My name is Jason Gibbs and I went to West End House Camp between 1995-2003, from 9 years old and returning every following summer since, eventually becoming a CIT and then Junior Counselor until 17 years old.
Later on when I was finishing college, I found myself going down what might be considered as a non-traditional career path in the music industry, tour managing rock bands.
From my first tour at the age of 23 through today, I credit my time at West End both as a camper and counselor as being instrumental in giving me the skill sets, tools, and ability to carry out and excel at my job.
The Skill of Coexisting
Touring is a lot like camp. Much like living in a bunk, you’re in the shared living space of a tour bus with about 12 other people, who are all away from home and adhering to the same daily & weekly routine along stretches of time that usually last 4-8 weeks, sometimes longer or shorter. It can be the most fun time of your life. But in order for it to be that way, there’s a certain level of everyone having to individually contribute, take on responsibilities, and have a positive attitude to keep the wheel evenly turning. You get homesick. Or maybe you don’t, but someone in your crew does and that gets projected in a certain sort of way because they don’t know how to cope with it. Some people are great at certain things and not great at others. There’s plenty of different personalities rubbing up on each other, some stronger than others. If your crew is going to get through that time together, successfully executing the same common goal night after night, everyone has to help each other. You make life-long friendships from a unique, shared experience that you would have to be there to understand. Or in other cases, you’re around certain people and may not strike a close friendship, but maintain that shared relatable bond.
The Skill of Working towards a Common Goal
At camp, I learned at a young age how to coexist with others in tight, shared quarters. There were simple structures like keeping tidy and picking up after myself, being on time for meals and activities, and respecting schedules, rules, and those directing them. Then there were attributes that were instilled in me from the environment camp created: being mindful of those around me, understanding that those others’ upbringings may be similar or wildly different from mine, developing and embracing comradery, and reveling in the spirit of healthy competition by working towards goals, both as an individual and as a team. That could be winning Super Monopoly with a well crafted strategy, winning Color War by dominating your opponent on the playing field, trusting your intuition to not be deceived at Liars Club, or flexing your brain to win the Spelling Bee. I wasn’t the best athlete by any means, but the sense of inclusiveness that camp created encouraged me to always feel like my participation mattered. It drove me to focus on where I could contribute to pull my weight and rely on others to flex their strengths in areas that might be my weaknesses.
The Impact
Since I started down my career path, I’ve been fortunate to develop a successful career as an artist manager in a challenging and often unfair industry. I get to travel the globe, living out my dream job working for artists whose music has made a big impact on the world. I say with the utmost sincerity that the impact that West End house Camp has had on me to be able to pursue and embrace this direction in life is unequivocal. Its longstanding history is a testament to how magical of a place this camp is and there’s plenty of other people out there who would attest the same.