Student column: What a Camper Wants

By Taylor Escher

Shirts, shorts, under garments, toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant. Suitcases are filled with materials needed to survive a week at the Flint Hills Publications Workshop. You are set. However, the FHPW may not be ready for you.

The workshop teaches campers about the fundamentals of their craft and how to improve their work. However, this workshop could use some minor improvements as well.

Lines of customers snake behind the food court stands. Campers have $10 to spend each day to buy breakfast and lunch. Although campers have $1 more to spend each day, it still isn’t enough. Campers pinch pennies trying to pay for enough nourishment.

Hannah Blick, student adviser at the FHPW, finished her lunch Monday with 1 cent left on her cash card. The majority of campers also finish lunch with less than a dollar.

Today I went over by $2.02 because I bought an apple this morning that was $1.09. That was way too much to pay for an apple. Yesterday I had 5 cents left and think $15 would be a reasonable amount.

Worrying about money and doing math problems are not situations campers want to stress about every day.

The workload is enough to keep you frazzled:

Breakfast: 7:30-8:35. Morning Session: 8:45-10:40. General Session: 10:45- 12:00. Lunch: 12:00-1:15. Afternoon Session: 1:15-5:00. Dinner: 5:15-6:15. Evening Session: 6:30-9:00. Nightly Activities: 9:30-11:00 or later.

Campers fight to stay motivated during this rigorous schedule.

Most campers don’t go to bed until midnight or later. By the time they reach their beds, the only thing they want to do is sleep. Campers often get less than seven hours of sleep every night and don’t have much time to socialize.

Kevin Adams, a Lee’s Summit High School newspaper staffer, wants more time between sessions to take a nap at the hotel. Campers walk back and forth from various buildings multiple times each day in 80 to 90 degree weather. The scorching sun, constant walking and uncomfortably warm Kedzie Hall drain campers’ energy.

Campers want to have more time to socialize with kids from other schools and from other publications. During sessions, campers are with the same kids and at night they are usually with roommates from their own schools. Campers need more time to socialize and meet new people.

Walking back and forth from Kedzie Hall to the Union, campers from my Advanced Newspaper Writing class huff and puff through the hallways searching for open computers. We end up sporadically placed in different rooms containing a few computers each.

Technology is a huge factor in today’s society, and campers need it to perform their assigned tasks. A majority of the camper’s work heavily relies on modern technology.

Campers in the same classes should be put together so they can peer edit and swap ideas. This is difficult when you are in different rooms or don’t know where a certain person is located. Campers want updated computers that are all compatible with each other so they don’t have to change file types or redo work. Advanced Newspaper Students agree that another computer lab would be beneficial.

You have prepared for camp, and camp should be prepared for you.

Taylor Escher is a junior at Notre Dame de Sion and is a student in the advanced newspaper writing class.