“There is so much to love about Camp Archbald,” said Caitland Hawk Grasso, who spent summers there as a youth. “Simply said, it is my favorite place on Earth. … It’s the spirit of camp that makes it so special.”

Growing up in the early 1990s, Grasso joined Girl Scouts when her mother served as her Daisy and Brownie troop leader. She camped with her troop for weekends and special events and attended resident camp from age 7 through 16.

“My first real job was being an assistant unit leader there at the age of 19,” she said. She returned to camp to volunteer with Supporters of Camp Archbald (SoCA) in 2018 and has been volunteering ever since.

Camp provided Grasso not only with fun experiences, but also with life skills that have served her well in her career. “My early camp experience gave me my first real sense of adventure and connection with nature,” she said.

“It is where I learned the concept of team-building and problem-solving which is a huge part of my career as a recreation therapist. It instilled and made me discover leadership skills I never knew I had.”

Asked to recall some of her favorite memories of Camp Archbald, Grasso joked, “I could easily write an entire novel about this.”

Some standouts include a two-week program that featured a week on the Susquehanna River, where things didn’t go as planned and the group faced a series of challenges. At the end of the trip, Grasso received a Golden Duct Tape award.

“I understand this may seem odd if you weren’t there at the time, but this Golden Duct Tape symbolized leadership skills I possessed that my counselors acknowledged throughout those two weeks,” she recalled. “Honestly, I never knew I possessed these skills prior to this trip.”

She also remembers doing trust falls with her troop before taking the trek up to the Old Adventure Trail. When she returned to camp as a volunteer with SoCA, she met a few other adults who decided to try as a group to find the old trail, no easy task since it had been at least 15 years since any of them had been there.

“Before I knew it, muscle memory and navigation skills – thanks to camp – took over and we spotted (the trail),” she said. “One by one, we found the old low ropes course elements and got to share our memories with new friends that are my ‘Camp Fam’ today.”

Other favorite camp memories include going sledding, jumping into piles of mattresses at Upper Friendship lodge, swimming and diving in the lake and swamping canoes.

“I mean who does not enjoy intentionally tipping over your canoe?” she laughed. “When we flipped it upside down, we could see so clearly in the lake below us and the acoustics of our voices sounded so cool.”

As an adult, Grasso continues to make fond memories at Camp Archbald, including an impromptu jam session she had recently around a campfire with a few other SoCA members.

“It was so amazing to be a part of that camp magic,” she said, adding that she’s proud to be a part of an organization that cares so deeply about the camp. “I also get to stand side by side with a few of my former counselors who I’ve admired since a young age and continue to learn from. I have made new friends while keeping the old.”

Written by Cathy Molitoris, Marketing Coordinator for Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania.