Building Confidence

Ben

Through Camp Joy’s Fostering Success program, a camp for youth in foster care, campers like Ben become more confident and outgoing. Initial hesitations were tossed aside once Ben had a chance to settle into his cabin and get to know his fellow campers: “I was initially scared because I didn’t know anybody, but I got here and everyone got along really well and we were all able to bond in our cabins.”

This is Ben’s third year at Camp Joy and he is excited about starting high school in the fall. He believes that the lessons he learned at Camp Joy will help him focus in school and remain positive in every situation:” I’ve grown accustomed to the rules, coming to camp allowed me to get close to everyone…the rules here have helped me learn to watch my language and have fun by keeping myself in control and not put others down.”

This new perspective has allowed Ben to not only become more confident in his own abilities, but the abilities of others as well. Ben “doesn’t like when people give up” and because of this he has become a strong supporter of other campers. The development of confidence in himself and others has allowed Ben to better enjoy his time at Camp Joy, and above all he tries to remember to “just have fun…because this is a camp I really enjoy”.