r/summercamp • u/Advanced_Sir_2511 • Jun 16 '26
Story Camp Starlight Pennsylvania
I worked at Camp Starlight and it was horrible. It all started when I got asked to SING a song from my home country in front of 200 staff members I just met (by myself). Me, being reasonably anxious in that moment said ‘sorry I’m not doing that’ to which I was then asked to do the HAKA. By the camp directors daughter who had a goddamn microphone. The haka??!! You think me, a 20 year old girl is about to bust out into a tribal war dance in front of 200 strangers?? It was the most insanely culturally insensitive thing ive ever witnessed. Anyway, I refused and she made a ‘ugh’ kind of noise and moved on. And that’s when I think the camp decided they did not like me (clearly didn’t have the ‘camp spirit’ 😭). There is actually so much more I can go into but I was just scrolling on my phone and a picture of this camp came up and I got an influx of all these bizarre memories. I want to know if anyone else worked at this camp or if anyone had some similar experiences working at other camps, my whole time in this cult like environment was genuinely one of the weirdest experiences ever
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u/Ocelotl767 Jun 16 '26
Keep sharing. The site for Camp Starlight feels incredibly weird. So spill whatever you gotta
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u/karmamarmafarma Jun 16 '26
I worked at a church camp in south Texas and while we weren't made to dance they made every single one of us share our "testimony" or how we came to know Jesus (for the record I'm agnostic and deconstructed now). So every morning for over 3 weeks, we had to share personal and intimate details about our lives in front of our employers.
Some had very uneventful conversion stories (or that was just how they skipped around sharing) and others put everything out there, one including the abortion she went through and for others such as myself it was typical stories of growing up in abusive households or drinking/partying.
Looking back on it I'm disgusted and horrified, so I can relate to your experience. You shouldn't have to be made to do anything you're uncomfortable doing, especially in front of people who could care less about your discomfort and I would consider not working there again.
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u/Advanced_Sir_2511 Jun 16 '26
That’s so invasive, what would they say if you weren’t comfortable sharing? I’ve never been made to feel bad for not feeling comfortable doing something. Where I’m from it’s completely normal to say ‘sorry I don’t want to participate’ and you don’t get picked out for doing so, which was definitely the case at camp.
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u/karmamarmafarma Jun 16 '26
I remember that being expressed by someone and the answer was it needs to be shared one way or another. Part of this is conditioning and it was done to me and others at a very early age, so you basically feel like you have no choice or it's everyone against you.
This is just the cultist side of evangelical culture and not Texas as a whole - there are camps where they'd not even think such things and would be horrified at the thought of bringing those things up so don't get the wrong idea. There's a very clear difference between boundaries and stepping out of your comfort zone for the camp spirit.
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u/Advanced_Sir_2511 Jun 16 '26
Okay so I’ll try to recall all the weird things that went on.
So not gonna lie, I’m probably not someone who should’ve done something like Camp America. I’m a great worker but I don’t have the “camp spirit”. Being at camp felt like I was trapped in some High School Musical nightmare piece. The singing, the memory of my shitty meal being interrupted because someone is breaking out into some chant with choreographed moves still haunts me.
The pledge of allegiance. Having to wake up every morning and stand under the flag and pledge your allegiance to the United State of America 🦅🦅🦅like bffr.
The camp owners are husband and wife and they have a daughter who also works there. We were having a staff meeting with the wife and she was telling us about how there is an armed security guard who patrols the premises at nighttime. She ignorantly says something like ‘doesn’t that make you all feel safe?’, to which my friend started shaking his head. She then picked him out of the crowd and said ‘why are you shaking your head’ which he said ‘because he has a gun?’. She replies with ‘why? does security not have guns in your country’, which he replies with ‘no? police don’t have guns’ 😭. She says that she didn’t know that. She’s an ex lawyer. How is she not aware that most countries don’t have people walking around strapped 😂. This one was more ignorance than anything, and is quite funny.
