Summer at Blue Lake
I am finally back at Belmont after an amazing summer. It is great being able to be with my friends once again and I have enjoyed meeting the new students. I now live in one of the upperclassmen dorms, Kennedy Hall, which is completely different than living in a freshman hall. This semester if going to be great.
This summer I worked as a cabin counselor at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan. It 
was an amazing experience. I learned about Blue Lake through a poster hanging on a board in Wilson Music Building here at Belmont. I looked into the camp I decided that this would be a great experience over the summer.
I left for Blue Lake in mid-June and would return to my home in Missouri three days before school started. I was there for a total of ten weeks, but the experience was well worth it.
At Blue Lake my primary job was to be a cabin counselor. I lived with twelve campers in a cabin. There were four 
sessions of campers during the summer, so every twelves day I would get a new set of campers. The first two sessions I had incoming freshmen in my cabin, then the last two sessions I had incoming 7th graders. It was great getting to know the campers personally and seeing the develop musically. At Blue Lake the campers could choose a major, wheither it was Band, Orchestra, Choir, Dance, Theater, or Art. In each major they had major ensemble rehersals throughout the day, but they also had sectionals and tech classes where they could study their specific instrument in depth.
Along with being a cabin counselor I was able to perform in the Staff Concert Band and Staff Jazz Ensemble. This was a great opportunity for me to keep playing in an ensemble over the summer and to have the experience to play with some amazing musicians from across the country. I was also a rehersal assistant for one of the camper concert bands. My duties were to take attendance, run broken instruments to the repair shop, and to help the campers with their music. At times, the directors would allow me to teach sectionals and even conduct the entire band.
Overall Blue Lake was a great experience and I am hopefully going back next summer. I look forward to this school year. I am in several ensembles and have some excellent classes. This is going to be an amazing year.
Pictures: The cabin that I lived in (top picture), shot of the counselors in the unit
I love spending nights at the ballgame with my family, and I hope that the tradition continues for years to come (which, knowing my dad, it probably will). The Royals take on the Seattle Mariners tonight here in KC -I'll be at the stadium, cheering them on to victory!
My Summer got off to a great start with lots of hanging out with friends before I packed up all my stuff and headed, first to Arkansas to pick up my older brother from college, and then home to Miami, Florida. It was a long trip and we didn't get in until early Saturday morning after leaving Friday morning from Ouachita Baptist University, where my brother attends. I got in a few horus of driving, which is always fun. I thought driving as the sunrises would be a lot more exciting than it was, but it's all good.