When You Think Your Passion Doesn't Count

We have a family friend who is a junior in high school.  She is very smart, attending an elite technology high school.  She is very involved with her community, working closely with the youth group at her church.  She has lots of extracurriculars, dancing and the playing harp. But the thing she loves the very best of all is her summer camp.

She goes to a good old-fashioned summer camp for a month each summer.  She does archery and goes hiking and builds campfires. She sleeps in a cabin, makes friendship bracelets and has color wars.  And for the 11 months of the year that she is not in camp, she talks about camp. First, she talks about what she did at camp and the people at camp and the food at camp and the interesting bugs at camp.  Then as we get close to the time of year she heads back to camp, the conversation turns to her excitement about what will happen at camp in the coming year and who will be there and what cabin she will be in and what activities she will sign up for.

This year, as she was telling me all about camp, she also told me she was really happy that she could go back next summer.  Because she had planned not to return. I was surprised but she told me it was not because she didn't like it but because she needed to spend her time on things that would look good on a college application.  But luckily she found out that being a counselor in training would be worth 200 hours of community service and that would look good on her application. So now she could go.

That was a crazy statement, to me.  

To not do something that you loved because it wouldn’t “count”.     

What really counts is doing things that you love so that you are inspired to learn as much as you can and build your skills.

What counts is that you can be with other people who challenge you in areas that you love.  

What counts is that you can be immersed enough in something to be creative and change the world.

What counts is standing out. In college admissions and in life.

And you stand out far more when you are passionate about something a little quirky than you do when you are apathetic about something you are told you should do.

So pick what you love. Do it. Stand out.