By Sofia Kicillof, age 13
If someone had asked me what Elsa Bermudez did at camp before I interviewed her, I would have said, “Elsa is that great announcement maker!” Now that I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know her, I understand that she does much more. In the morning, she prepares and announces news, chooses a breakfast song for sing-alongs, co-runs counselor meetings, helps campers and staff in need of support, plans every day’s evening activity, does the lunch announcements (including announcing all of the electives, which change every day), chooses a lunch song, participates in the division head meetings, collaborates with Rachel and Yael on scheduling and planning, does the dinner announcements, chooses a dinner song, prepares and visits evening and late night activities, while checking in with campers and staff.
Essentially, Elsa is Wonder Woman. Otherwise known as one of our beloved Camp Directors.
Every day, campers enjoy a smooth day, full of fun activities and programs, and delightful interactions with kind directors and counselors. Elsa is one of the people behind this well-run experience that fills us all with laughter and joy. Elsa’s biggest goal is to connect with campers. Although she has had multiple jobs at WriCampia, her favorite is her current job as a director. She loves being a director because she can get to know all of the workshops and bunks, instead of being limited to a few kids. But when Elsa started her journey at WriCampia a decade ago, she was a counselor.
In fact, Elsa was Division Head Camii Dickerson’s counselor in 2014, when Camii was a new camper at 16 years old.
Camii’s whole face lit up when she spoke about Elsa. “Elsa has watched me grow up from 16 years old to 26. She was my counselor in her first year of WriCampia, in 2014. Elsa always believed in me and pushed me to be the best I can be. I probably wouldn’t be who I am today with her. She is so nice and energetic, I get most of my energy from her!” Evidently, Elsa has had a lasting impact on both her former campers and her co-workers.
Elsa’s cherished larger than life personality most likely comes from her love of comedy, comedy writing, performing, and laughter. Elsa is a very funny and charismatic person who channels her amazing personality into her announcements, planning, and all else that she does at camp.
Elsa loves to plan fun activities for people to enjoy, both at camp and at home. Some of Elsa’s other hobbies are drawing and illustrating, and watching and reading horror. She especially appreciates Paul Tremblay’s books and A24 horror movies. Because of her drawing skill and passion, Elsa’s proudest contribution to WriCampia is her work with the Arts Track. Elsa is so proud of the amazing art gallery that took place last year at WriCampia,
because she feels that WriCampia has perfected the way that they share camper’s art, which is extremely important to her.
Jane, one of the heads of the Art Track, as well as an instructor, was ecstatic to speak about Elsa. “Elsa’s an amazing leader. She really cares about the campers. She’s a creative, cool, lovely, and amazing person. She’s a great artist. I love working with her, she’s the best! I feel lucky to have her as the Art Track Division Head!” Elsa’s art background is also the reason that one of her favorite genres to teach is graphic novels. She loves merging drawings and words. Elsa also loves to teach how to write scripts. She says, “ I love to teach script writing because I like showing writers that writing is part of a lot of things that we don’t usually think of. People don’t realize how much work goes into script writing for movies and tv shows.”
As we can see, Elsa is an extremely versatile, creative, and interesting person. She is behind so many of our beloved WriCampia activities and genuinely cares that everyone has an amazing WriCampia experience. She strives to give every camper at least one ride, because she wants us to have the best experience possible. As a matter of fact, Elsa gave me two amazing golf cart rides today (press privileges). Elsa, thank you for all of your hard work and dedication to making WriCampia awesome! Happy ten years of WriCampia.
