Camp Dragonfly Forest Personal Statement

I was lying asleep on a cot at 6AM when suddenly a “cabin” of four children were jumping all over me, excited to start yet another day at Camp Dragonfly Forest. I have had the best job in the world for the previous two summers, working at a nonprofit camp for kids with specific medical needs. Every week is something different, ranging from developmental disorders like 22Q chromosomal disorder and autism, to physical disorders like persistent asthma, sickle cell anemia, and hemophilia. Camp Dragonfly Forest levels the playing field for these kids and gives them the opportunity to have the same camp experience as “normal” children that they cannot have elsewhere. So for six weeks for the past two summers, I have been the goofiest, most energetic, oversized child for the sake of getting kids to feel comfortable away from home. I was so far out of my comfort zone, dancing, singing, and just generally making a fool of myself. But I loved every second of it. In a philosophical sense I truly believe that I found myself, a future physician who had a real knack for working with kids.

But it took me a while to come to that realization. As far as inspiration stories go, mine was pretty unorthodox compared to many people that I know. I didn’t have the typical foreign mission trip experience or traumatic incident happening to someone I loved. I was a …show more content…
I spent a couple of summers there before my executive director pushed me to look for opportunities where I could work more directly with children with autism. She felt that my experience with children with special needs was being wasted as an intern who only did paperwork and ran errands all day. A few Google searches later I was sitting on the Dragonfly Forest website thinking about how perfect the job sounded for me. And after just a few summers away at camp I felt that my purpose in life had become clear and