48 hours in London was a quick trip.
I returned late yesterday evening from a brief jaunt across the pond. Each year, we hire a dozen or so international staff to help care for our campers and our horses. Who would’ve guessed that a great place to find quality equestrian staff who ride “English” would be in England? In addition to being rockstars on horseback, our international staff bring a jolt of new energy and ideas to a place steeped in tradition. They care for our campers with kindness and enthusiasm and they return home with great memories and a whole head full of new songs to share.
So on Saturday, along with longtime British counselor Bryony, I joined forty other camps in a convention center in the shadow of Big Ben for a “Camp America Job Fair.” It was a full-circle moment. Two years earlier, Gardner and I had met and hired Bryony at that very fair, in that very room.
After hours of interviewing, we ended the day with a handful of awesome staff who are sure to help make this summer the best one yet.
The highlight of the trip, however, was having dinner with eight former and current counselors. A few were still in school, one was even an American studying abroad in London. Some were working full-time jobs longing to return to the life of a camp counselor. After a quick round of hugs, gathered around a table, shared Mexican food family-style—as any Illahee crowd should—and then wandered down the way for a pint at a local watering hole.
Entering my fourth summer at Illahee, I continue to shape and reshape my own personal mission. Any camp director would agree that working a job like this requires being bought in on the mission, the “why” behind it all. My “why” was most clearly seen in that overly warm, dimly lit English pub. It was in reconnecting and hearing the hilarious and heartwarming stories from summers past. It was when a counselor from three years ago asked how her campers were doing–Each of them, by name. It was in looking out at this crew of former counselors, who were once strangers, and now are tied eternally by the bonds of sharing a life together at Illahee, and seeing a group of friends.
The world needs more friends. We all do. Every other article on my feed has something to do with the loneliness epidemic of our time. We’ve found that although technology makes us more connected, we feel far less connected and have far fewer real relationships.
Camp Illahee’s priority has always been the campers’ experience. “It’s about the kids and their transformation,” I tell our counselors at orientation. I also remind them, though, “if you give yourself wholeheartedly to this place and to your campers, I guarantee that you will be changed for the better as well.”
For campers and counselors alike, there’s no better way to be changed, than to gain a friend.
Cheers to the friendships formed, and the innumerable more to come.
Lucas
P.S. Camper Forms are out today and that means we are getting close to summer 2026!!!
Check your email and sign up for activities ASAP!