At around noon on Monday, Oct. 3, buses filled withsixth graders pulled onto the field at Sherwood Forest. Kids flocked around the windows inside the bus, watching the groups of two or three cheering them on. Among these groups, they knew, were their counselors.

This is the scene when thesixth  grade class of Wydown arrived at Sixth Grade Camp; a yearly event in which the entire grade has a taste of summer camp.

This event is partially run by a group of Clayton High School students who volunteer to miss a week of school in order to help the sixth grade class enjoy this unique experience.

This year, however, fewer people applied to become counselors, according to Erin Ott, a teacher at Wydown Middle School who helps to organize the event.

“I would say that competition is considerably less for counselor spots than in past years,” Ott said. “Many students find conflicts with sports and their class load.  It’s hard to find people who are willing and able to make the commitment to missing a week of school.”

The students who applied to become counselors, such as junior Teddy Kogos, chose to do so based upon their love of children.

“I became a counselor because I really like hanging out with kids,” Kogos said.  “The kids are really happy people, and the counselors just helped the kids have a great experience.”

Senior Montel Harris has a similar viewpoint.

“I love kids,” Harris said. “I love taking care of people.”

This love for the children is what brings the counselors to participate. But first, the CHS counselors needed to rally as a group.

“It only took two days for some phenomenal bonding to happen in this counselor group,” Ott said.  “Because we have nearly 30 counselors and 14 CIT’s (Counselors In Training), we split them up into three smaller groups for team-building, which really made them close to each other.”

Sophomore Rilke Griffin agreed that the experience created a strong bond among the counselor group.

“We all became really close and supportive of each other,” Griffin said. “We were always there for each other no matter what, and whenever someone needed something, anything, we were there.”

The counselors that had boys’ cabins even made a name for their group, “Team Testosterone”, also known as Team T.

Griffin’s team won Male Counselor of the Year, one of the many awards available for the campers and counselors at the camp.

“We (Team T) started out as a group of guys,” Griffin said. “But by the end of the first day at camp, we had evolved into a family.”

However, Team T wasn’t the only unit formed.  In the end, all of the counselors came together.

“All of the counselors showed commitment to each other by the end and I think experienced inspiring success,” Ott said. “I personally witnessed the whole group rally around individuals, and each individual rally around their group.  It was beautiful.”