Tyler Hill Camp is my home away from home. For the last eight years of my life I have met my best friends for life. The connection with camp friends and home friends is completely different; home friends get to know you, but camp friends make you who you are. Camp friends know everything there is to know about you. After all, camp means living in the bunks with 18 other girls eating together, playing together, and sleeping together. This past summer, 2013, I finished my last year as a camper in the CIT division. It was by far the best summer of my life and I could not imagine spending my summers anywhere else. Because Tyler Hill is such an important part of my life, I have decided to return to be a counselor this year!
As a CIT, it is considered a privilege to write our own alma mater for sing as opposed to our counselors writing it for us. Although it was supposed to be a divisional effort, I ended up writing the whole thing. The song goes as follows:
CIT ALMA MATER TO "HERE" BY RASCAL FLATTS
the first day
sign pointed to you
walking off the bus as freshmen we were scared and so unsure
we never thought that
we'd find our-second home
sitting front row in the social hall no longer felt alone
I sat down, 8 years still ahead of me
right here thought I'd never be
and we would't change a thing
here as 18 CITS
can't believe it's over now
and our story is complete
and we'd relive all the years
and be thankful for the tears
we've cried on every final day
don't blink- Tyler Hill
upper camp now
thought we had more time to spend
little did we know it's the beginning of the end
the stage got further
the cheers grew louder
i miss back when at the flagpole my heart beat with my hand
Tyler Hill- should've stolen every moment
now there's a page with nothing on it
and we wouldn't change a thing
CIT's 2013
can't believe its over now
and our story is complete
but the love and the laughter
will live on long after
part of you will live in me
always-CIT's
turn the final pages last time in white and blue
as there's so much more to say the numbers burn away...
as the months turn into years
soon you'll be standing up here
now that it is up to you
we know Tyler will live on through
as the buses roll back in
the tears will soon begin
wouldn't take back anything
that led to you, and got me, here
and we'd relive all the years
and be thankful for those tears
now last row in the social hall
always-CIT's
CIT ALMA MATER TO "HERE" BY RASCAL FLATTS
the first day
sign pointed to you
walking off the bus as freshmen we were scared and so unsure
we never thought that
we'd find our-second home
sitting front row in the social hall no longer felt alone
I sat down, 8 years still ahead of me
right here thought I'd never be
and we would't change a thing
here as 18 CITS
can't believe it's over now
and our story is complete
and we'd relive all the years
and be thankful for the tears
we've cried on every final day
don't blink- Tyler Hill
upper camp now
thought we had more time to spend
little did we know it's the beginning of the end
the stage got further
the cheers grew louder
i miss back when at the flagpole my heart beat with my hand
Tyler Hill- should've stolen every moment
now there's a page with nothing on it
and we wouldn't change a thing
CIT's 2013
can't believe its over now
and our story is complete
but the love and the laughter
will live on long after
part of you will live in me
always-CIT's
turn the final pages last time in white and blue
as there's so much more to say the numbers burn away...
as the months turn into years
soon you'll be standing up here
now that it is up to you
we know Tyler will live on through
as the buses roll back in
the tears will soon begin
wouldn't take back anything
that led to you, and got me, here
and we'd relive all the years
and be thankful for those tears
now last row in the social hall
always-CIT's
To my best friends,
It's crazy to me that I'm trying to fit the past seven summers of my life in one letter. As a cadet I had no idea that coming here would change my life forever. Little did I know, I found a new second home here at Tyler Hill.
At the beginning of the summer I think the whole camp was curious as to how we were all going to live with each other. I was even hesitant to be in one bunk with everyone because of the divisions within our division. I'm so thankful that we were all able to come together as one. We killed it as CITs. I could not be happier that people I hadn't spoken to before this summer I can now call my best friends.
Just as I came home to a new home after my first summer, I don't think it's a coincidence that now I'm going back to a new home after CIT summer. Throughout the changes in my life, camp has been the one constant in my life. I figure that's the reason why I keep coming back. You're all I've ever know, and I wouldn't change a thing...
Love always,
Nikki
It's crazy to me that I'm trying to fit the past seven summers of my life in one letter. As a cadet I had no idea that coming here would change my life forever. Little did I know, I found a new second home here at Tyler Hill.
At the beginning of the summer I think the whole camp was curious as to how we were all going to live with each other. I was even hesitant to be in one bunk with everyone because of the divisions within our division. I'm so thankful that we were all able to come together as one. We killed it as CITs. I could not be happier that people I hadn't spoken to before this summer I can now call my best friends.
Just as I came home to a new home after my first summer, I don't think it's a coincidence that now I'm going back to a new home after CIT summer. Throughout the changes in my life, camp has been the one constant in my life. I figure that's the reason why I keep coming back. You're all I've ever know, and I wouldn't change a thing...
Love always,
Nikki