Summer is here. Thousands of Inland Northwest boys and girls will attend camps — day camps, sleep-away camps, scout camps, sports camps, computer camps.

This column is directed to adults who staff and volunteer at Inland Northwest camps. You possess tremendous potential to shape a young life in ways you’ll never know. Don’t take my word for it. Listen to the wisdom of Chaeanna Lett. She is 20 now. I met her when she was 9, when The Spokesman-Review helped out at The Martin Luther King Jr. Family Outreach Center’s version of summer camp. It was called the Summer Youth Academy. I’m tracking down the MLK kids we taught in 1997. Chaeanna is the first one I’ve interviewed. Recently we brainstormed lifelong lessons from summer camp.

Kids pay attention to your essence, not necessarily your words.

Chaeanna attended the academy over several summers. Three adults stand out to this day. Valerie Marshall was the director of the academy until 1996. “She was poised, very proud. You couldn’t kick a chair from under her feet. She knew everything. She was very respectful.”

Chaeanna remembers Brenda Kane, the youth services coordinator, as someone who “always knew how to get complications squared away and make people like each other again.”

Phil High-Edward, who now teaches at Lewis and Clark High School, was then the “cool young teacher. All the kids wanted to be in his class. If he was upset it was like, you’re the cool guy, you can’t be mad.”

“What adults forget is how much kids are picking up on the emotional level,” Chaeanna reminded.

You can open up a kid’s future with just one simple activity.

One day, photographers from The Spokesman-Review volunteered to do a photo shoot with the MLK kids. They handed out disposable cameras and gave a walking photo-taking lesson through Lincoln Park. Chaeanna also remembers a later tour of the newspaper where she was fascinated with how the comics page was designed. Milt Priggee, former Spokesman-Review political cartoonist, also did a session with the MLK kids.

That summer, Chaeanna started drawing cartoons, taking photos and doing other forms of artwork. The passion stayed with her through middle school and high school. She put college on hold, because she married at 18 and gave birth a year later. Her daughter, Avacyana, is 7 months old. Chaeanna’s husband is in the military, and the young family lives in Fort Irwin, Calif.

Chaeanna plans to enroll in college soon and study photography. Her long-term goal: Run a photography business.

“That day (in Lincoln Park) was the connection,” she said. “I never had an interest before.”

Kids pay attention to camp slogans.

The theme of the summer academy was “I Am Somebody.” The words were placed on classroom walls and printed on academy brochures. Chaeanna and her brother, L.J., are from a high-profile Spokane family. Their father, Lonnie Mitchell, is a pastor and community activist. Their mother, Elisha Mitchell, is known for her community music events.

Chaeanna and L.J. attended the academy alongside children struggling in foster homes and recovering from abuse and neglect. Chaeanna didn’t notice the differences, because the adults seemed to treat all the kids the same. They sat next to the children when explaining things. They didn’t talk down to the kids.

“We felt equal to the adults,” Chaeanna said.

One day, while practicing for the academy’s graduation performance, a young girl cried. She told Chaeanna and the other girls that she worried people in the audience would make fun of her, because her family was so poor. Chaeanna and the others reassured her that she would do great. She did. The theme of the summer academy was “I Am Somebody” and the kids believed that they were.

On that graduation night, Chaeanna’s class created a dance routine to the theme song from the movie “Men in Black.” They donned sunglasses and dark shirts and danced so well adults jumped to their feet to applaud them. When the song now plays on the radio, Chaeanna recalls those dance moves from 11 years ago.

From dance moves to life moves, our camp kids are watching and learning. Indeed, summer is finally here.