by Annabel Romanos

This one time at band camp… Just kidding—It was just a normal summer camp. Anyways, this one time at not-band camp, I fell in love. Not with a person, not with a cute lil animal, but with a thing—A thing called ‘responsibility’.

As a photographer/counsellor, I was given more responsibility than I have ever been given in my entire life. I was meant to care for children, care for myself, care for nature, care for everyone else around me, and on top of that: capture kids having the time of their lives (even if they were being pissy). Whoa. That is a lot. What I figured out though, is that when you have to be ‘on’ all the time, you are. You can’t not be. I love that. When you’re given responsibility, you have one of two options: Be the best you can be, or let people down.

Now that I’m back in the St Andrews, I’m suffering a little bit. Suffering from the combination of time and freedom. How can I be my best self if I have the time to sit in my house and photoshop fifteen Danny Devito’s into my Facebook cover photo?

After some serious thought and a wonderful homemade latte—courtesy of my espresso machine (it’s not even broken yet)—I came to a conclusion: Stop dicking around and take responsibility. Being given responsibility and succeeding is great, but taking responsibility and succeeding is better. Not only does taking responsibility help build a better you, but it helps everyone else be the best they can be. Be a role model.

Camp allowed me to understand what it feels like to thrive, which is awesome. I encourage everyone to place themselves in a situation where they are forced to be the best, so they can take that experience and use it everyday. Be great.