Camp Astra 2024: Behind the Scenes

Kacie likes ducks. Michelle hates tomatoes. Raylene has a dog.

As I sat in a circle together with the campers and other counselors, getting to know each other through two truths and a lie, my face relaxed into a grin as the vision of the hectic past few weeks slowly became reality.

Introducing ourselves through two truths and a lie - each person writes down three facts about themselves, two true and one a lie.

Truthfully, I had no idea what to expect when we had first started planning the camp. Labs, materials, lesson plans: things that I had experienced and enjoyed my entire life seemed so alien when viewed from the side I had never been on before—as a teacher. What I originally thought would be one meeting beforehand and a few hours of writing actually required long zoom calls across time zones, many late nights editing slides, and even pouring agar plates for a lab in my home ping pong table.

Pouring petri dishes on our ping pong table for the e. Coli transformation lab

However, even as running the camp ourselves seemed like a more and more monumental task, encountering labs gone awry, timing miscalculations, and other unexpected challenges, we found ourselves having less and less work as it slowly became a passion instead. The curiosity, intelligence and enthusiasm of my fellow counselors and students made any roadblock into an opportunity to try something new instead, and I loved seeing the same labs and concepts I had enjoyed before reinvigorated through new eyes and fresh perspectives.

Working hard on the scavenger hunt game after they breezed through the lessons

Even though I was one of the teachers at the camp, I think I have learned so much more than I have taught this week. Thank you for joining us this summer, and hope to see you in the next!