Lola

I am currently a sophomore in High School in Atlanta, Georiga. I have been playing competitive softball for eleven years, and I recently just traveled to the Netherlands and Paris for softball. Ever since I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, my main goal has been to prove that diabetes or not, you can accomplish anything with support like all the campers receive when attending Camp Kudzu.

Year Diagnosed: 2016

Years as a camper: 5 years 

• What’s your favorite part about camp? 

My favorite part about camp has to be the week I get to experience with my best friends in the entire world while singing, dancing, and battling our way through this disease. 

• If you could describe Camp Kudzu in one word, what would that word be?

If I could describe Camp Kudzu is one word, it would be family. The people that I meet at camp are ones that I know will never leave me side, and I won’t ever leave theirs. 

• What’s one of your favorite memories of camp?

I have so many memories, there are too many to count. I built up enough courage to go all the way up on the giant swing. I met my best friends Jack and SJ during my second year of camp and ended up getting forced into a double kayak with Jack. I got to see all of my camp friends at the JDRF walk. Just going to Camp Kudzu for the first time has been my favorite memory, because it opens up all of the other memories to come after. 

• What’s the most helpful or interesting thing that you learned at camp?

When I first went to camp, I had only been 1 month diagnosed. When I first got to the cabin and explained how I was such a young diabetic, I received such great advice from the girls who had had the disease much longer. I also received many opinions about what the girls thought of the pumps, which also helped me have some sort of idea of a pump I would like to choose when the time came. 

• If you could only do one activity at camp, what would it be?

My favorite activity at camp at the Camp Twin Lakes campsite would definitely have to be the giant swing, yet I love the blob at Lake Allatoona. 

• What would you tell a potential camper about Camp Kudzu?

If I could tell a potential camper anything about Camp Kudzu, it would have to be that Camp Kudzu is going to become their second home. The one place that they could spend eternity in. You never want to pass up the opportunity of spending a week in a diabetic paradise.