My Crazy Summer

Kids are often told to act their age. But the following four don't -- they act older. Last summer, they spent their vacations as CITs. Counselors-in-training serve as role models for the younger set while learning skills themselves, anything from guiding a team through the wilderness to the most effective way to handle an unruly tyke. Their experiences, they say, have been "amazing" and "fulfilling." But read on and another word comes to mind: unpredictable. Kind of like adult life. --Marni Elyse Katz

Sasha Brill Brookline, 16,

Beaver Country Day School Summer Program, Chestnut Hill

Any duties that weren't so much fun? I knew I would have lots of fun with the kids, but I hadn't really realized that I would have to deal with certain issues, like bathroom duty. On my first day there was a little girl, I think she was 3, who had a stomachache, so a counselor asked me to take her to the bathroom. I didn't really know what I was supposed to do. She was in there for, like, half an hour. When I finally went in, she had pooped everywhere -- on herself, on the stall, on her clothes. I had to clean it all up; her and the bathroom. It was terrifying.

Jamal Grant Hyde Park, 16,

Camp Harbor View, Long Island, Boston

Chaotic moment? The last week we have an obstacle-course relay race. Each kid gets to accomplish a goal for the team. But kids forgot where to bring the baton. They were skipping stuff, so points were deducted. The year before, I ran the baton [from person to person each time they finished their leg of the race]. It turned out that wasn't allowed, but we didn't know. The whole team was mad at me because we lost. Then there was the time my little brother's shorts fell down when he jumped up to grab the basketball rim; but that was embarrassing for him, not me.

Brenna Falconi Marlborough, 15,

Pompositticut Farm Day Camp, Hudson

Were you ever scared to do something? There is an activity called Project Soar, with one element called the super zip. You have to climb up a tree to a platform, where your harness is hooked onto a zip line. Then they tell you to just jump. You're up high. It's a very nerve-racking experience. I had a camper that would absolutely not jump. So I said, "If I do it, will you do it?" She kinda looked at me for a minute, then said, "Sure." So I climb up this tree thinking to myself, "What am I thinking?" It was crazy. It was so scary. When I get down, the camper goes, "Wow, I can't believe you actually did it." And I was like, "Yeah, now it's your turn." And she says, "Oh, no. I'm all set. I'm not doing it."

Max Weiner Canton, 17,

Camp Tevya, Brookline, New Hampshire

Memorable meal: The CITs go to Israel for a leadership program for six weeks. You spend days hiking in the Negev Desert, with no showers or bathrooms, in 115-degree heat. Every year there's at least one kid who eats a spider, because it makes them look cool. The tour guides say the spiders have good vitamins in them. I did it; it was gross; really nasty. You bite off the back -- that's where the protein is -- you don't eat the head or the legs. It's the kind of thing you do once, to say you did it, but you never do it again.

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