March Newsletter

Meet a Director: Kelly Carew Michel

Jr. Camp Assistant Director

Kelly started as the Gymnastics Department Head and was a favorite cabin counselor for the youngest girls for many years. From 2002–2014, Kelly served as Program Director, hiring all of the staff and overseeing the numerous department areas. During her tenure as Program Director, Kelly helped to develop many popular activities: Dog Camp, Glass Beads and Fusion, Metal Jewelry, Farm and Garden, Greystone Gazette, and Apple Hill overnights. For several years, she also directed the August session. Now she lives in Colorado with her husband and two kiddos! We’re so glad to welcome her back for another fun year at Junior Camp!

A Little Q & A with Kelly

Years at camp: 24 (including this summer)

Here’s what you can find me doing at camp: I assist Katie Miller Grant in directing Junior Camp. I also help train the gymnastics staff.

Come find me if you ever need… encouragement, a silly joke, a hug or help plunging a toilet!

These are a few of my favorite things: the smell of camp mulch, camp bread & cookies, apple cart, working hard and mostly importantly Todd & my boys (Bud 7, Jake 6).

Guilty pleasure? M&Ms and pretzels

One thing you wouldn’t guess about me: I was never a camper. I found Greystone in college.

Book I’m loving right now: listening to three books right now because none are my favorite. We are reading National Park Mystery book before bed and it is super fun!

Something I want you to know about this summer: We are going to have such fun working hard, serving the campers and growing in our walk with Jesus. Goooo Junior!

The best thing about working at camp is… the beautiful people we get to work alongside!

What do I still like to toot my horn about: I can still cartwheel and handstand on the ground and flip on a trampoline!

News to Know

The latest updates from Tuxedo

Receive a bonus when your friends work at camp! We’re still hiring for our final few staff positions (bonus points if they have High Ropes, Cooking, or Photography Skills), and this is your chance to have your friends join you this summer AND get a great bonus added to your paycheck - it’s a total win-win. All you have to do is to let her know and make sure your friend fills out an application. If we hire them for Junior Camp, you’ll receive a $50 bonus on your paycheck. It’s as easy as that!
Staff Profiles are Live! This is your cue to go meet your future besties and learn more about the incredible people you’ll be working with all summer long! We’ll be adding profiles until the summer, so bookmark this page and keep checking back. If you haven’t filled out your Staff Profile yet, hop to it!

Growing as a Leader at Camp

When you chose to work at a camp, you knew it would be a fun, light-hearted way to spend your summer - right? You probably pictured jumping in the lake, roasting s’mores with your campers, and lots of singing and dancing…and you’re definitely right! But we’re here to tell you that this summer job is a whole lot more than just fun. Working as a Greystone counselor gives you the chance to practice your leadership skills and grow as an employee in an encouraging and grace-filled environment while being surrounded by people who love you! Here are just a few things you have to look forward to:

Ample opportunities to step up as a leader. Your campers are watching you and will do as you do, so every minute of the counselor job is about leadership! You will also have chances every day to take initiative and responsibility if you’re looking for them. That might look like organizing the cleanup process in your activity area, or modeling positive talk with your counselor friends on a hard day. It’s possible to float through your summer without stretching yourself, but we would encourage you now to look for opportunities to grow - they are everywhere!
Practicing skills that will serve your career in the future. There’s a reason employers love hiring camp counselors - camp skills are life skills! At Greystone, you will learn to work on a team, give and receive constructive feedback, think on your feet to solve problems with creativity, and have a good attitude, even when things are hard. No one here does these things perfectly, but camp is a soft place to practice these leadership and interpersonal skills. We’ll help you sum it all up in your resume at the end, too!
An environment designed to help you grow. We are committed to making this summer a great one for you! From Orientation to Closing Day, we want to help you use your strengths, set goals for yourself, and flourish here on staff. That starts with a leadership team who put you as the priority and are here to support you in any way we can (now as well as during the summer!). We know each of you brings a unique set of skills and passions to this summer, and we want to help you shine! If you ever have ideas, questions, or thoughts to share, we are all ears. We’re on your team - now and in the future!

Video: Tech-Free at Camp

Pray with Us:

This month is the perfect time to start praying for the people you’ll be working with during Junior Camp - your fellow staff members! No one knows better about how to pray for them than you because you are feeling and experiencing all the same things.

Pray for the group as everyone is in the middle of their school semester and starts to turn their eyes towards the summer. Pray for the friendships that will form when you’re here and that everyone will find a sense of belonging during their time at camp. Pray for excitement and that the Lord would prepare each heart for the work He’s going to do through you here and that He would use everything you do this summer for His glory most of all.

Pro tip: Use the Staff Profiles to go through and pray for each other by name!

Verse to meditate on:

“Now may the God of peace— who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood — may he equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to him. All glory to him forever and ever! Amen.” Hebrews 13:2-21

FAQ Corner

What Advice Would You Give to Someone Working on Staff this Summer?

We love this question! But before we give any actual advice, we want you to take a deep breath and know that we think you are going to do a GREAT job this summer even without our advice - that’s why we hired you! At the end of the day, being a great counselor isn’t complicated. All we ask of you is that you love our campers and buy into the vision of what we get to do here (love campers, love God, have fun!). The rest is just small details.

So to the actual advice part:

Keep your eyes open for opportunities to serve. Great counselors seek out opportunities to jump in and help others before being asked. There will be many chances to make a difference this summer - you just need to look for them!
Spend time with God on your own. At camp, we have lots of time for worship and devotions as a group, but it’s also crucial that you have your own quiet time as well. You’ll be surprised by the way the Bible speaks to you in this season, and we all need to stay plugged into the Truth to have the energy, encouragement, and resiliency to do this job well!
Take care of yourself. We do everything we can to take care of you in the summer, but you know yourself better than we do, and you know what you need to be your best here. Start thinking now about how you like to recharge. If your recharging tricks aren’t easy to do at camp (like scrolling TikTok!), think about what you could do instead. Not sure what resources are available to you at camp? Just reach out, and we can chat about it!
Let go of your expectations for the session. It’s natural to have specific hopes and plans when you think about being at camp, but as much as you can, try to hold them loosely and keep an open mind. We will all need to be flexible and ready for anything, with positive attitudes in all circumstances. No matter what your summer looks like, you will grow, gain skills, and have a lot of fun. God is going to use it in your life, so come ready to jump in wholeheartedly, work hard, and serve wherever you are needed!