Shanel got away from hard times at home

When Shanel McGee describes her dream job as a first-grade teacher, it’s clear that she will have high expectations for her future students. Wagging her finger, she starts down the list of rules she will have in her classroom.

There will be no gum chewing, speaking over the teacher, running in class or touching stuff that’s not yours.

Boisterous and talkative, 8-year-old Shanel is also the actress in the family, says her twin sister, Sharelle. When she’s not reenacting scenes from a TV show, she reads and rereads her favorite books in her spare time.

This summer, Shanel went to the YMCA’s Camp Oakes near Big Bear in the San Bernardino Mountains while Sharelle attended summer school. It was Shanel’s first experience in the wilderness, and her favorite memories of camp were riding a white horse named Sebastian down the mountain trails. Unfortunately, Sebastian was keener on eating than walking.

“My counselor told me that if your horse eats a full bush, you’ll have to carry him home,” she said. “It’s hard to pull them away when they’re eating.”

Shanel’s mom, Sharon Parker, admitted to being overzealous in her packing for camp, stuffing nearly two weeks of clothes into a duffel bag for the eight-day trip. Parker said that the camp experience made her daughter more accountable.

“It taught her responsibility,” Parker said. “She brought back all of her stuff, so that was a shock.”

In November, Parker went through a divorce with the girls’ stepfather, the main father figure in their lives, that took a heavy emotional toll on the family.

He has taken them to school and doctor appointments since they were young; the twins have seen their biological father only a handful of times.

Parker said that the girls felt anger and sadness when their stepfather left. After Shanel went to camp this summer, Parker said, she began to see those emotions subside.

“They used to argue constantly. Now they let things slide more often,” Parker said of the girls since Shanel’s return from camp. “It made them appreciate each other and our family more.”

Shanel was among the 12,000 children who went to camp this summer, thanks to $2.1 million raised in the Los Angeles Times Summer Camp Campaign last year.

Donations this season will ensure that just as many deserving children get the camp experience next summer.

The annual fundraising campaign is part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, which this year will match the first $1.2 million in contributions at 50 cents on the dollar.

Donations are tax-deductible. For more information, call (213) 237-5771. To make donations by credit card, go to latimes.com/summercamp.

To send checks, use the attached coupon. Do not send cash.

Unless requested otherwise, gifts of $50 or more will be acknowledged in The Times.