We put out a call to our Camp Start-Up alumni and asked them for quotes or stories from their camp experience. We received the following story from Grace Bolt, a standout camper from Camp Start-Up, Silicon Valley 2013.

The first time I heard about Camp Start-Up was from a friend of mine who had attended a few years back.  I heard her stories about the great fieldtrips and guest speakers, but the truth was I didn’t need much convincing to spend two weeks in California.  But even with her stories, I was not prepared for all that camp had to offer.

First of all, there was no way for me to expect the extremely high caliber of activities and guest speakers we were exposed to.  Premal Shah, the president of Kiva, started off the guest speaker list and I was in awe.  He’s an amazing orator, and has done so many amazing things, but he is still a completely normal guy.  Getting the chance to talk to him was incredible and I will never forget it.

I didn’t think anything could top the first day, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.  Each day, each speaker, each activity, and each outing kept topping the one before it–I was never bored at Camp Start-Up!  And don’t get me started on the field trips.  First of all, we had a party bus for transportation.  That was cool and all (okay, spectacular), but I would have walked to all of our site visits if that were my only option.  Google was a blast even though we all wished we could have seen more. We spent a whole day in San Francisco and that was amazing.  It was warm and sunny and beautiful and then we went to the Kiva headquarters and got to walk around and we all had a blast.  But we had a blast for 12 days straight so why would a trip to San Francisco be any different? Exactly my point!

And that leads to the second thing I hadn’t expected about Camp Start-Up.  From the very beginning, within the first five minutes, everyone got along.  We all hit it off right from the beginning; there was no oddball in the groups that didn’t fit.  Don’t get me wrong, we definitely had our quirks and a few dramatic moments, but somehow we managed to use them to make camp better.  And I think that that was one of the things that made camp so amazing.  Since everyone got along with everyone, all of our efforts and focus was put into what we were doing.  No matter how the groups were arranged, we all had fun and took something positive away from the activity.  And that made our free time even better because we chose to spend it together.

Last but not least, it wasn’t just cohesion between the campers – there was cohesion with the counselors as well.  It was clear that they all knew what they were talking about, but on top of that, we knew that they were there because they wanted to be.  And honestly, we all got along. We would have loved them regardless, though, because they saved us from the awful cafeteria food It was sad to see everyone go at the end of camp but I’m still in touch with many of the people I met during my time at camp, and we’re always talking about a Camp Start-Up 2013 reunion!

I’m super excited that Camp Start-Up is being held at the University of Oxford this year.  I thought it was good before, but it’s going to be amazing now.  If you have the opportunity to attend, you need to seriously consider it – it’s completely worth it!