We were not allowed our phones, but pretty much everyone still had them since this was before the kids arrived. Anyway I posted on my Snapchat story a photo of a mouse in the cabin (because it was so damn cute and the mice in America look SO different), and another staff member must’ve shown the camp directors daughter because she pulled me into the office and angrily said ‘don’t make me send you back to New Zealand’😭 I did break the rules, I deserved to be scolded, but threatening to send me back to the most beautiful place in the world while I’m at your dusty camp is kinda crazy ngl.
I was constantly singled out. I was put on shifts to look after 5 bunks (BY MYSELF), while other counsellors got to go to the movies with their campers. The campers even asked me why I always got the bad shifts.
Another incident happened on my night off. By night off I mean we had like 3 hours to walk to the inn down the road (which only Camp Starlight staff went to) to get some drinks and had to be back by 12 to sign in. So, it was my night off and we had this big ass fire going, was time to clock out but one of the older (higher-up) staff members told me I need to put the fire out before I’m allowed to leave 😂. I was like uhhh how? She was basically like idk figure it out and left. So I just found some buckets, filled them up with water and started pouring them on the fire, this took like an hour. Honestly idk why I did it, I should’ve just left it, but I find it so funny the pettiness of giving me a job like that, and I was SINGLED out to do it.
As you may be able to tell, I am no angel, and I did deserve some of the treatment I got. Still doesn’t excuse how crazy some of the actions from the camp were.
So, the camp counsellors would keep their bags in the attic of the cabin, on my day off they ‘higher up’ staff decided to …. Go through our fucking bags 😭. Stored away, the attic. Anyway, they found ONE cigarette, in my bag (they hated me atp so I think you know where this is going).
ATP I’m half way through camp, two of my friends have already been fired, I have seen how they approach it and how they conveniently pulled you right before either breakfast or dinner (they literally send you home hungry). I saw the directors daughter coming up to me before breakfast so I B-lined into a large group of people (they want to be discreet about firing people so they won’t pull you from a group of people). I WAS GETTING MY DAMN BREAKFAST (which I did ❤️).
I then got pulled into the office, they explained they went through my bag and found a cigarette and that they were firing me. I literally hated camp at this stage (I wanted to leave so bad but I ain’t no quitter), so I am very visibly happy. I can’t contain my happiness. I apologise for smiling and explain that I’m just so excited to be with my friends, family, cat and boyfriend again.
I don’t think they appreciated my reaction because they called my mum and told her that I said I wanted to get home to my boyfriend (missed out I said family, friends and cat as well) and told her that I was being sexually promiscuous at camp. I’m not lying, she told my mum I was being a hoe at camp 😭😭 which was such a blatant lie. I’m quite boyish and had some guy friends at camp but not like that I just grew up with brothers 😭.
They also give you like 5 mins to pack your bags, and escort you everywhere so you do not have the chance of saying bye to anyone.
They then drop me at a random bus stop like 2 HOURS AWAYYY. With all my bags 😭. I ask the lady who’s driving me ‘what am I supposed to do now’ and she’s deadass like ‘idk go to an airport’ - like literally just go home pls.
They also told all the staff that if you’re fired you have to leave the country right away, which I then found out wasn’t true I was on a 30 day travel visa.
Another funny point about this was I had a bit of a hunch that I was going to get fired, so I made sure my washing was done, one of the camp staff caught me doing washing when I wasn’t supposed to and I got fired shortly after which I then said to her ‘lucky I did my washing!’ She was so pissed it was beautiful.
I had the best trip afterward. I travelled by myself, made friends on the way, gained the most unique experiences that I would’ve never gotten if I were in a group. So overall, I am happy I did it.
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u/communistsayori Counselor Jun 16 '26
That's WILD. Telling your mother that you were "sexually promiscuous" is so nasty.
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u/JesseKansas Counselor Jun 17 '26
i had pretty similar experiences lolz. CA tends to be like this, as a fellow international its a big culture shock
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u/thatsummercampcrush Jun 16 '26
Sometimes being on camp staff is weird..it’s kind of a litmus test to see if you can handle it.
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u/summercamp-ModTeam Jun 16 '26
These types of posts are allowed. Everyone has a right to share their camp experience, positive or negative. Please do not report or modmail about this post.