Camper Corner: The Night I'll Never Forget by Noa Goldman

Noa Goldman, 2026, 2nd session, Maginim

It was the last night at my favorite place that I’ve been at for a month, camp. At camp there is this thing called banquet. Banquet is the happiest, most fun, and saddest part of camp. Everyone looks forward to it. Then when you get there, it finally hits you that you’re not going to be there for another year. You wish you could go back to the memories of being with your friends and anything you’ll never forget, and that you didn’t have to leave the next day. But the fun part about banquet is the party! They play the best music, the classics, the old, the cringe. But everyone is just trying to have a good time. So it doesn’t really matter. You do lots and lots of dancing. You and your counselors could get the chance to get awards. But then everybody starts crying. You’re trying to hold back your tears. Then you start to realize that the things at camp, you’re probably never going to do at home.

After that, you and your entire age group go to the pavilion basketball court and sit in a big circle. There’s this tiny lit-up candle but in your body, it’s real. Everyone shares their favorite part, memory or anything else they’d like to say. After we go back to the bunks to change out of our clothes. Then we’re all settling down from our long night that we thought was over and all of a sudden our counselors announce to us to bring our blanket or towels. They took us to the other side of camp, what I call the blank forest. As we realized we were stargazing, we plopped down on the hard, grassy ground which wasn’t the comfiest.

As the time hits 11:00, we realize that we have only one more hour left. But then your mind clears when you look up and see a night sky filled with tiny little diamonds that look like they’re floating. The whole sky, sparkling. It was something I’d never seen. The whole big wide sky, filled with stars. Seventeen girls that you’ve lived with for a month, just speechless. You’ve forgotten all about the disagreements, arguments, and unnecessary drama. The counselors, who were like your older best friends, are saying things that make you cry. They broke the silence by playing real good sad somber music. “Iris”…“Yellow”…“Fix You”…the classics.

You want to close your tired eyes when all of a sudden, everyone gasps! You see a moving jewel for the first time. In my mind, at that moment, I thought it was the most magical thing I’d ever seen. What I wished on that star, that night? I wished to never leave. I’d do anything to go back, back to the night I’ll never forget.

You can find Noa in Kesher in 2027!