grandparents' house and offers various outdoor activities. AJ describes the layout of the camp, including the Cabin Row, the green, the waterfront, and Fire Bowl, which is everyone's favorite part of camp. She has been attending the camp for 13 years and has made lifelong friends there. AJ is excited to be counseling at middle school camp this summer. She emphasizes the importance of the community and the people at camp. AJ also mentions that the camp is open to everyone, regardless of their religious beliefs. She concludes by expressing her love for camp and her gratitude that she can continue to be a part of it. Hi, my name is Hayden Loman, and I'm here with my friend AJ Bott. AJ, would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself? Hi, I'm AJ. I'm 19 years old. I attend Appalachian State University, and I met Hayden through the fly fishing club here. Great. Today I'll be interviewing her about her experience with summer camp at Lake Louise Christian Community. When I was a little girl, my grandma was visiting my house, and so she told me one day, she was like, oh my gosh, AJ, you would love this camp, because she knew how much I love the outdoors and animals, and this camp just had a lot of activities centered around playing outside, playing games outside, swimming, and different nature aspects, and learning all about the woods surrounding camp. I'm from northern Michigan. So this camp is located about 3 1⁄2 hours from my house, which is like 4 1⁄2 miles from the Vanderbilt exit. It's really in the middle of nowhere. But the most important part about the location of this camp is that it was 0.6 miles down the road from my grandparents' house. And you get to the end of Cabin Row, and to your right is the green. So we have games on the green a lot. There's a gaga ball pit, there's a baseball field, and there's a basketball court. And if you go to the left at the end of Cabin Row, that's where the waterfront is and the tree climbing. So there's this trail that goes from the chapel to the waterfront, and on this trail is Fire Bowl. And Fire Bowl is everyone's favorite part of camp. There's rows of seating, and you go downhill, and down the hill there's rows of seating, and they're chapel style, they're church style. They have, like, pews almost. But it's outside, it's not a building, it's outside with pews. There's two pathways down the pews, and then you get to the bottom, and there's this little cement area with a fire pit, and behind the fire pit is a cross, a giant cross. I mean, this cross is probably 30 to 40 feet tall. It's a really pretty old wooden cross that someone carved. And then this cross looks out over the entire lake. So it's beautiful to see, like, the woods across the lake and just the water and the sun sets right there. It's everyone's favorite place. It's surrounded by woods, so you get, like, the bird noises and everything, and it's just the most important part of the layout of camp. Like I said, I started going when I was 6 years old, so that brings us to a total of 13 years. That's where I made some of my lifelong friends that I still have today. I'm super, super, super excited to be counseling at middle school camp this summer. Last summer, my senior year at camp, I not only was a camper for a week, but I also was a counselor. And I decided to do that, actually, because a boyfriend that I actually met at camp when I was 8 years old, his two little brothers are in polar bear camp. So they asked me. That's really sweet. I know. I had, like, the best time ever. I got to spend a whole week with them at polar bear camp. So it's kind of like they were on their own, but they also always had me if they needed to, like, call their mom. The reason that we go to camp is the community, the people, everyone there. Camp is not camp without the people. And without the people, it's not camp. The people and the community are what make camp, camp. So for me, I mean, growing up, I had nightmares as a kid that my mom would register me for the wrong week of camp. I know. And that I wouldn't get to see my friends. My dean, Liz, I still, I've never seen her outside of camp, but she's one of the people that's closest to my life and that I look to for advice at every turn of events. Just all these people are what make camp, camp. And everyone at camp is a part of this community. I have my name tag. And on each name tag, the front is your name, obviously. And then on the back is your daily schedule. I guess another thing I should touch on is although it is a Christian camp, you do not have to be Christian to go to this camp. It's an extremely welcoming camp and an extremely diverse camp with a lot of more liberal beliefs. So Fire Bowl, that location I was talking about with the pews and the cross and the lookout with the water and the fire pit and the sunset, all that, this is everyone's favorite part of camp. You sing, someone who feels called to speak that night goes down, speaks in front of everyone, you sing some more, and that's just kind of your closure of the night. It's a really spiritual place for a lot of people. Camp has just always been a part of my life. And I can't imagine a world that I live in that I'm just not part of. And that I'm just not part of this community. So I really look forward to giving back. I just really think I'm a perfect fit. And I'm going to love this summer. And I'm so grateful that last summer didn't have to be my last. Well, thank you so much for chatting with me today, AJ. I really enjoyed hearing about your camp experience.