Wow! Summer camp is days away! The counselors arrived Monday and have been busy planning and training for summer camp all week long. We can't wait to start next week! We have a very special summer planned, with four brand new sessions and our first ever camp for 11-16 year olds: our Leadership Training Camp! Here's a sneak preview of who will be staffing camp this summer:
Peter
Peter has come full circle. Having first worked at the Long Plain Nature
Center, soon to become the Hitchcock Center, summer camp in 1975, he’s back 39
years later to direct and be a counselor for the new leadership camp. Peter recently retired (or as one student put
it, “expired”) from over 30 years as a classroom teacher, most of which was
spent at the Fort River School teaching 6th grade. He loves being in the outdoors walking,
hiking, biking, skiing, birding, kayaking, camping, gardening, or taking
pictures, but taking kids out to share his enjoyment of nature with them has
been a love since that first summer almost 40 years ago.
Courtney
Courtney is excited to be returning to Hitchcock this summer for camp after spending this past school year working as a paraprofessional at the elementary level. Learning about nature is a lot more fun! Courtney grew up in Maryland and before coming to the Hitchcock Center she spent her time working on a refuge doing a variety of field studies and as a park naturalists doing school programs and camps. She graduated with a B.S. in Conservation and Wildlife in 2011. In her spare time she likes to play with her dog Jenny, read, bake, go birding and photography. She can't wait to meet everyone this summer and have a blast.
Patrick
Since graduating from Unity College in 2010 Patrick has been roaming New England working with kids in nature and educating the public about the environment. Patrick is returning for his second year as a counselor at the Hitchcock Center this year. He has previously worked at the W. Alton Jones Environmental Education Center in Rhode Island, the Vermont Institute of Natural Science, and at the Hitchcock Center for the Environment. He's excited to be back at Hitchcock for another season! Patrick's interests include snakes, dinosaurs, science fiction, movies, music, books and lively conversation.
Amy
Amy is so excited to be spending her summer working at the Hitchcock Center. Though it is her first summer at this camp, Amy has held multiple camp counselor positions with young children in the past. Amy is currently studying to become an elementary school teacher at UMASS where she will be a senior in the fall. Amy grew up on the south shore of Massachusetts but has loved living in the Valley for the past three years. In her free time, Amy enjoys sailing, hiking in the White Mountains, gardening, and traveling as much as possible. Amy can't wait to spend her summer exploring the outdoors!
Hannah
Hannah will be entering her senior year at UMASS, where she is studying environmental science and biology. Hannah has spent the past three years working at the UMASS Student Union Craft Center, where she specializes in bookmaking and paper marbling, teaching these skills, as well as other crafts, to students faculty, and staff. Her field experience includes work with invasive species and turtles, and she has been a counselor at circus camp and with Circle Camps for Grieving Children. In her spare time she can be found juggling with the UMASS Juggling Club, working as a fellow for Sustainable UMASS, and playing music on the violin or ukelele. Hannah is thrilled to be joining the Hitchcock Center as a nature camp counselor this summer!
Katie
This will be Katie's fourth summer as Camp Director of the Hitchcock Nature Camp. During the school year Katie works at the Hitchcock Center teaching and coordinating children and family programs such as homeschool and after school. In her free time this summer Katie will be gardening, working on her house in Belchertown and getting ready for her wedding at the end of the summer! She especially loves to go for walks in the woods listening to birds and spotting wildflowers. Her favorite things to do at camp are singing songs, playing running games and exploring nature mysteries with campers. Before working at Hitchcock, Katie was a bird rehabilitation intern, a Kindergarten paraprofessional and a camp counselor for eight years.
