How many summers did you spend in the Canyon?
I spent four awesome years working in The Canyon. I spent my first three summers as a counselor at Singing Hills, from 1998-2000. Then, in the summer of 2001, I had the privilege of serving as Program Director with my best friend Jason Jackson.
What are you up to these days?
These days I live in Grapevine, Texas with my beautiful wife Becca and our four awesome kids. The Lord blessed us with two sets of twins. We have Jordan and Nathan, who are nine, and Harper and Carson, who are five. After college, I went into education and I’m currently a principal at Bear Creek Elementary in Grapevine. In many ways, my current life resembles a typical session at Singing Hills: lots of kids, a full schedule, music, costumes, family style dinners, great memories, and being exhausted all the time!
Do you have a favorite camp memory?
How could you ever pick just one? The four years I spent in The Canyon are stuffed full of wonderful memories. One of my favorite memories was when I was a programmer and we did a session theme based on the movie Cast Away. Jason Jackson and I wore tattered clothes, talked with gruff accents, wore itchy beards and wigs, and befriended an over-sized can of beans! We loved being our characters so much that we would stay in character for several hours a day. We would show up at meals, activities, and staff meetings without breaking character (even when the campers weren’t around)! Another classic I must mention for anyone who was there during the summer of 2000 was when my great friends Dany Millikin and Allison Sanches (Emmett) were Programmers. They would set up an orange extension cord in a large circle around their table, naming it the Ring-of-Fire. Naturally, anytime a camper would step in the circle they would play Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash. There was a particular hot day at Pebble Beach that summer where I believe they played that song over 20 times. None of us counselors thought it was funny at the time, but every time I hear Johnny Cash, I smile and think of Dany and Allison!
What do you miss most about your summers at camp?
The relationships. It’s amazing the friendships you can form at camp. You can spend one summer in The Canyon and feel like you’ve known someone for a lifetime. It’s one of the things that makes that place so incredibly special. I am so thankful for all of the people God allowed me to meet there. I can honestly say that those four years had a tremendous impact on my life. The simple answer is: I miss just about everything from those summers! Such sweet memories.
How does LLYC still impact your life today?
The lessons I learned and the things that God taught me at LLYC are a relevant part of my everyday life. As a father of four small kids and as an elementary principal, one thing that has never left me is the importance of building meaningful relationships and the effect you can have on people if are your willing to invest in them. LLYC will always hold a very special place in my heart!