After my second summer at Camp Echo Lake (CEL) as a lifeguard and swim teacher, I was more than happy to come back in 2025 to do it all again. There was just one thing giving me pause — stories about a special programme on camp called 4n4.

What is 4n4?

CEL summers are 7 weeks long, usually late June through mid-August. The name 4n4 came from when the season was 8 weeks: 4 weeks at camp and 4 weeks travelling Out West. Think Teen Tour, but in-house. The 15-year-old campers fly from New York and spend four weeks road-tripping across Colorado, Arizona, Wyoming and Utah — places most people only ever see on a screensaver. They spend their entire camp career dreaming about it.

For the group of 14-year-olds I had in 2024, that summer was less than a year away. And it just so happened to clash with my graduation.

Mine and George's tents at a campsite along the Arkansas river after day 1 of white water rafting. The beginning of a brutal 9-day camping stretch.

Is it really worth missing graduation?

Obviously I can’t answer that for you, but for me: 100% absolutely it is.

I get to see sights that 99% of the world will never see, with some of the best friends I’ve ever made, with a group of campers I genuinely love — all completely for free, and I’ll actually get paid. I loved university. But I think anyone would call me an idiot for trading a month of free travel through some of the most incredible landscapes on earth for one day in a nice suit and some fancy pictures.

I knew this the second I left camp in 2024. I sent an email a few weeks after getting home, (professionally) pleading to be considered for 4n4 in 2025. Then I waited.

Contract day

Three months later, I was sitting in the computing lab stressing over a computer vision coursework when my staff group chat started lighting up. Contracts were going out.

CEL sends them in batches by position — camper specialists first, then group leaders, then activity staff. I’d been told that 4n4 staff were always last, as a deliberate gesture. So when two hours had passed and every other waterfront lifeguard had a contract and I hadn’t, I was stuck with two possibilities: I’d been picked for 4n4, or I hadn’t been asked back at all.

The convolutional neural network could wait.

Another hour went by. Then another. More 4n4 confirmations trickled into the chat — friends I’d worked alongside for two summers — and still nothing for me. By 9pm the lab was almost empty. I packed up my bag, accepted my fate, and headed home to heat up a very sad pasta.

As I put my laptop away, my phone buzzed. An email from Echo Lake:

Daniel, we are pleased to offer you a place on the 4n4 programme for summer 2025.

Every hour of that wait was immediately worth it. In that moment I would have gladly handed over the rest of my university life just for it to already be June 2025.

So, what actually is an Out West Wednesday?

Honestly, I’m still not entirely sure. From what I can gather, it’s just an excuse to show the world that you went on one of the most incredible trips you can take — not just in the USA, but anywhere — and I think that’s reason enough.

If you want to see the rock-climbing, boat-driving, rodeo-riding chaos that followed, even on days that don’t begin with W, stick around.