During the summer of 2023, I revived a lost
tradition. I spent the summer working at a
summer camp. Walton's Grizzly Lodge, located
in Northern California, has been open since
1926. During that time, many traditions
started and ended. About a month into my
summer, I noticed a picture on the wall of the
dining hall. The picture was black and white
and showed a child typing at a typewriter.
Visible at the top of the paper was a drawn
title: "The Growl."
After I found this photo, I started asking
questions to those who had spent years at the
camp. Eventually, I pieced together that the
paper used to be an activity kids could sign
up for. However, it was ended decades before
my summer at Walton's.
After enough convincing, myself and another
counselor were given the opportunity to write
a paper for the camp. We spent free time
planning, writing, editing, printing, and
finally distributing the paper.
After the first Growl was received well, we
agreed to produce two Growls a week. Then,
after two successful Growls, we were given the
chance to bring kids into the paper. Campers
were allowed to sign up for "Reporting" where
campers would sit around a table, come up with
stories, explore camp with a legal pad and
pencil, and bring their stories back to us. We
then typed their stories, added our stories,
and let the camp read the edition by lunch.
Bringing The Growl back to camp was the
highlight of my summer. Bringing a passion of
mine, journalism, to one of my favorite places
was extremely rewarding. Coming up with an
idea and getting to see it through made me
feel like I really had an impact at Walton's.
To maintain the privacy and offline experience
of camp, I will not be adding any editions of
the newspaper to this site.
