TC Love

Rock stars also love working with children!  Who knew?

"As a rock star, I have two instincts, I want to have fun, and I want to change the world. I have a chance to do both." -Bono

Lest this be a wasted opportunity to blog about absolutely ANYTHING, I ‘d like to write about USC Troy Camp. In case you don’t know what Troy Camp is, it is USC’s official philanthropy and one of the greatest organizations that I have ever had the pleasure of being a part of. We work with children in the schools surrounding USC, tutoring them and eventually, taking some to camp in the summer. Unlike a sorority, TC is not something that requires you to pay dues to participate. It is a philanthropic organization that only wants your time and love of children.

I joined Troy Camp my freshman year. And I’ll admit, I wasn’t always the most dedicated member. The driving force behind my involvement during that first semester was the crush that I had on my Big. Scandalous I know. Eventually though, I found myself attending TC events just to see the kids I had bonded with, and to hang out with my fellow counselors. By the second semester, I was in deep and I knew that I wanted to be a cabin counselor at camp that summer more than anything.

Unfortunately, my dream did not come true. My poor attendance at the beginning of freshman year had been noted. Although I did get to go to camp, I did not have enough points to be a cabin counselor. I did get another job though! Oh, what a job it was... That summer I was the Co-Director of IMPACT, our community service recreation station at camp. What a glorious title, you might think. Well let me tell you, it was not an exciting position. I had the job of making community service fun, and believe it or not, it is not easy to convince small children that helping the world is the cool thing to do. No, they want to play sports, not pick up trash. Despite the difficulty of the job, the week passed by far too quickly. I had truly enjoyed having the opportunity to work with all of the kids at camp.

Sophomore year, I was determined to become a cabin counselor. I attended all of the TC events and helped out outside of events when I could. That summer, I got to be a cabin counselor for a group of 10 third grade girls. I was ecstatic. Images of a fun-filled week with little cherubs filled my dreams…

They tell you that being a counselor is hard work, but I still wasn’t prepared for the week to come. Hanging out with the kids 24/7 (save your one hour of “relief”) was absolutely exhausting. The girls were always tired or hungry or homesick. When one wanted to go to bathroom, they ALL wanted to go to the bathroom. When Jada decided that she was going to undo all the braids in her weave, I spent the next few hours braiding it back up for her. Ariana would get angry when people wouldn’t pay enough attention to her and she would become inconsolable. Chelsea disliked other girls in the cabin for apparently no reason. Who knew 3rd graders had so much attitude?! After this experience, I could only look at my mother was a sense of awe. She had dealt with me all day, every day, for much longer than a week.

I have to say though, although there were struggles- I have never had a more rewarding experience with children in my life. Despite the optimistic description of camp that I provided above, it was really a beautiful thing. For a week, I had the honor of getting to know 10 young girls and influence their lives forever. For the first time, Martha was asked what she wanted to be in the future. Yamit got to ride her first horse. We helped teach Diana how to swim. And Aisha told me that it had been the best week of her life. I laughed with them, read them bedtime stories and went on adventures with them. I grew to love these girls. I can’t wait to be reunited with them this Sunday for our first Troy Camp event of the semester.