Spotlight on Staff: Jason

Hi I’m Jason (on the left) – I am 28 yrs old and I’m from Merry ol’ England.  I have been coming to Timber Lake West since 2008 and from the picture you can tell how happy I am to be at camp!  I started at camp as a General Counselor, and eventually moved into the Fine Arts part of camp.  This summer I will be heading-up the Art Barn with one of my best friends at camp, Erin Samuelsen.

At the time I was accepted to camp, I had just finished university and wasn’t too sure of a career path.  Camp not only gave me a purpose at that time, but it showed me my way to my future profession in becoming a teacher. West shows you how to be a better person, and I have changed for the better because of my time spent TLW. One of camp’s motto’s from the starfish story is, ‘To that one, I made a difference’ and I have taken this away with me and used it for inspiration to teach others in England.

One of the best things at camp is seeing the group of children I started out with as seniors, watching them grow up and become young adults over the years. Camp is about the people, the fun and the memories you create together. For this article, I was asked what my favorite memory of camp was –  Honestly? I cannot reply with just one memory as there are so many good memories; dressing up as “Where’s Waldo”, making costumes for TLW’s production of The Lion King, organizing a HUGE fakeout, making a 7’ foot revolving Oscar at 4am, painting ourselves to look like living statues, seeing Color War for the first time, Zumba dancing…etc.  The list goes on and on…

To anyone new to camp, camper or counselor, I would say just one thing: be yourself. Camp is going to look after you, hold you close and keep you warm when the winter months come around. You will never forget camp, the friends, the fun and the memories.  They will stay with you forever and ever and I only wish every child could experience a TLW Summer.