Our Stories
Juli's Story
Juli speaks with Jacqueline about her time at summer camp as a kid. At this camp, Juli met someone who didn’t fit in. But Juli learned how a little kindness could go a long way.
Yeah I think I don't know how old I was maybe 10 years old and it was ya know mostly I went to summer camp ya know girl scout camps but it was a camp at the end of camp um they always had this big campfire at the end of the week at camp and everyone would come and they gave an award it was like a good citizen award to the person who best exemplified the values of ya know camping and girl scouting and I got the award It shocked me cause I didn't feel like I distinguished myself in anyway at that point I didn't really excel as a student when was young it wasn't until i got older but um and I realized and I had to think about it for a few minutes why did they give me this and i think it was because there was a girl who was assigned to my tent that year and I always went by myself I didn't know other campers and it wa a tent with 4 cots one of the girls was um she was clearly from a poor family probably there on a grant and um she was very awkward very awkward physically and socially and ya know just had a hard time fitting in ya know and that was clear to me and the other 2 girls in our tent wanted absolutely nothing to do with her and so I always made sure ya know when we go out for walks in the woods wed have to have a buddy and I would ask her to be my buddy and I made sure she wasn't sitting alone um at meal times um ya know I just tried to be kind with her even though I didn't really connect with her cause she wasn't easy to engage with but I just tried to be kind and I think that's why I got the award and it was an important lesson to me ya know the value of kindness