A camp director’s perspective of Centauri Arts Camp is only one among many, so this week, I sat down (over Skype) with Jonah, to ask him a few questions about camp. Jonah was a camper at Centauri for several summers, and now studies Cinema and Humanities at the University of Toronto. Over his first two summers on staff, Jonah worked with boys of all ages, taught workshops, planned camp activities, and assisted with programs such as Film Production and Stage Combat. In 2018 he joins us for his third year as a counsellor, taking on leadership responsibilities in our counsellor team.
Hi Jonah! To start with, tell me about your time as a camper. What kept you coming back to Centauri, year after year?
It was the feeling of being comfortable. There’s a lack of judgement at Centauri, and strong relationships get built very quickly. What I mean is – when you feel comfortable, you can become more confident in who you are. Confident enough to try new things. When I learned about other people’s interests I was always surprised how like me they were. They liked the same arts activities I did. Not just Canadian campers, but campers from all over the world.
You have been a part of Butler Dorm – our boys’ community – for many years. What is that like?
Butler is a special place. Boys of all ages, and their counsellors, live together under one roof. We get to know each other, and learn to consider each other’s needs. We’re a community. When I was a camper one summer, there was a boy in the dining hall, singing so loudly to a song, standing on his chair with his dorm. Maybe someone who didn’t know him might think – why is he so loud? But none of us thought that, because we knew that when he first arrived, he had been really quiet. We knew that about him, so we were proud when he felt comfortable enough to be loud.
Butler is diverse, like all of camp, which makes it special. You get really artistic kids, and kids who have never ever tried the arts before, and it doesn’t matter because everyone wants everyone else to succeed.
Tell me some moments you remember well from all your summers at camp.
There are so many. The most important moments are when connections happen between people. Sometimes, unexpected ones. Last summer, I had this dorm in session 4 – the shortest session. There were returners in it, and also new kids. The returners knew how short the session would feel, and from the first day, they were trying to get the most from every minute. We had an Amazing Race festival, and suddenly the returners started running, really getting excited. The new campers, they ran along with them, laughing and having fun. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this was the moment when they realized how much fun they could have at Centauri. My new campers threw themselves into everything from that point on.
Centauri is an arts camp. Why do you think it’s different, exploring the arts at an overnight camp rather than in school, or maybe with friends, at home?
You learn more than you expect to at Centauri because you come to try one thing, but there’s so many other things you can do as well. You go home with new experiences. The arts are part of everything, not just the programs. They are a part of free time, and you learn from so many people – other campers, and counsellors, and program directors. You even learn about the arts in the evening programs. For example, last year there was a pirate themed evening program that was really fun, and my campers, they got to try swordplay. That made them interested in taking stage combat workshops. Back when I was a camper, I took a Haiku workshop, and learned I love Haiku. That stayed with me. All the arts are presented in a welcoming way, so you can try anything.
This might just be the toughest question of all. Campers who have been to Centauri always talk about community – how they can be themselves here. Where do you think our sense of community comes from? How do we build it?
Community is created so many ways at camp. Counsellors create communities in their dorms, and program directors create them in their programs. Campers belong in a lot of places! But maybe what matters most – it’s the shared experiences, especially the bonds that come from unexpected things happening. Relationship are such a big part of community. There was an activity when I was in the oldest boys dorms, and we were paired with one of the youngest dorms to do it. We were horses, they were our riders, but the fur I used to make my horse was this giant hedgehog thing from the costume store. The little girl I was paired with thought this was really funny. She called me “hedgehog” whenever she saw me for the rest of the summer, and when I came back as a counsellor two years later, she still remembered, and called me hedgehog! That’s one of those moments that makes camp special. It’s a connection with someone you wouldn’t otherwise know.
I suppose when you get thousands of those moments, all interconnecting people day after day through the summer, that builds a community.
We all need to belong. It’s the most important thing.
Do you have any final words you would like to say to a parent thinking of sending their child to Centauri?
Friendships happen at Centauri that stay with you. What matters is people, and your connection to them. Centauri isn’t somewhere your kids might make friends. Everyone who goes to Centauri WANTS to build relationships with others. That’s the big difference.
Jonah was a camper for 6 years at Centauri and is now entering his third year on our counsellor team. He is currently working on his first novel.