"Bleeding Green"

April arrived, bringing the end of another winter semester and circling one date on my calendar, April 28th.

The weeks leading up to it were filled with sleepless nights, my mind constantly drifting back to camp. I kept thinking about returning to work alongside the people who had become more than coworkers to me.

Eventually, the day came. I packed my car with Camp Kintail merch, my golf clubs, and enough excitement to make the drive feel shorter than it was. For the first time in months, I was heading back to a place that never really left my mind. This year felt different, though. Returning as a software co-op student made me realize how unique

camp truly is. Most people imagine software work as cold screens, quiet offices, and endless lines of code. But at Camp Kintail, even technology feels human. Every project, every task, every problem solved somehow connects back to people, community, and creating experiences that matter. It reminded me that work does not always have to feel empty. Sometimes, the environment around you changes everything.

When I arrived, I reunited with friends I hadn’t seen in nearly a year, friends who, for months, only existed through screens and late-night calls timed around different schedules and time zones. Yet somehow, the distance never weakened the memories we shared. Memories filled with laughter, tears, long nights, and conversations that stayed with me long after they ended.

There was something emotional about seeing everyone again. It was in the hugs that lasted a little longer than usual, the inside jokes that hadn't grown old, and the realization that these were people who had witnessed different versions of me throughout the years. Not just the confident moments, but the uncertain ones too.

As adults, finding people you truly connect with can feel rare. Real friendships become harder to come by, the kind where you genuinely wonder how someone is doing, whether they’re happy, whether life is treating them well. Camp gave me those people. People who somehow made a place far from home feel more like home than anywhere else.

But Camp Kintail gave me even more than friendships. It introduced me to ideas, values, and experiences that once felt unfamiliar to me. At first, many of those things felt strange, almost distant from the way I grew up. Yet over time, they became part of who I am. I grew. My confidence grew. My skills grew. Even my stutter slowly faded, and the anxiety I carried for years slowly started loosening its grip on me. Somewhere between the campfires, the exhausting days, the laughter echoing through the nights, and the feeling of always having someone beside you, I started becoming a version of myself that I had never met before.

And maybe that is what makes camp so hard to explain to people who have never experienced it. On the surface, it looks like a workplace. A summer job. A place people come and go from. But to the people who have lived it, it becomes so much more than that. It becomes a chapter of your life that quietly changes the way you see the world and yourself.

Somewhere along the way, “bleeding green” stopped being just a phrase.

It became something real.

A feeling.

A family.

- Beck "Marble" Mengiste