Catherine Wendlandt, a freelance writer in Texas who has written stories for Chron, attended Camp Mystic as a camper from 2004 to '13, then served as a counselor from 2014 to '16. Wendlandt shared this tribute to camp counselors,

Bubble Inn saw generations of 8-year-olds enter as strangers and emerge as confident young ladies equipped with new skills from the great outdoors and lifelong friends – bonds that would one day prove vital in the face of unfathomable tragedy.

Many of the 650 campers and staffers at Camp Mystic were asleep when, at 1:14 a.m., a flash-flood warning for Kerr County, Texas, with “catastrophic” potential for loss of life was issued by the National Weather Service.

Katherine Ferruzzo had been accepted to the University of Texas at Austin for the fall semester and planned to become a Special Education teacher, her family said.

Texas Rangers have identified Kellyanne Elizabeth Lytal, 8, as a victim of Camp Mystic after 27 girls went missing after the Guadalupe River flooded the Christian retreat.

Camp Mystic camper Blakely McCrory, 8, died in the Texas floods on the Fourth of July shortly after her dad and uncle died. Her mom, Lindsey McLeod McCrory, tells PEOPLE about Blakely's 'contagious spirit' and the final letter she received from her.

More heavy rains in Texas on Sunday paused a weeklong search for victims of catastrophic flooding along the Guadalupe River and led to high-water

Search crews continued the grueling task of recovering the missing as more potential flash flooding threatened Texas Hill Country.