Yo! Camp: Year Three Recap

Yo! Camp just concluded its third year, and I can confidently say this was our best year yet.

Since its inception in 2022, the buzz around Yo! Camp has grown louder each year. What started as whispers has become full-blown conversations, now happy shouts of inside jokes, memories, and even tears. Whether it's casual talks at Obon or the countless Instagram stories and posts, people can't stop talking about Yo! Camp—and rightfully so.

With 140 campers this year it was our most ambitious summer to date, and our team of 70 staff felt the heat—literally. We experienced the warmest weather in Yo! Camp history, with temperatures consistently over 90 degrees. However, despite the challenges we had an amazing year, and here are some of the highlights.

The Name Tag Scandal

Drama. Lies. Deception. All amplified this week at Yo! Camp. Let me set the scene.

For those unfamiliar with our traditions, staff starts the week by creating unique nickname tags that we put in badge sleeves. For example, Craig’s camp nickname is “Shi-Shi,” and he is referred to as such all week. These name tags are like our alter egos, larger-than-life personalities we embrace at camp.

This year, a small group of campers became obsessed with collecting name tags. At every activity and meal, they asked each staff member for their tags. One staff member, whom we’ll call “Loquat,” noticed this trend and decided to take advantage of the mania.

Loquat became the counterfeiting king, recreating hundreds of fake name tags for kids to trade. He carefully examined many staff tags and used his mediocre artistic skills to make counterfeit tags.

Adding fuel to the fire, Loquat convinced Yo! Camp leadership to institute a name tag point system, where collected tags had point values based on the staff member's years of volunteering. This increased demand tenfold, with campers trading tags to get ahead.

Loquat leveraged his position, giving away fake tags only upon a camper’s declaration that he, Loquat, was their favorite staff member. He even traded tags for desserts!

Ultimately, Loquat’s arrogance and hubris led to his downfall. As time went on, his operation got sloppy, and campers noticed design flaws. They reported Loquat to the proper authorities, and he was about to face the full fury of the Yo! Camp Justice system.

Justice: Sweet Justice

At our final dinnertainment (nightly staff skit), all camp perpetrators, not just Loquat, faced justice in the Yo! Camp People’s Court. As Emcee Mr. Shima said at the opening campfire: “The truth will prevail.” Here are the cases, with aliases used:

Case 1: King James vs. That Dude

• Verdict: King James guilty of accepting bribes during charades, tipping the scale in favor of the winning team.

Case 2: Ethical Racehorse vs. Unethical Stallion

• Verdict: Unethical Stallion guilty of using magical green carrots, giving them an unfair advantage in an earlier horse race.

Case 3: Policeman vs. Kitchen Staff

• Verdict: Policeman guilty of skipping his breakfast support shift, sentenced to an extreme makeover.

Case 4: Yo! Camp Veterans vs. Naive Young Staff

• Verdict: Naive Young Staff guilty of cheating, using an internet browser during a music game quiz. They were sentenced to kneeling and admitting they are unworthy, along with inundation via high-powered semi-automatic water gun.

Case 5: Loquat vs. Sandy

I will delve into this case as it was the main event and I investigated it thoroughly. Prosecutor Sandy provided irrefutable evidence that Loquat deceived hundreds of campers. After a shameful display of lies and gaslighting, Loquat tearfully admitted to his crimes of counterfeiting.

In a shocking twist, Loquat revealed a list of fellow conspirators, implicating nine additional staff members. He exposed: Nay-nay, Hojicha, Concrete Brick, Tmac, Policeman, Manstop, Prince James, and Han-Solo. Most appalling, the prosecutor Sandy herself was a co-conspirator.

• Verdict: The honorable judge found all ten members of the counterfeiting ring guilty, sentencing them to whipped cream plates to the face.

Real Talk

Do these inside camp jokes have real-life consequences? No. But they are undoubtedly iconic memories that campers and staff will cherish forever. Each year has its own iconic event that will be talked about for years. This time, that event was something I intended as a small joke but grew into something much bigger. Yes, Loquat is indeed me, and I would happily create fakes a thousand times over if it means making a memorable summer for campers.

As our fearless leader Craig always says, Yo! Camp is magic. In this amazing space, children and staff alike are empowered to express themselves in ways that promote creativity and greater cultural awareness. I find it hard to put into words how special it is that Japanese American children have a space to learn about their culture, themselves, and others within their community all in the span of a week. Campers see others that look like them, and those that don’t, which is a symbol of how the JA community grows more diverse with each new generation.

Selfishly, I want to talk about our amazing staff for a moment.

Quite honestly, Yo! Camp requires a certain amount of effort and energy that can sometimes leave us with nothing in the tank come week's end. Staff come from all parts of the country: California, Colorado, Illinois, Nevada, New York, Utah, Washington, and even Hawaii. But without fail, our all-star staff leave camp each year feeling as if they are a part of something truly important, a cause so much bigger than our individual selves. I get emotional thinking about all of the people that I’ve met and reconnected with because of this amazing opportunity these past three years. While the week can feel long at times, it goes by quicker than we think. Ultimately, that urgency helps us realize we only have a week to see these people, to enjoy each other’s company, to feed off of each other’s energy, and to push each other to be better. And we do all of it to the max.

The pictures you see contain memories from the week we all shared, but it's the everlasting relationships and connections beyond this week that make us come back. And while some people don’t have the fortune of coming to camp every year, they know it will always be there for them, with their loving community patiently awaiting their return.