Seizing Opportunities

Breanna Bobbitt

Marketing Intern

Jameson Camp is a fun-filled environment for kids to enjoy the outdoors and make memories, but it is also a place for growth and new opportunities. However, many may overlook the fact that it can be a life changing place for the counselors. Some may call it a job, while others call it home. That’s the case for Brianne Sandlin who has made her mark at Jameson.

Currently serving as the Counselor-In-Training Coordinator, Brianne has had multiple titles at Jameson including Journalism Instructor, Senior Counselor and Spring Intern. Like many of the counselors, Brianne got her start as a camper. At the age of thirteen her grandmother was fishing online for summer camps when she stumbled across Jameson’s website. Impressed, she signed her up and paid for her first summer.

“I was nervous. I came because I had been recently diagnosed with diabetes and I was really quiet and reserved, but I remember towards the end of the week, it was before bed, I got up and danced on my bed and that’s when I knew I wanted to be here,” Brianne said. So much so that she seized the opportunity, when recommended by a counselor, to be a part of the youth leadership program after her first week.

From community events, workshops and spring break trips, the youth leadership program provided a lot of opportunities and new experiences for Brianne. She recalls one of her most memorable moments was during her ACE II trip on the Appalachian Trail where she and previous camper and counselor Braydon Jefferson got a surprise visit during their quest to watch the sunset.

“Me and Braydon didn’t have our glasses on and the other girl could see and she was like, ‘there’s something in the bushes over there and we just kind of brushed her off and then we heard something and it was a bear. So that was interesting,” Brianne said.

Fortunately, she was able to leave that trip in one piece and share the story with others about the time she tripped up the mountain, running from a bear. “I’m very clumsy,” Brianne said. That obstacle wouldn’t be the only one she would face and coincidently Jameson came in her life at the right time. When she first came to came to Jameson, she was in the middle of bouncing from school to school, and finding the right fit was a struggle.

However, that would soon change. In April of her sophomore year in high school, Brianne went on a spring break trip as part of her youth leadership experience with Jameson. While there, Braydon and camper As’samada told her about a small private high school they attended called Providence Cristo Rey. The friendship would soon open a new door for her. With that connection at Jameson, she found the school that she would spend the remainder of her high school experience at and from which she would eventually graduate. Her senior year, Jameson awarded her the Julie Marsh scholarship to help pay for college. “It’s the networking you make because of camp like the people I’ve met at camp like Braydon and As’samada. If I never would’ve met them and done the whole networking thing, I never would’ve known about Providence and I never would’ve graduated from Providence,” Brianne said.

Going on her third summer working here, Brianne has devoted a lot of time and made camp a top priority.  She’s worked with  diverse group of kids with different stories and different challenges and has gotten very close with many of the campers.

 “I tend to like the kids who have the more difficult behavior. A big thing we say to our staff during the summer is they’re all good kids, they just have difficult behavior. So I get attached to the ones that I work with the most which are usually the kids with the difficult behavior,” Brianne said.

One of Brianne’s favorite sessions is Tataya Mato. During that week, kids who are impacted by HIV/AIDS come from all over to enjoy a fun and worry free week of activities. Many of the kids who come are faced with a lot of adversity at home and it can be difficult for them to adjust to the camp environment as well as the counselors. “Even with that happening, it’s still my favorite week and the most rewarding,” Brianne said. It’s because of the challenges that these kids face back at home, it’s one of Brianne’s goals to make it the best week for them.

Now being responsible for training future counselors, she says that she doesn’t have much free time as CIT Coordinator because most of it is spent at camp but the friendships she’s made, the doors that have opened for her and the progress she’s witnessed from many of the kids she’s worked with makes it well worth it.

“There’s been a lot of like things that camp has giving me and a lot of opportunities I wouldn’t have gotten if it wasn’t through camp so being able to come back as a counselor and giving those kids those opportunities, especially being CIT Coordinator this year, being able to bring things into the program that I had when I was their age and being that person for them that my counselors were for me,” Brianne said.

Overall, she says that Jameson has helped her grow more as a person and has given her skills that can help her go a long way. “I think I just grown a lot in general, you know being able to take on more task and be more responsible has been a big factor as well.” With all of the different roles Brianne has filled, it has definitely been a learning experience for her. She says her time at Jameson, has taught her to be more patient and to manage her time more effectively.

With memories, friendships and opportunities she's gained at camp, it's very evident that it's become a big part of her life. When asked if she considered the people here as family, she responded with a smile on her face. "Yes, without a doubt." Through Jameson, she's acquired skills and memories that she can take away with her but hopes to carry on those skills at camp in the future. As a career goal, she plans to eventually work her way up and be a part of Jameson long term.