What is Magic?

Moments after the first bell of the day, the muted sounds of an early morning tetherball match drift up towards my window on the third floor of the main house, like they do most days of the summer. Down below, the hay in the fields has that golden hue of an early summer morning, and children are beginning to move about as camp wakes up. Tetherball matches flow one into the next, ping pong balls are flying, and children run to greet their friends with the first hugs of the day. 

July 31st happens to fall right around the middle of session two. In that sweet spot where each group has moved through the excitement and nerves of week one, where they have lived in this place long enough to know their way around the land and their social worlds, and where the true golden moments of the summer emerge. Where we are comfortable and in our flow, basking in the joy of that balance, while knowing that it will all fade in just a matter of days, as each camper returns home with only their packed bags and memories of the summer. But somehow, at this one-week mark, the fact that summer camp will be ending soon makes each moment that much sweeter. 

It was a few days back, out to dinner on a day off, that a friend and I were reminiscing about our own days as campers, when we remembered the elaborate show that had been put on for many summers to celebrate Harry Potter’s birthday. As the memories floated to the surface of our minds, a passion arose to recreate this experience in 2024. By the next morning, a “cast list” had been drafted for the counselors and costumes were being dreamt up. The kitchen crew soon had an ambitious menu crafted, and three hardworking farmers dedicated themselves as “house elves,” tasked with decorating the dining hall to resemble the Great Hall at Hogwarts. 

As the dinner bell rings, the tables are arranged in four long rows and laden with a feast of magical dishes, and there is a joyful excitement in the air as counselors quickly assemble costumes. Each one files in and finds a spot in their respective houses. Professors McGonagall and Snape command a silence in the hall as the sorting hat begins its work placing each camper at a table. As campers find their seats, their eyes light up as they recognize their favorite magical characters throughout the room. The hall soon fills with the sounds of laughter and glee at attempted British accents and rounds of skits performed by the house elves and various characters. Looking around the room, I feel a sense of relief, that feeling that all is well and campers are feeling the magic yet again. 

At this moment, I know that it was only made possible by all of the days before and all that is left to come. It started with the structure, the foundation that gave us space to explore, and it slowly built with all of the early morning tetherball matches, challenging climbs up the ropes course, and afternoons spent in the lake. All of the moments that people felt their own sense of belonging within the camp community. Without that, we would just be a group of people in a large room eating strange foods, wearing silly costumes, and talking in accents. And in truth, that’s all we really were, but we all chose to believe in the magic of it because we trusted one another and had learned to make beauty of the smaller moments. 

In ten years, when these campers sit at the window on the third floor, amidst all of the details of the summer, the schedules and lesson plans, it will not matter who beat who at tetherball, who won knockout, or ping pong all those years back. In fact, they will likely not remember any of these specific matches. They all just exist. But, they will remember the feeling of finding someone who loves to volley a tetherball just as much as they do, someone who greets them with a warm smile and hug each day, someone who cheers them on in knockout, and the feeling of being in the world of Hogwarts, even if just for one meal. It is not just the moments of memories that make camp magical, but the feeling as a whole. In ten years, when these campers have become counselors and sit, as I do now, it will matter that they felt they mattered, that they felt cared for, and therefore they were a part of the magic, the magic that brought them back time and again to give that same magic to others. 

As we are reminded at the closing circle each year, each group of people will never be together again after we part, because even if we all returned, we each would have changed. And in that same way, we all return home different people than when we arrived weeks before. Each summer, nearly 200 people return to homes, playgrounds, classrooms, dorm rooms, and communities back home with a new (or renewed) understanding of the importance of belonging to something bigger, something connected, something magical. These individuals know how much it matters to give a small compliment, to cheer loudly even if you’re the only one cheering, and to invite a friend into their imaginations, because they know the beauty that is possible in connection. And these individuals return home to become engaged citizens in their communities and the world, to leave the world a little better than the way they found it. And maybe, just maybe, if they each start small ripples way out there, someday we could find moments like that celebration of Harry Potter’s birthday at summer camp 2024 in classrooms, sports teams, and boardrooms many years down the line. All because a small group of determined summer camp counselors dedicated their summers to building a joyful summer for their campers because they believe in the magical power of childhood.

By: Maia George, Summer Camp Head Counselor