Camp Tecumseh; a place where are all welcome, and all are loved. A place where we learn to live in God’s glory. At Camp Tecumseh, we live by the I’m Third motto, meaning to put God first, others second and yourself third. 

When I was 9 years old, my family and I made the tireless journey to Brookston, Indiana for my first summer spent at Tecumseh. We would drive all night, through the pitch black darkness that a Midwestern summer brings, where only the brightest stars sparkle in the sky.  I can still remember the sight of the warm morning sunlight piercing through the leaves of the forest once we finally arrived, hearing the gravel crunching under the tires, and laying my eyes on the iconic Camp Tecumseh sign, just like the moment you first see Cinderella castle at Disney World. Camp is my Disney World. My parents would then drop me off at Cabin 11, for a summer filled with smores, sleep outs under the stars, and a new set of friends from all over the world. Friends I now call family. 

From then on I was hooked. I spent six more summers there as a camper, and every summer when my parents would pick me up, I came back a different person, having grown in my faith. I would beg my parents to let me stay, thinking to myself,  This is my home.

Every year as we packed up the car to go home, my eyes welled up with tears. My face flushed as I fought to hold them back, then reletning as I let them slowly fall like a leaky sink. 

Camp Tecumseh is my home.