A little over a week ago Camp hosted the first event of our 2025-2026 Senior Kitaki Kids year. This year-round program will see over 200 14-17-year-olds participating in leadership and service events throughout the school year, while assisting with our youth programs and summer camps as jr. counselors. It’s a unique program, and one that has had a profound impact on camp, and the individuals that participate in it.
While out at camp for the weekend I was reflecting on my own experiences in the Senior Kitaki Kids and came to realize that this is my 30th year being involved in the program (yikes). In the fall of 1995 I came to camp for my first “SK” event. I'm often asked if I wanted to do this job when I was growing up, and I didn't. I can't say that it occurred to me that camp could be a job, and even if it had, it wasn't my goal. I also know that first event I attended as an SK was almost my last. There was nothing negative about the experience, just as a quiet introvert it just took me a little longer to grow the comfort with a new group of people. SK events are shorter than our summer camps, and I had to give it a little more time.
I did come back, and camp became a huge part of my life and my vocation. It wasn't until years later when I was nearly graduating college when I thought maybe I would be able to do camp as my job. I often wonder what my younger self would have thought about the idea of me still being at camp 30 years later. How fitting then, that Olivia (who is in charge of the SK program) chose to play the song “If I Could Talk to a Younger Me” by Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn as a part of her closing Vespers reflection for the SKs on a night 30 years removed from that young version of Jason I was reflecting on.
It’s a song that has always really connected with me, written by two incredible musicians. One where every aspect of the music and lyrics build together to convey the message. Abigail and Bela play two very different styles of banjo, which could represent a younger and older version of oneself, different, but part of a whole. Abigail’s vocals, shared below, speak to the desire we all have when thinking about our younger selves. That we could reach out, tell them it’s ok, that they can face the hardships of this world, and the love and joy of life is worth every moment. I have reflected a lot on the fourth verse of the song, because especially right now, it is one the world needs.
The message that I would share with my younger self, and I do share with so many young people at camp?
“Take this world, It’s yours to grow.”
Jason
If I Could Talk to a Younger Me by Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn
[Intro]
Feel the fear inside your chest
Watch it ebb and flow
The darkest hour dies at the dawn
First clearing's yours to reap and sew
[Verse 1]
If I could talk to a younger me
I’d tell me to go slow
This time on earth it moves so fast
And when it's gone, it's gone
When it’s gone, it's gone
[Verse 2]
If I could talk to a younger me
I'd tell me to be bold
Follow your heart like a bird set free
Dreams can't be bought or sold
[Intro reprise: Verse 3]
Feel the fear inside your chest
Watch it ebb and flow
The darkest hour dies at the dawn
First clearing's yours to reap and sew
[Verse 4]
Feel the love inside your chest
Watch it overflow
True love asks for nothing back
Take this world it's yours to grow
[Verse 1]
If I could talk to a younger me
I'd tell me to go slow
This time on earth it moves so fast
And when it's gone, when it’s gone
When it’s gone, when it's gone
