BYC is always the best camp in my life I waited for so long till now BYC 2024 has finally came, once I end my 7th grade year I was super excided for the camp already because I miss the people there and I know it’s going to be really fun!
Day 1
I don’t know why, but every time I get to my team, I always have this awkward moment. This time, though, it didn’t last long, which is good.
This year, my team has new teammates and a counselor, except for Kaye. She’s been my counselor three times in a row, including winter camp, which is great because there’s at least someone familiar on the team.
Anyway, during our first team meeting, we needed to decide on a team name. Our counselor told us to think of any F-word, but not that one. ‘Founding Fathers’ got the most votes, so that became our team name.
Speaking of our team chant… we don’t really have one. Our first attempt was horrible, so we ended up using the last one, which was just yelling ‘Founding Fathers’ three times. Honestly, I don’t really care about it that much. I feel like having a strong connection with my teammates is more important than the team name and chant. So…
Anyway, let’s skip to the Executive Team program. It’s basically the activity where we get our ‘Gifts.’ This year, we played a game similar to Mario Party with a bunch of mini-games after rolling the dice. The person who rolled for our team also played the mini-games for us. Since I played a lot of games in the morning for our team, I was the last one to roll the dice, which was good because I could take a break from the nacho-eating game (oh, I hate that game, it makes my legs hurt so much!). You’ll see it in the BYC 2024: Mindnese Video (I’ll put the link below).
Our team won the last-minute game, so back to the Executive Team program. When it was my turn to play the mini-game in my round, I almost won, but… in the semi-final round, I was too slow, so I didn’t win, which was super sad. After my round, it went back to the first person, which is Joshua. Alex (the head counselor) decided that that was the last round and the team that wins the mini-game wins the whole game. So, when Joshua was playing the mini-game, our whole team was hoping he’d win. My heart beat so fast because I wanted to win so badly! But then, we actually won, and our whole team was so happy. You know, winning just makes people feel good.
So after that, we went to sleep because the game always lasts for 2 hours after dinner and goes until bedtime. Also, this year, Alex will announce our ‘Gifts’ the next morning after breakfast.”
Day 2
On the last day, we did an Executive Team program. Each team received three ‘Gifts.’ Our team’s gifts were:
- Llama Back Thing: This involved wearing two balloons on your back like a llama, but most of my teammates’ backs hurt by dinner!
- Screen Time: You basically draw a phone on your face, which sounds terrible, but it turned out really cute (thanks to Jenny’s amazing face-drawing skills!).
- Pledger: This involved saying a pledger phrase whenever someone thanked you or complimented you.
Since we won the last mini-game the day before, we got the amazing reward of skipping dishwashing duty at lunch! No more waiting in that long line for 20 minutes in the hot weather!
Anyway, the second day was full of activities, mostly games and arts and crafts. You can watch the video for more information. After dinner, there was a ‘Lifetime Program’ for high schoolers or those who are going to high school soon. Since I’m going to eighth grade, I’ll be eligible next year. I’m excited about it, but I also want to stay and play blackjack with Johnny because I win a lot of marbles (aka money) from him. However, I think I’ll go to the Lifetime next year, experience it, and then decide if I want to participate again.
Day 3
The third day was probably the best day of the entire camp. We had water games, candlelight ceremony, fireworks, and friendship party. Before all that excitement, of course, we had our skit time. We planned a lot of things on the first day, like the outline and roles. However, we all got distracted by other things afterward and didn’t have time to make props. Well, we did plan out what props we needed, but luckily, we realized we could borrow most of them from other teams. So, we didn’t worry about it too much.
Let’s skip ahead to the fun part! The water games were fun, but the water balloon fight was still the best. During the candlelight ceremony, I went up to speak, but I felt like I had more things I wanted to say. I’ll talk about that in the last paragraph. I also cried a lot when other people or my counselor went up to speak.
The dance party, also known as the friendship party, was my favorite. It felt like one of the things that brought everyone together at camp. I think my voice was a little cracked when I went to sleep because I sang so loud. It was just a lot of fun!
Last Day!
The morning of the last day was rough. I didn’t have much energy because I used it all at the dance party the night before, and I also wanted to save some energy for the skit preforms later on. I don’t know why, but most of the boys seemed to have a lot of energy! Thankfully, there weren’t any morning exercises in the last day of the camp.
After breakfast, our counselor asked us which program we wanted to present: community project, flower arrangement, or hip hop. Of course, I picked hip hop! I love to dance, and I’m not the best at explaining things. Plus, most of my teammates chose hip hop too!
We were a little behind schedule for our last skit practice, so we had to hustle. We ran through the skit a few times and worked on our props in the last 20-30 minutes.
My team was the second to perform, which meant we didn’t get to see Team G’s skit. I was a little sad because Hee is on Team G, and I wanted to see what they came up with.
It was my turn, and I was nervous! I had four roles and worried I wouldn’t speak loud enough or forget the script. But it turned out really well! In my opinion, it was the best skit out of all teams, but Team H’s skit was good too!
After all the skits, it was time for program presentations (or whatever they called it). I chose hip hop, and for some reason, we were the first to perform. It felt a little backwards – shouldn’t the best go last? But hey, at least I didn’t have to move around a lot afterward. It wasn’t the best performance, but I’m still proud of myself.
Now for my favorite part: the BYC 2024 video! I think it’s the best one yet. The ending even made me cry… but you’ll have to watch it yourself, I don’t want to spoil it!
Overall reflection
This year’s BYC was actually my favorite. I feel like I grew a lot this year, and I developed stronger connections with my team. I think I might even cry next year if I go up to speak during the candle light ceremony because it would be my fourth year at BYC, and I’m also going to high school. You know how it is…
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