So, it's begun.

The 3rd annual Campus Pride Summer Leadership Camp has started, and what a whirlwind it's already been! I will never be able to explain how fantastic Camp is in words (it's something you MUST experience to understand), but I'm going to try my best here. My name is David, and I am from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI - yes, just like the song "I've Got A Gal In Kalamazoo". I am the President of my LGBTQA campus group there (OUTspoken) and I worked with Campus Pride this past year as a Campus Q Team blogger. I have now returned for my second year of camp as a Pride Leader - that means I have volunteered my time to help facilitate a glorious week of intense, emotional, beautiful, revealing events. And despite the fact that my flight here on Monday was at 7:00 am, I am not regretting it at all!

Camp began today bright and early at 10:30 AM (I know that's not very early, but it's still in the morning so I am calling it early) with check-in for all the campers. Our wonderful Ambassadors from Towson University took care of our campers, gave them their room keys, and sent them off to their rooms so they could unpack and prep for the day. Camp proper began at 4:00 PM with the most fabulous kick-off event you could imagine. Some Pride Leaders and the wonderful 3rd-time faculty member CM Hall got together to introduce campers to our most FAVORITE thing here at camp - CHEERS! So you can all follow along at home, the first one is:

Awesome Cheer #1:
2, 4, 6, 8, Campus Pride is super great! Campus Pride YAY!
Awesome Cheer #2:
When I say Campus, you say Pride!
Cheerleader: CAMPUS!
Campers: PRIDE!
Cheerleader: CAMPUS!
Campers: PRIDE!

See? Don't you wish you were here so you could see these amazing cheers in action? I know you do, even if you aren't thinking it right now.

Our main attraction at our kick-off ceremony was a speech by Shane Windmeyer, founder & Executive Director of Campus Pride. Shane is a nationally renowned speaker - and for good reason. I'm always reminded of the power of our movement whenever Shane speaks, as part of his LGBT activism (and this camp) is empowering the future of the LGBT movement. It gives such a broad focus to the entire movement, but also reminds us of our OWN place in the movement and our responsibility to carry on the fight.

After the amazing Shane Windmeyer, the campers were split up into den groups. Den groups are basically small groups that serve a wide variety of purposes, the main two being a way for campers to digest everything that is going on at camp and helping them to bond with their fellow campers. They're lead by a Pride Leader (a former camper who has returned to help guide the new campers) and a Faculty Leader (a professional in the LGBT world who wants to help plan camp and teach these young campers). My Faculty Leader was the amazing Judi O'Kelley from Lambda Legal. I have to say, my den was quite fabulous. All students of diverse backgrounds, ages, and identities who have instantly bonded to help each other. We discussed why each student has come to camp, and they all began listing off these issues they wanted to change at their campus: gender-neutral housing / bathrooms, member retention, reaching out to all communities, making their group more diverse. I pointed out to them that they will notice this week that every single group they see - whether it be a student group or a national LGBT organization - has the exact same difficulties they do. It was a bit of an eye opener for them to realize that they are not alone. I'm hoping that we can send them back with ways to fix these issues on their campus so they can become stronger, more LGBT-friendly places!

After our den times, each den introduced their new names and a cheer for their den. My den was called the Love Warriors, and somehow I ended up with a militaristic cheer for the 2nd year running. I still don't know how this happens every single time - apparently I'm a military man. I should enlist. All the dens premiered their cheers and their names, and then we all joined the Towson Ambassadors for a bonfire and smores. Thank you TU Ambassadors!

The night ended with some identity caucuses for the campers. These were optional, and were based solely on a person's identity (obviously). The purpose of caucuses is for campers to get together with people who have the same identity so they can process things and talk to others to digest camp. We had four tonight: people of color, straight ally, pan/bisexual / fluid sexuality, and genderqueer.

Other than that, the campers spent the rest of the night bonding and getting some well-needed REST! It was an exciting day for everyone, and I can't wait for Day 2. It promises to be very exciting and very intense.