College Sample Essays: Summer Camp Entrepreneur

The first wedding that I planned was inno way a traditional wedding. Ten eager little girls decorated the printedinvitations with sequins, buttons, and markers. The same energetic handsprepared the wedding feast, consisting of bagged lunches, blintz soufflé, andof course a layer cake. On the big day I looked around with excitement. Again,I noticed something odd about this wedding. All the participants and guestsappeared about four feet high. The "groom" had long hair pinned upwith brown lines on her face (was that supposed to be a beard?) The weddinglocation, a back yard with a swing set and a wading pool, seemed far fromromantic. This wedding however was not supposed to be one of those types of weddings.As I pressed the "PLAY" button on the tape recorder I knew that ten4-6-year-old girls cared deeply about this wedding. Despite the absence of areason for celebration, I pulled all the girls into the circle and we starteddancing and clapping to the music. The energy that went into the preparation onprevious days could finally be appreciated. My campers and I not onlycelebrated the accomplishment of the mock wedding, we celebrated the fun andexcitement we experienced for the first three weeks in Camp Glitter Girls. Ihad begun preparing for Camp Glitter Girls over four months bore bybudgeting, sending out fliers, confirming registration and finally making surethat every camper would have the time of her life. As I danced, I celebratedthe times I almost lost my patience but didn&apos&apost, the times that I plannedactivities late into the night because I knew that only an organized schedulewould ensure the success of my camp.

The lessons I had learned from previoussummer camps contributed greatly to this camp&apos&aposs success. At the age ofthirteen, I first ran a camp for eight children. The next year a friend and Ico-managed a camp for twenty children at a small school campus. Finally at theage of fifteen I created my most challenging summer camp with thirty-fivechildren. In just three years the size of my camp tripled and so did the lifelessons. I not only carried the responsibility for my own "bunk," butwith my co-manager I hired other counselors, arranged busing to and from fieldtrips, managed a $15,000 budget, and ensured that thirty-five children had afun summer. The overnight to San Diego,water fun, cheers, a carnival to end the summer and many other eventsdinitely ensured that my campers had a great summer. However, at the end ofthose six weeks, new ideas floated in my mind about how I would manage a campnext time.

The camp&apos&aposs increased size added newdimensions to management. On one occasion I firmly reminded a mother of herfinancial obligations to the camp when she started bargaining. When counselorsfailed to perform as expected I was required to separate friendships andbusiness. With a much wider variety of campers, I dealt with behavioralproblems among the campers. This even included involving the parents in thecase of two unusually unruly boys. While a troubled girl with attention dicitdisorder in my "bunk" needed special attention, I had to make surethat none of my other campers felt slighted in any way. As the summerprogressed I learned how sometimes I just have to put my foot down and say"no." Sometimes extra attention is not always best for a difficultchild. Most importantly, I had an experience in the real world of business thattaught me how to stand up for myself and address interpersonal andadministrative problems.

This past summer as I looked around theyard at the beaming faces flushed from dancing, I realized that Camp GlitterGirls was the culmination of all the experiences and lessons in which I partooksince my first camp four years earlier. I learned how to make a camp with tencampers far more fun and even more profitable than a camp for thirty-fivechildren. Instead of marketing to a broad range of ages, I marketed CampGlitter Girls to a specific age group of girls. The smaller group facilitated aclose and familiar atmosphere, not to mention a decrease in problems. Insteadof focusing on the quantity of campers, I focused on the quality of my campers&apos&aposexperience, and we all reaped the benits. The mock wedding at my previouscamps never exuded the energy and spirit of the one at Camp Glitter Girls. Asthe dancing subsided and I heard oohs and aahs over the cake, I looked at everysingle girl in the room. I did not just see cute adorable faces; rather I sawhow each girl challenged me in her own way and unconsciously taught me her ownspecial lesson.

As I turn towards my future and make life-diningdecisions, I look back upon my experiences with my campers for inspiration anddirection. I view my upcoming years at university as an opportunity to furtheruse the skills I acquired in running summer camps. The diversity, academicexcellence, and broad array of classes and extracurricular activities at UCLAwill provide an environment that will challenge me to use the leadership,initiative, creativity and interpersonal abilities that I used at Camp GlitterGirls.

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