"The Tecumseh Effect." From a 2011 Torchbearer

"As I sit in my basement on Facebook, absorbed in my social life, listening to a playlist of all the theme songs of my weeks at camp, I can't take my mind of one topic. CAMP. I admit it. I am addicted to Camp Tecumseh. And I am almost positive that this case can not be cured by anything. This addiction is fed once a year in early June, when I get to go to the best place in the world. What other place can you feel so close to God that people break down in devos in faith or confusion, and leave with such a confidence that God is with them? Where else on earth can you get to camp by yourself and leave with 9 new best friends, some of which you may know for a very long time? Where else can you be an only child but leave with two older sisters? Where else can you have so much fun that going home seems like that Monday morning at school? Where else can you stand up on your chair at lunch and put flies on your friends? Where can you go where there is so much love and so much kindness from complete strangers? Where else can you ask someone "tell me more," and not feel awkward, because you are socially excellent? I could go on for all eternity of where else's about camp. We all know how great of a place camp is, I don't need to tell you that. But what we take away from camp differs for everyone. 


In my 5 years at camp T, I have realized something. I call it the Tecumseh Effect. The TE (if you didn't catch that it's the Tecumseh Effect) works in different ways depending on the person. Some people like camp because they meet new people, some like it because you get really close to God, and some like it because it is fun. BUT, the Tecumseh Effect embodies all three parts that I just mentioned. Camp to me is all three. But the short-term enjoyment is not the only thing that the Tecumseh Effect leaves us with. The Tecumseh Effect is what we do after we leave, the kind of person we are because of Camp Tecumseh. I know that I am a better Christian, friend, and all around better person from being a camper at Camp Tecumseh. I will miss my years as a camper at Camp T, but I will continue on to be a CILT and hopefully one day, a counselor. 

Camp T is one of the few places in this society where you can be yourself, praise God, and meet a bunch of new people in just one week. Tecumseh is the best summer camp ever and I know that it will continue to grow and be successful in the coming years. I love Camp Tecumseh and I am waiting to see where it takes me next."


by Emma Flynn, Teton Week 1 2011.