Scott Braaten

Review of Camp Cobbossee

I am 22 now, and am looking back at growing up. I ...

I am 22 now, and am looking back at growing up. I went to Cobbossee four consecutive years - from when I was 11 to 14 years old. I was essentially forced to go by my dad, as he wanted me to experience something new. I was overweight back then and did not regularly play sports, and at first I seriously did not enjoy being there. Not only was I homesick, but I had a lot of trouble connecting with my peers. I lived in Europe at the time, so that had to do with this, but it was mainly because of my physical state and ability. I was made fun of and laughed at quite a bit. Although this had me feeling down at first, I realized that this should not deter me from enjoying myself. Instead of taking the criticisms I received from others to heart, I let go of them and focused on improving myself and having fun. In doing this, I grew a lot as a person, both physically and mentally.

I give the rating four stars because although I was able to get past being made fun of, I witnessed a lot of others who were not able to and consequently did not enjoy themselves. The staff at Cobbossee claim that this high level of competition and harshness is not present, but that is what they say in order to try to get rid of it, or perhaps in order to try to ignore it in order to get more kids to enroll. If you are considering enrolling, or you are considering enrolling your son, please consider this. It is good to approach partaking in this camp expecting to be interacting and engaging with a lot of highly competitive kids.