Our program assistants are recent college graduates or college-age young adults who serve at camp for the school year. They host retreat groups, lead programming, interview our Junior Staff applicants, go on school visits, and help with a wide range of projects at camp.
Our goal each year is to have two program assistants that serve during the school year, but some years we have only been able to find one. This year we were able to have FOUR awesome individuals serve at camp!
Of those four, one is planning on pursuing camp ministry as a future career, one is pursuing church work, one is going into teaching, and one is seeing where God leads. That’s a pretty good picture of the variety we typically get in terms of where our program assistants are hoping to head in the future.
We try to tailor their experience to match up with their individual interests, future goals, and skills and abilities. “I’m looking at working in camp ministry as a full-time career,” said Ayla “M’Laney” Kennedy. [Editor’s note: Shortly after being interviewed, Ayla accepted a full-time job position at Camp Concordia in Michigan. She starts this fall.] “Being a program assistant is so adaptable. I’ve been able to pick and choose which skills I throw myself into. We’ve all been able to work through weaknesses in a safe place.”
One of our biggest goals with our program assistants is to help them grow and develop skills that will be valuable to them in their future plans. That’s been an important part of the experience for Parker “Rupert” Ehmen. “Being a program assistant has helped me build leadership skills,” said Parker. “It’s been challenging but super rewarding, and a lot of fun, too. The staff are a great group of people who share my faith and passion for camp.”
Olivia “Kriller” Rodd agrees. “Being here full time has given me the chance to build relationships and see behind the scenes,” she said. “Being surrounded by faith and believers has encouraged me to further my own faith, and it’s been so fun to give back to this place that gave me so many fun memories.”
It truly is a symbiotic relationship, as our Program Assistants very much pour so much into camp during their time and allow us to accomplish so many things that we otherwise never could do. They also help make our retreat group programs rich and ministry-focused no matter the group that is coming out to camp.
Some of the big projects that this team of four accomplished throughout this last school year include:
- Hosting over 120 retreat groups during the year.
- Leading hundreds of hours of programming including campfire devotions, archery, dodgeball, zip lining, horses, and more.
- Leading the devotion time for over 20 Lutheran school chapel visits in January.
- Organizing an incredible amount of areas, spaces, and equipment at camp to help remove a lot of clutter and mess.
- Interviewing over 80 Junior Staff for the Junior Staff program.
- Doing regular social media posts to share the joy of camp with everyone.
- Painting and staining many different areas of camp.
- Providing input and ideas into many of our planning sessions for summer and the ministry that occurs here at camp.
- And so much more!
Our program assistants have become such an incredibly important part of allowing camp and this ministry to serve faithfully and well. And this group was truly a special one. A huge thanks to them and to all our program assistants that have served at camp over the years!