Each summer, the Texas Exes Alumni Association hosts Camp Texas to help incoming students get acclimated to the Forty Acres. The planning process for Camp Texas is a significant undertaking that starts long before summer arrives. This year, Canfield BHP sophomore Grant Phillips is part of the executive team overseeing planning for the 2024 Camp Texas, and we asked him to reflect on his fulfilling experience as a participant and leader.
Read on to learn more about Grant’s involvement with Camp Texas and to get a look behind the scenes of the annual summer program!
What is Camp Texas, and how did you first become involved?
We like to call Camp Texas an “extended orientation experience” that is 3-days-2-nights of teaching all the incoming students – whether that’s incoming freshmen, transfer students, international students, or anyone else about to walk onto the 40 Acres for the first time – the traditions of UT and what it means to be a Longhorn. I attended Camp Texas the summer before my freshman year here, and it instantly stood out as something special to me, so when counselor applications opened in the fall for the next summer I was excited to apply.
What is your favorite Camp Texas memory?
My favorite Camp Texas memory would have to be getting to be with my two small groups at my sessions this past summer. Along with my amazing co-counselor Olivia Davis, we were able to spend the 3 days of Camp building relationships with the freshmen in our group. Throughout the session, we got to have those conversations about the fears of freshman year: moving away from home, finding your community on campus, getting lost trying to find classes, or anything else that was on their mind. Having just completed my freshman year, I was just in their shoes and knew I could help create some relief for them. And now, getting to watch them all find their passions around campus and thrive during their first semester on campus has been so rewarding and exciting to see.
Why did you want to become part of Camp Texas’s leadership?
I wanted to join the Camp Texas leadership team because the community that is made around Camp is such a special place on campus, and I wanted to do my part to give back to it. We call it the “CT Family” and it does truly feel like that, so getting the chance to not only be part of that family but to help introduce the next wave of counselors into what it means to be part of the family is an amazing opportunity.
What goes into planning Camp Texas’s flagship summer programs? What do you enjoy most about the process, and what lessons have you learned?
A lot of work goes into planning for Camp at the end of the summer. We spend every Friday afternoon during the spring semester training with the counselor team of ~90 counselors from all different majors across campus. At these trainings, we make sure that everyone knows all the different Camp and UT traditions, has the skills to be an effective leader and role model for the incoming students, and also just to get close to one another as a counselor team. It is amazing to watch the team grow closer together as the semester progresses and watch the CT Family get closer together by having fun in the Alumni Center each week.
What do you hope Camp Texas participants take away from their time at camp?
I hope everyone who comes to Camp Texas walks away knowing that the UT community is an amazingly large and diverse place of driven people who are there to support one another and help make everyone the best person they can be – academically, professionally, and simply as a human being. Every counselor that is there truly is doing it out of a passion to help you and get to know the awesome person you are.
How do you hope to use the leadership and management experience you’ve gained from Camp Texas to help advance your career goals?
Just like organizing any large event with lots of people, there are skills that you learn that can be transferred to any professional setting. Knowing how to effectively listen to others and be truly empathetic while having conversations is such an important skill to have when dealing with anybody. Now that I am on the exec team, I have learned management skills in conflict resolution, decision-making, and problem-solving that will all be useful in my future.