This fall, we’re excited to share a special four-part blog series written by Camp Alleghany alumna Carson Gleberman. Drawing from her own experiences at camp and beyond, she explores the many ways the lessons learned at Alleghany continue long after campers head home, including the transition to college and young adulthood. We hope you’ll enjoy this thoughtful series as much as we have.
Sharing Spaces
Many American kids today don’t grow up sharing a bedroom with a sibling, and arrive at college with no roommate experience. On top of the new challenges of navigating a new space, being solely responsible for managing their time, and having to build friend groups from scratch, they also have to make a peaceable home in tight quarters with a stranger.
Ghany girls have a huge advantage; every term they’ve spent at camp has been a guided rehearsal for this challenge. They’ve learned how to set boundaries: who can sit on my bed or trunk and when; how do I feel about clothes/Crazy Creek/shampoo sharing, etc. This means they know it’s better to bring up the awkward topics early and figure them out: what’s the right volume/timing for music, and which music; what do we do about different sleep preferences; which snacks/clothes/shoes are shareable; how to handle overnight visitors.
They’ve learned how to non-judgmentally explore different habits and expectations, standing up for themselves while maximizing creative accommodations. My first year roommate was a varsity swimmer, usually in bed before 11pm and up for 6am practice. I was (and am!) a night owl, writing my best papers or working tech calls at the theater in the wee hours. We managed to unpack and get in bed (me) and get up, dressed and out (her) in silence and darkness without losing our cool or stumbling over our stuff.
Let’s not forget inspection! Ghany girls have learned that, especially in tight quarters, if you keep your stuff organized, it’s easier to make all the little transitions the day may demand. Campers at first find cleaning the tent annoying, and camp’s rules about it can seem arcane. (Why a handspan for the sheet-over-blanket turndown? Why do shoes have to be in a toes-in row? ) But if you always know where your stuff is, and your roommate can rely on her stuff not being mixed in with your stuff, you both have more time to do the fun things you need the stuff for. At camp, tent cleaning for inspection has to fit in a 10- 15 minute window each morning, but even the youngest campers master it by the end of the first week. A few minutes every day, plus a habit of putting things down in their right places, prevents huge cleanup drama. Studies have shown that seeing clutter negatively affects mood, sleep and immune response, all of which are already challenged that first semester.
Finally, some tentmates become best friends, but not all. Campers learn that a happy tent doesn’t require all the temtmates to be besties, and so are prepared for either outcome in their college roommate. In a happy tent, everyone is buddies, a particularly valuable kind of friendship that deserves its own post.
