“Kamp friends are the best friends.” How many times have we heard that and how many times do we agree with deep love and nostalgia in our hearts? Kamp friends really are the best friends, and I was so fortunate to get to have Kamp friends from every term because I got to grow up at Kamp.

I think the main reason that Kamp friends are the best is because living with a group of girls (in my case) for 26 days left no room for secrets and opened the door wide open to friendship. I would drown (in a good way) in my Kamp friends all summer and then spent the year lying on the floor of my bedroom writing letters to all of them. Before the days of social media and texting, I cherished the snail mail I received from my Kamp friends!

Libby was my best Kamp friend. It was so much fun seeing her every summer when she got off that OKC bus. I would always save a bunk for her because I had been waiting eleven months for third term! She came to K-1 with her school friends (Kendall and Shawn and Katie), but when she got to Kamp, she was my best friend and we loved it! We were cabin mates only four years, but we had a friendship that was deeper than the friends I had at school who I got to see every day. By K-2, we were inseparable, and the ceiling of Cabin 5 Sharpie bled, “Lib and Jib.”  My first solo road trip was to OKC to see her playing field hockey. My first surprise invite (by my dad) to my surprise Sweet 16 was Libby. And to this day, typically the first text I get on my birthday is from her. She was that Kamp friend who got me through the year.  

I had so many other great Kamp friends throughout the years. They were non-third-term friends who I met on Kamp ski trips or Kamp spring break trips or friends I had from getting to be at Kamp all summer. I really believe that I was the luckiest girl in the world because growing up all of my best friends came to “my house” for a month each summer. I’d love to list them all with a fun story about each, but I fear that after hundreds of pages of this blog post, I would still accidentally miss one.

So, to all of my Kamp friends out there (you know who you are), THANK YOU!  You made my life full and you made my life wonderful and happy! And to those Kamp friends who are still some of my dearest friends today, THANK YOU!  You continue to make my life better and I am thankful for your continued friendship beyond the Kamp gates and years!

Jamie Jo Braner, Director of Alumni Engagement