OFY - Counselor Era Unlocked
Week 1 Update:
Hey guys!!
I know it’s been so so long since the last Dallin Update, and honestly that’s on me. Life’s been a little chaotic in the most random ways, so let me just catch you up real quick before diving into the main event. First of all… I got my ears pierced. That was fun. Then I got broken up with like five times by three girls. Didn’t even know that was mathematically possible but here we are. Apparently, I was in relationships I didn’t know about. My bad, I guess. And now I’m officially on my off-track as an OFY counselor—ayyyyeee let’s go!
I don’t remember everything that’s happened lately, but I do remember Day 1 of OFY Counselor Training, so we’re going to start there.
Technically, Day 1 was Sunday evening. I moved in around 6pm, got a quick tour of base camp, and then we just kind of chilled. Played some games, met people, tried to act like I wasn’t nervous, the usual. We watched this random movie I’d never heard of before—something like Hunting Season? Honestly it was kinda interesting. We finished the night with bedtime, and I was out like a light. Slept amazing. Warm, cozy, happy camper vibes.
Then came the first full day of training. It started off pretty chill—bagels for breakfast, can’t complain. We played get-to-know-you games and guess what? I found out I’m gonna be co-counselors with this girl who was in my first year of OFY with me! Like we were campers together. That had me hyped. Then we did another base camp tour but this time it was way more intense. Like “this container goes here,” “this bucket is for this,” “don’t touch that unless you want to be responsible for burning down the forest.” You know, the usual. Then lunch was pulled pork sandwiches and I inhaled them.
After that, we went up to the top of camp and got a full tour of the area. Played some Gaga ball—because what’s OFY without that—and then straight into the ropes course. They forced us to try every element. Lowkey it was awful. But also kinda fun. One of those “I’m scared for my life but also bonding” moments. Then we did these low ropes activities, and let me tell you, I was thriving. One of them was where you had to swing to a tiny platform and get everyone to fit on it without falling. That one tested friendships. Then there was this tightrope situation where you had to walk across these ropes and get everyone to the last one. Chaos. Lastly, we had to pair up with someone about our height, hold hands, and walk away from each other on tightropes while balancing and not falling. You had to counterbalance each other’s weight and basically trust fall without the falling. Me and my partner got the second furthest and honestly? That was a proud moment. We came back to base camp for dinner—shepherd’s pie, super solid—and then more training. I learned how to tie two kinds of knots. Watch out world. We wrapped up the night with a Kahoot where the questions were fun facts about counselors. Sounds harmless, right? WRONG. I got absolutely clipped. They didn’t dig into my TikTok or anything recent—they went all the way back to 2018 and found a picture of me on a bus with Taylor using the Snapchat dog filter. Like how?! Who gave them clearance for that deep of a snipe?
Anyway. Day 2 started with me naturally waking up at 5am for no reason other than my body hates me. Tried to fall back asleep, failed, so I got up and took a shower. Now if you’ve ever been to OFY, you know those showers are usually colder than your ex’s heart, but base camp showers? Shockingly warm. I was cold and warm at the same time. Beautiful contradiction. Breakfast that day was fire. Eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, croissants, basically everything I’ve ever dreamed of. Then we headed up to top of camp to assemble cots, clean out cabins, remove tree stumps, and do more ropes training. It was a grind. We learned all the commands for high ropes and it was a lot to take in. Later that day, we had to sit through a one-hour youth safety video and then take a 50-question test where you could only miss 7. I missed 9. Yup. Flopped it. Gotta retake it later this week. Tragic.
Day 3 hit different. We had to leave camp by 7:10am to head to Rexburg for a 9-hour in-person youth mental health training. It was a heavy hitter day—lots of emotional stuff, kinda triggering, but super important. I powered through it, and then we got back to camp and went straight up to the top for more ropes course training. Mentally I was toast. Fully melted brain. Bedtime couldn’t come fast enough.
Day 4 was another info overload day, starting with breakfast—biscuits and gravy, elite choice—and then it was straight into the madness. We did all the crazy high ropes elements. Giant swing, crate climbing, and the infamous Power Pole of Death. You have to climb 31 feet and JUMP. From a pole. Like, no thank you. I don’t like heights. But I did it. Then I had to do the free fall not once, not twice, but FIVE times. I’m slowly getting used to heights but I still deeply, deeply hate them. We also did some low ropes and learned how to “debrief” activities, which is just a fancy way of saying “make this game sound deep and meaningful.” Turns out you can turn literally anything into a life lesson. Pretty cool.
And finally, Day 5. The final boss. We started bright and early because I was on kitchen duty. I made everyone French toast and sausage, and could tell people were dragging, so I hooked up my phone to the loudspeaker and blasted hype music. Suddenly everyone was dancing their way to the bathroom, smiling, and alive again. It was a moment. Then it was back to the top of camp for a full day of testing. I had to facilitate the high ropes and do inspections. Passed all of them except one—because I forgot to check ONE CLIP. Mentally I did it, but I didn’t say it out loud or show the instructor. Rookie move. Lunch was up top again, then we finished the day with tomahawk throwing (yes, that’s real) and this balance beam activity that tested every ounce of coordination we had left. Around 7pm we finally got back to base camp for one big group debrief, and then I headed back to Rexburg.
That was Week 1. The weekend was boring so we’re not gonna talk about that. But yeah! Hope you’re all doing amazing, changing lives, saving souls, and eating better food than I am. I’m throwing in some pics from the week, so enjoy the chaos.
Much love,
Dallin
