Written by Jess Moore, M.F.A. ’13

Jess Moore at Pike’s Peak National Forest.

I spent my sum­mer with a pseu­do­nym; you can call me HoneyBear.

For the past 15 years I’ve sat at a desk dili­gently gain­ing expe­ri­ence and cre­at­ing solid design solu­tions for a vari­ety of posi­tions I’ve had in the pro­fes­sional ser­vices indus­try. I’m work­ing on my 10,000 hours, a la Malcolm Gladwell.

I was laid off, and as these things hap­pen, you start to con­sider how you want to refo­cus your career and what you’re will­ing to do to spend your 40 hours. And some­times hair-brained oppor­tu­ni­ties come across your desk. Mine was the oppor­tu­nity to be out­side every­day for 8 weeks nes­tled in the Pike’s Peak National Forest. I was hired on as the pho­tog­ra­pher at a Girl Scout camp.

Camp coun­selor was the posi­tion I should have had 20 years ago. I knew that there were going to be inter­est­ing chal­lenges (co-workers 2 decades younger, a whop­ping two hours off each day, not to men­tion the pay rate). But those chal­lenges don’t hold a flame (or head­lamp) to the experience.

The first week of camp was just for coun­selors: work­shops on man­ag­ing the girls (home­sick­ness spreads quickly), get­ting to know camp, learn­ing names (camp names to be spe­cific), and CPR and First Aid train­ing — I called it badge work. Then the girls descended.

Schedules take on a dif­fer­ent light when you immerse into a new rou­tine, new land­scape, and new peo­ple. You get to know your­self again. Time slowed down.

One hundred-or-so girls ages 8 – 17 showed up each week for activ­i­ties rang­ing from canoe­ing, barn­yard fun, zip lin­ing, rock climb­ing, and arts & crafts. It was my job to show up and cap­ture their excite­ment. After years of man­ag­ing design solu­tions and inter­act­ing with C-level execs and mit­i­gat­ing their thoughts on design, to sim­ply engage in the joy of camp was refreshing.

Between going from activ­ity to activ­ity, I hiked. Camp was 880 acres at an ele­va­tion of 8300 feet. I woke up to bright blue skies, pon­derosa pines and moun­tains inter­rupt­ing the hori­zon line. The col­ors were amaz­ing. The sun would set, and the moun­tains turned into lay­ers of aubergine with an orange-pink sky. Dusk would come and the stars would come out, span­ning a sap­phire col­ored sky.

That was my office.

Beyond tak­ing pic­tures, I did get to know my cowork­ers; young ladies who are learn­ing who they are and fig­ur­ing out their place in the world. I’ve spent time with this age group as a fac­ulty mem­ber, but with this group I learned in myself that men­tor­ing is a part of my purpose.

Once a Girl Scout, always a Girl Scout. I spent time in my troop and at GS sum­mer camps grow­ing up; it was a time to be myself, enjoy friends and try some­thing new. JuneBug was a par­ent vol­un­teer that came one week called it “the magic of camp.” Sometimes you need to be reminded that it’s OK to sit through din­ner with a nap­kin hat on your head, or revel in watch­ing a room full of girls utterly lose it by play­ing “Let It Go,” enjoy tales told around a camp­fire, and sleep­ing under the stars. Going to camp as an adult holds the same truths, same self-learning and aware­ness as a child, and it’s a cat­a­lyst for change.

What I chal­lenge you to do is take the odd oppor­tu­nity, do some­thing dif­fer­ent and immerse your­self in a dif­fer­ent life for a while. Perhaps my jour­ney wasn’t as epic as Eat, Pray, Love, but it did help to rein­vig­o­rate, refine and above all inspire me for my next steps in my career and life.

View Jess’s “Best of Camp” photos.

Jess Moore is a graphic designer, educator and the current president of AIGA Colorado.