Second Summer

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Should You Do a Second Summer?

Most people who go to Camp America seriously consider going back. Here is the honest case for both sides — and what Andrew found out the hard way.

Returning counsellors
Second summer decision
What actually changes

The question everyone asks
You got home. Now you can’t stop thinking about going back.

It usually starts a few weeks after you land. The tan fades, the jet lag clears, and you find yourself at a family dinner describing a campfire story to people whose eyes glaze over politely. You open your phone and there are photos. A hundred of them. People you miss more than you expected to.

And then someone in your camp group chat mentions they’re going back. And you think: maybe.

This page is for that moment. The honest version of whether a second summer is worth it — not the marketing version, not the version that just says “yes obviously go” — but the real one, from someone who actually did it.

“The first summer changes you. The second summer shows you what the first one actually did to you.”
What actually changes
First summer vs second summer — they are not the same experience

This is the thing most people get wrong when they decide to go back. They expect the second summer to be the first summer but better — same friendships, same energy, same feeling, just with more confidence and better pay. It is not that.

First summer
  • Everything is new and overwhelming
  • Friendships form at warp speed
  • You’re finding your feet constantly
  • Homesickness hits hard early on
  • Low pay, high chaos, high reward
  • You don’t know what you don’t know
  • The whole thing feels like an adventure
Second summer
  • Familiarity replaces novelty
  • Some friends return, many don’t
  • You know how it works — and its limits
  • Homesickness is mostly gone
  • Better pay, more responsibility, more respect
  • You see it more clearly — good and bad
  • It feels like a choice, not an adventure

Neither is better. They are genuinely different experiences. The problem is that people expect the second to replicate the first, and when it doesn’t — because it can’t — they feel a vague sense of disappointment that has nothing to do with the summer actually being bad.

Andrew’s honest take
The second summer was harder to write about precisely because it was more complicated to process. The first summer is easy to describe: you go, it’s brilliant, it changes you. The second summer is harder. You go knowing what you’re getting into. You choose it anyway. And that choice tells you something about yourself. That’s what the book is really about.

The real reasons people go back
Six honest reasons — and what they actually mean

Click each one to expand:

1
The friendships. You can’t let them go.
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This is the most common reason and also the most honest one. Camp friendships are formed under conditions that normal life never replicates — total immersion, shared stress, no outside distractions. Going back means seeing those people again. This is a completely valid reason. Just know that not everyone returns, and the group dynamic will be different.

2
The pay is significantly better second time round.
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Returning counsellors earn noticeably more than first-timers. If the money was a concern in your first summer, the second summer addresses that. Combined with the fact that you already know how to live cheaply at camp, you’ll likely come home with more in your pocket and have more to spend on post-camp travel.

3
You want to do it properly this time.
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Almost everyone finishes their first summer thinking about what they’d do differently. The second summer is the chance to act on that. More confidence with the kids, better knowledge of how to navigate the social dynamics, knowing which hills are worth dying on. This is a genuinely good reason — and it tends to make for a more satisfying experience, even if a less dramatic one.

4
Your life at home feels flat by comparison.
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This one requires some honesty with yourself. Post-camp life often feels anticlimactic — especially if you came back to a job you don’t love or a routine that feels small. Going back to camp is a legitimate response to that feeling, but it’s worth knowing that eventually you have to build a life at home. The second summer can be a brilliant chapter. It shouldn’t be avoidance in disguise.

5
The kids. You genuinely loved working with them.
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For some people camp clarifies something important: they’re good with kids, they enjoy it, and they want more of it. The second summer often deepens that. You take on more responsibility, you get better at the work, and it can start to feel like something more than a summer job. Several people who did two Camp America summers end up working in education, outdoor instruction or youth work. That clarity is worth a lot.

6
You just aren’t ready to stop yet.
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Sometimes there is no complicated reason. You’re at a point in your life where you can do it, you want to do it, and the alternative — staying at home, getting on with things — can wait another summer. This is a perfectly good reason. You don’t need a deep justification for choosing an experience you loved over one you haven’t started yet.

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The honest case against
Three reasons you might not go back — and they’re all valid

Going back is not automatically the right call. Here are the reasons it might not be right for you.

You’re chasing the first summer. If your main motivation is to feel what you felt in June of that first year — the novelty, the excitement of everything being new — the second summer won’t give you that. It can’t. If the first summer was a 10 out of 10, the second might be an 8. That’s still brilliant, but it will feel different, and if you’re not prepared for that difference it’s easy to read it as disappointment.

Your life at home needs attention. Two summers away is a meaningful commitment of time. Career development, relationships, opportunities — some things don’t wait. There’s no shame in deciding that the timing isn’t right. Camp America is a chapter, not a lifestyle. Knowing when to turn the page is part of the value.

You’ve already got what you came for. Some people come back from their first summer and know, clearly, that it was complete. One perfect summer. They don’t need a second one to feel like they finished the story. That’s a legitimate place to be. The book doesn’t have to be a series.

SECOND SUMMER SHENANIGANS

Book Two
Camp America: Second Summer Shenanigans
Andrew went back. This is what happened. The second memoir covers everything the first one couldn’t — what it feels like to return somewhere that changed you, how the dynamic shifts when you’re no longer the new one, the harder edges of camp life that only become visible once the novelty has worn off. And everything that still made it absolutely worth it.

Get the book →

Haven’t read Book One yet? Start there — or read a free chapter first.

Before you decide
The questions worth sitting with

Before you fill in the application, these are worth being honest about:

Why do you want to go back, specifically? Not the easy answer — the real one. Write it down if you have to. The answer tells you a lot about what you’re actually looking for.

What are you giving up to do it? Not in a guilt-trip way — just factually. A summer is a meaningful amount of time. Know what you’re trading.

Are you ready for it to be different? Not worse. Different. The second summer tends to be quieter, more considered, and more genuinely satisfying for people who go in with realistic expectations.

Could you live with not going? Sometimes the answer to this question is the clearest signal of all.

📚 Read what Andrew actually found
Both summers. Both books. The only first-hand account that covers the full arc.

See both books →

Not sure if Camp America is right for you at all?
Take the quiz — it gives you a personalised verdict based on your answers, not a generic yes.

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Is Camp America Worth It?
Camp America vs Alternatives
What to Pack
Browse All Episodes
The Books