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My name is Jasmine. When I was 7 years old, I attended my first week of summer camp with Wayfinder, which was also my first experience with live-action roleplaying, a form of improv theater I immediately fell in love with. It was more than the programming that struck me profoundly, but the community that had risen around it. I was quickly welcomed by the other campers and staff, and in the past decade have grown alongside them into flourishing members of the community. I have made many deep bonds here, from friendships that will last a lifetime to lessons from mentors I will carry with me forever. Wayfinder has taught (and continues to teach) me how to live openly as myself, and how the power of play and exploration shapes us to approach the world with a mindset eager for opportunity.
As a child with Cystic Fibrosis, an unfortunate amount of opportunities in life have been closed to me due to the effects of my condition. Wayfinder, however, since my very first time as a camper, has always made an effort to accommodate my situation as much as possible. They have consistently worked to keep all aspects of their programming open to me, and despite being quite a physical camp, I have never felt incapable of participating in it. This is what really drew me in, as its wonderful community bands together to make sure no one is left out, and that everyone has a place amongst us. I haven’t found the same level of camaraderie at any of the other camps I’ve attended. Wayfinder is a place where I have explored many aspects of theater, improv, and play from a young age, while being provided with a safe environment to do so; these experiences have not only taught me the skills to adapt and overcome challenges, but have also shown me the importance of the freedom that play offers us, regardless of age. No matter where I am in life or what I am going through, Wayfinder always provides me with a place to escape, stepping out of our world and into another for a sorely needed break.
A core passion of mine I discovered at camp was my love of writing. At Wayfinder, stories are all around us, through roleplaying games and improv workshops, but nowhere more than in the Adventure Game, the focal LARP that lies at the core of every event, where the whole camp works to prepare cooperatively to play together. All Adventure Games have a story, an epic quest or a magical world, written by a community member (while many are written by staff, campers are encouraged to submit games as well!). The staff work to bring the gamewriter’s world to life, but through roleplay, the players are the ones who end up telling their own stories. A few months ago, I had the incredible experience of writing Winter Game 2025, Wayfinder’s largest offseason program. I already had a ton of experience writing games before, from shorter series to full day camps, but never one of this scale (with 80+ players), which is why I was intent on pouring as many parts of myself into this story as I could. I wanted this story to reflect my growth and perseverance through challenges within my life, and how the characters in this world could find glimmers of magic together amongst apocalyptic havoc. This game, “THE HOLLOW HUNT”, was a perspective of an alternate reality that seems perpetually gloomy and hopeless, but really was the story of small moments of the things that have brought me through difficulty in my real life, like my favorite music, a love of the rain, a sense of found community, and cherishing memories that we hold dear to our hearts.
Looking back on it, I am so deeply proud of this game, not only of the world I had written but the collective stories told by the participants that they had played out together. Writing these games gives me a medium of storytelling found nowhere else, where I can see the world I laid out come to life before my very eyes, explored and enjoyed by the community who has taught me so much over the years. Writing stories is a true passion of mine, something I am bringing with me outside of camp when I leave for college this year, hoping to further my experiences in playwriting and overall theater. It is a true joy for me to be able to give something back, and create these tales of fantasy and adventure for the next generation of campers, and inspire them to tell their own unique stories as well.
In 2024, I approached Wayfinder’s then programming director, Jud, about the possibility of using my Make-A-Wish experience to do something with the camp. I was encouraged to explore other ideas first, as “all opportunities the space could offer are already available to you.” Which is a sentiment I found to be quite true; since then, I have gone on to write many games for the camp, and have had amazing learning experiences as an apprentice undergoing staff training. But as the years progressed, I became more and more sure that the thing I really wanted to use my wish for was to empower this place and its community, supporting campers with everything they need to tell their own stories properly. And so this past summer, I approached Jud again, this time clarifying the intent to use my Make-A-Wish for the community of Wayfinder, and not just me within it. The goal is to improve the camp’s accessibility as a creative space, achieving this through two main focal points. First, improving overall camp accessibility with an emphasis on disability support, in hopes of overcoming some of the restrictions the physical nature of the camp imposes. Second, enhancing programming for learning to write Adventure Games, and providing more opportunities for young writers to actually run them. Wayfinder provides such a unique medium for telling stories, an experience no one who seeks it should find themselves unable to engage with.
Wayfinder, and more so its community, have been at my side both at and away from camp, and I carry this place as part of me wherever I go. I have always felt the need to give back to the camp that I care so deeply for, somewhere where I felt included and seen for who I am, including my conditions. Anytime health complications have arisen, I have been met with thoughtful understanding from the wellness staff, who help me work through the difficulty together while ensuring I remain comfortable. For me, camp is a space where I am not only accepted for who I am, but feel seen and have the difficulties of my conditions respected. Wayfinder has not only been a home to me throughout my childhood, but also an experience that has taught me how to cherish the members of my communities and the worlds we build around us, precious lessons I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
Written by Jasmine, April 2026