Niks/wallie I think that your example points to why camp names are a bad thing. You mention how you have two different personas, one at camp and one at home. Your person at home is the person who struggles for nine months to get to camp. Your camp person is someone who is wacky, etc. Why do we need to differentiate between these two people? Why you can't be Niks at camp, who people know how hard you work to get to camp and who is wacky and fun at camp. Any why can't you be wallie at home, taking the best parts of who you are at camp and at home?
My concern is not about us as staff who can see the difference, it's for the nine-year-old who is Twizzler at camp, a popular, fun and outgoing leader, but is Jenny at home, someone who is a quiet follower. As a camp counselor I want Jenny to know that who she is at camp is the person that she is and that she should take the leadership skills that she learns at camp and use them at gome. I don't want her to be a happy and excited Twizzler for two months and a passive unhappy Jenny for ten months, I want her to know that she can be the fun and creative kid all year long.
Camp names further promotes this myth that we need to have camp selves and non-camp selves.
