August 2015 was my first blog post for NBTSC, and it was my very first day as a camper. I remember being overwhelmed with nervousness. I had grown up unschooled but decided to go to school through 7th-10th grade. I read The Teenage Liberation Handbook Sophomore year and was completely enamored. I wrote a whole research paper about it for my honors class. I had never really known the “background information” of unschooling. It was always just “what my parents decided to do.” After reading it though, I reimagined my entire life after being in the school system mindset for the past 4 years. As soon as I made the decision to come back to unschooling and made the realization I could sign up for NBTSC (something I dreamed about as a 10 year old) my life felt exciting and in my control for the first time.
Now it’s my first year on senior staff. Today is all about orientation, planning, and setting up for camp. It’s also time for staff to reconnect and remember all the memories we’ve created together in this beautiful location at Camp Mrytlewood. Even though my last session of camp was in 2019, being back at camp and talking with everyone feels like no time passed at all. Time stays still at NBTSC, speeds up during the year, and feels like you’ve never left once you come back. It’s weird being at camp without campers. It honestly feels like mini camp for staff, since we’re all cultivating and starting to imagine the magic we’re about to take part in. It’s peaceful, but also hectic. Which I think sums up Not Back to School Camp as a whole pretty well.
My first session of camp was at Latgawa, a session we’re not currently running. The kitchen staff was a part of Latgawa site staff, and as campers we would never really interact with them. When I came to Mrytlewood, though, we had our own staff running the kitchen – which made it all feel different. The kitchen being a part of our community made me feel more intentionally cared for. Every meal catered to the activities for the day. Late night kitchen hang outs were some of my core memories from my first years of camp. This is a big reason I’m so excited to be a part of the kitchen team this year. This is the first year I’ve experienced working alongside Camp Mrytlewood site staff in the kitchen, which is something new we’ve brought to fruition last year. Honestly, it helps handle lots of logistics. We used to order, pick up, prep, and cook all of the food for the session ourselves. But now, since our kitchen coordinator is a part of site staff, mostly everything is already prepped, ready to go, even before camp starts. Being half and half is best of both worlds. Complicated logistics are handled, but we still have a strong kitchen team of NBTSCers that advocate and help cater to camper needs, especially diets and allergies. I think creating a beautiful, strong, welcoming space that feeds and fills our community is a core part of bringing us together. And I feel so lucky and honored to be a part of this space once again this year.
Sierra M, Camper 2015-2018, Junior Staff 2019, Kitchen Staff 2023