Joining us for his second summer, Dustin ‘Spirit’ Martin could not be happier about being back at Strong Rock! He loves our campers and desires to make a positive impact on each of them. I would have to say we are pretty pumped to have him back as well.

One of the things we all love about Spirit is his incredible knack for storytelling. He is full of all sorts of crazy stories and can literally silence a room of folks intent on hearing what comes out of his mouth next. He keeps us all smiling with his sense of humor displayed through this gift.

Spirit teaches Fishing and Golf for us as well as spends some time as a lifeguard. He is super enthusiastic during our tribal games and has been known to lose his voice from giving it everything he has during tribal cheers. Spirit has a way to make everything fun, whether participating in campwide activities, enjoying his skill classes or even cleaning the cabin.

Welcome back Spirit! We look forward to another summer together.

Random facts about Spirit:

• Education: Toccoa Falls College, majoring in Outdoor Leadership Education
• Favorite Camp Food: Pineapple Cobbler
• Favorite Camp Memory: Helping lead some of my campers to Christ.
• Strangest Habit: Popping other peoples toes
• Love Most About My Job At Camp: Being able to have fun and be crazy all the time.
• Famous Person I’d Like To Meet: Celine Dion
• Something No One Knows About Me:  I have a fantastic singing voice.
• Five Things I Love: Food, Games, Laughing, Telling stories, Being around people I love.

Our next staffer intro is another one that we are SUPER excited about. We are thrilled to welcome back Laura ‘Champ’ Sangster returning in the role of camp photographer this summer. The job is unique and takes a while for someone to get the hang of, so having Champ return for round two is a definite blessing.

Champ will spend hours and hours a day taking wonderful photos of all of our campers and then spend a few more hours each night sorting through the pictures and uploading hundreds to our website. She’ll also write a daily blog updating parents on all of the fun activities we do each day. Basically, her job is to provide our parents with a glimpse into daily camp life. She did a great job of that last year and many parents expressed their thanks for her service.

Champ is a camper favorite as well. She loves to hang out and play with them when she has a chance to put the camera down and is a very proud member of the Awahili tribe. Champ has a great attitude and a willing spirit making her a fabulous addition to our team.

Random facts about Champ:

• Education: UGA (go DAWGS), majoring in Accounting and Sports Management
• Favorite Camp Activity: Tribal games, Sock War
• Favorite Camp Memory: The Cooking Song!!
• Favorite Verse: Proverbs 3:5-6
• Proudest Moment: Winning a State Championship in Softball during Senior Year
• Better Than All Of My Friends At: Just Dance
• Famous Person I’d Like To Meet:  Chipper Jones
• Love Most About My Job At Camp: Capturing moments on camera that will help campers and staff remember all of their favorite times at camp

Moving up from the slot of Junior Counselor last summer to Counselor this summer is Rebekah ‘Encore’ Brannon. We first met her in the summer of 2009 when she arrived as a camper. Some of her older siblings had worked for us previously so we knew she came from a quality family background. From that first summer, we could tell that this girl would very likely be on staff one day. She had a contagious joy about her, a remarkably positive attitude and just sort of stood out as a special young lady.

Bringing Encore on staff last summer and getting to work with her in that role further solidified our solid impressions of her. She pretty much had a smile on her face all of the time, serving tirelessly and whole-heartedly in every task we placed before her. As a Junior Counselor, she learned about all aspects of camp and had the opportunity to experience what serving for a summer at Strong Rock looks like. She had a great time and decided to come back for more.

Encore is super excited about working more closely with our campers this year as a cabin counselor. She is looking forward to sharing her faith with her girls through word and deed. She has a beautiful servant’s heart and will provide a very solid example for all those placed in her care. Welcome back Encore!!

Random facts about Encore:

• Favorite Camp Activity: Multimate Frisbee
• Favorite Camp Song: Slamma Jamma
• Favorite Verse: Romans 8:37-39
• Favorite Quote: “Your walk talks and your talk talks, but your walk talks more than your talk talks.”
• Most Looking Forward To This Summer: Building new relationships and having the opportunity to be crazy (and not get strange looks for it)
• Most Love About Camp: Camp is a comfort zone for people to completely be themselves without being worried about being judged for it. Creating that environment is what we are all about.
• Famous Person You Want To Meet: I would love to sit down and talk with Bill Cosby.
• Favorite Free Time Activity: I love to go to a coffee shop and talk with someone. I love to get to know people better this way.

Back for his second summer and excited about another opportunity to minister to our campers is the one and only Brandon ‘FIFA’ Baena. Brandon transferred to Boyce College in Kentucky this year where he is studying Youth Ministry.

In case the nickname ‘FIFA’ didn’t give it away, Brandon loves soccer. He taught that class for us last year as well as Riflery and Archery. FIFA also worked with our youngest boys down in High Noon. He showed a tremendous amount of patience and compassion for these guys as many of them were first time campers. FIFA hopes to build on his experience from last summer and use all that he learned to be even more effective this summer.

One big highlight of FIFA’s first summer with us was his role in helping create what went down as one of the greatest tribal songs of all time, “Wave Your Flag.” We’ve heard a lot of memorable tribal songs over the last eight summers, but this one was definitely one of the best. Let’s see if we can’t top it in 2013!!

Random facts about FIFA:

• Favorite Camp Activity: Saturday Fun Days, especially the beach luau
• Favorite Camp Song: Tribal – Red Hot; Worship – Grin Again Gang; Assembly – He Makes It OK
• Favorite Verse: Genesis 41:16
• Favorite Quote: “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go.” – Dr. Seuss
• Greatest Fear: SPIDERS!!
• 5 Things You Love: God, Soccer, Camp, Food, Bug-be-Gone
• Childhood Hero: Peter Pan… Who doesn’t want to know how to fly and never grow up?
• Nonsense and Randomness: “I once sneezed with my eyes open!”