UCLA Unicamp : Summertime Friendships to Last a Lifetime

At the end of UCLA’s summer mountain camp, the counselors usually return to their sprawling Westwood campus, while their charges go home to the boroughs and barrios of Los Angeles.

But the bond between the counselors and their campers often lasts for years beyond the brief stay at the Unicamp site in the Santa Barbara mountain wilderness. In an effort to help children discover a world outside their inner-city neighborhoods, many of the counselors discover new worlds themselves.

“I volunteered to be a camp counselor because I thought I would make a difference in the kids’ lives, but I was the one who experienced the most changes,” said John Hurta, who grew up in what he called “middle-classdom” in Orange County.

‘You Gain Too Much’

“When I came back from camp things were totally different,” Hurta said. “A lot of things that seemed important don’t seem so important anymore. I mean it seemed sort of crazy to worry about what to wear after you have dealt with kids who might not have anything other than what they have on to wear. You just don’t let go of an experience like that. You gain too much to let go.”

Indeed, most of the roughly 200 campers and counselors who attended the Unicamp reunion at the UCLA campus Sunday said they had maintained most of the friendships they made during the summer.

“My counselor taught me so much there is no way I could just leave the camp without talking to her again,” 11-year-old Esteban Morales said.

Oftentimes counselors keep in touch with campers long after they graduate.

Though Hurta graduated from UCLA in 1985, he has never let go of a friendship he made with Humberto Alaniz during his first year as a counselor. What started out as “weekly rap sessions” three years ago has turned into a “sort of brotherhood” in which Hurta says he helps Alaniz cope with everything from homework to peer pressure.

“I never really expected our friendship to last almost four years, but now Humberto is like a brother to me and I can’t imagine being without him,” Hurta said.

Likewise, Alaniz said he was somewhat surprised by his lasting friendship with Hurta.

“We are from such different worlds,” he said. “I guess I never expected to have one of my closest friends be a guy in college,” said Alaniz, who himself has decided to go to college since he met Hurta.

As a graduate, Hurta can no longer participate in the program but he still attends most of the reunions to help support the program.

In an age where some college students seem more concerned with furthering their careers than they are with philanthropic programs, Unicamp organizers say they have a tough time getting students to volunteer for the program.

“It’s hard to get volunteers but somehow we make it every summer,” said Ken Porush, a counselor in the program for five years before he graduated in 1985.

The camp needs about 200 volunteers to counsel 700 campers during 10 summer sessions. Advertisements in the Daily Bruin, UCLA’s campus newspaper, attract about a third of the volunteers. But word of mouth and enthusiastic pressure from former counselors bring in most of the Unicamp workers.

Founded in 1934, the Unicamp program actually began as an annual food-drive program to help Depression-era children during the holidays. With hefty funding from Los Angeles-area businesses and UCLA alumni, the food drive evolved into a summer camp for children from low-income families. The program moved to its site at the Barton Flats former Boy Scout camp in 1939. Several prominent Los Angeles and UCLA officials have been Unicamp counselors and campers, including Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Raymond Cardenas and Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs.

Children are referred to the camp from schools and youth programs throughout Los Angeles County. The campers are between the ages of 8 and 14.

Nestled high among the Santa Barbara mountains, the camp is designed to give inner-city children a taste of nature and wildlife. But the camp organizers say the program’s greatest benefit is the friendship between the campers and counselors.

“The kids love the wilderness and all, but what they all say they like most is the love and attention that they get from the counselors,” UCLA senior Eileen Davis said. “They may forget the nature and all that but the friendship and the love stay with us for the rest of our lives.”