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 Meet the Camp Quinebarge Staff
 Our staff? Stellar young and young-at-heart men and women ages 18 to 80! We won’t know until Spring who the cast of characters will be, but last summer’s crew exemplifies the staff we strive to provide for our campers and parents each year: more adults 21 and up than most camps, keeping a ratio of one staff to five campers. The “before” photo from Staff Training week shows eager, happy 20 and 30-somethings ready for a summer of responsible fun and learning. Their mornings and evenings are lectures, discussions, or videos on camp policies and procedures. Most days they are setting up activity areas, team building on the ropes course, and dashing off to refreshers or trainings: Archers and Marksmen to how-to-teach courses, Lifeguards to training and certification programs, Arts & Crafts folks off to buy supplies, CPR trainings for most, Driving tests for the over 21 staff who wish to drive the camps vehicles, the Riding staff are getting to know the horses again, and all Staff get a first aid refresher from the Nurse…
They’ve come from all over to spend a summer mostly outdoors sharing their diverse experiences with our campers as well as leading our camp activities. All wear several hats as lead, assistant, or fill-in counselors at activities, as cabin counselors, and we’re all on duty around camp, on trips, and especially at General Swim where all eyes are watching the kids, not just the lifeguard-trained…
So let me introduce, in the back row, left to right…
Josh, 21, from New Hampshire- Archery & Marksmanship, Nature, WoodShop, Sports, Sailing. A Q camper returned in and after College, his second summer as staff
Jiri, 23, from the Czech Republic – Arnie’s Assistant- kept our courts swept or raked clear of slippery pine needles, wash-house and shower house spotless, and picked up enough fallen brush to earn his nickname “Sticks”!
Ivan,19,from Russia – Kitchen Staff & trained Scuba Rescue Diver, skilled in Lifesaving and First Aid, and Sports too!
Jarrod, 18, from New Zealand – our youngest, tallest, most observant and concerned staff- supervised Day Campers, Horses, Ropes, Wall, Sports, and Dance. Wicked,wicked! The talent is massive?!
Aussie Tom, 21, from Australia -Hikes &Trips on land and water, Wall, Sports: careful planning without stifling the fun.
Richard, 41, Rhode Island – Cook and Co-Seconds Announcer with Aussie Tom –“Sky-Rocket for the Cook!”
…In the front Row…
Liz, 19, from New Hampshire – Red Cross Water Safety Instructor, Co-Boss of our waterfront, Swim & Boat Instruction, First Aid, and a “Jill of all Trades” she grew up in camp Q with spirit, enthusiasm, and care, and is giving back to Camp in her second summer as staff. Political Science major at Ithaca College.
Yusuf, 22, from Great Britain – Ropes Leader, Wall Leader, Sports (especially soccer), his third time at camp, a master of calm enthusiasm and giving campers fun engineering challenges as evening activities-now he’s a graduate Civil Engineer on a job hunt. To his success!
Gino,21, from Great Britain – Lifeguard, Wall Leader, Ropes Trainer, Sports Coach (and TJ says Gino and Yusuf helped him get onto JV Soccer!), Horse hand, all-round happy, caring and upbeat guy.
Ellie, 21, from Great Britain – Day Campers, Ropes, Wall, Tennis, Dance, Sports & Hikes and cheerful through it all!
Jenni, 21, from Great Britain – Red Cross Water Safety Instructor, Lead Swim Instructor and Waterfront Lead, First Aid, Leadership on water-trips, Day Campers and all round enthusiasm- a small dynamo!
“Sleepy Kiwi” Kim, 21, from New Zealand – Lifeguard, Boating, Hikes, Camping, Sports, Tennis, anything, anywhere that needed doing, her second successful summer at Camp Q.
Fanni, 21, from Hungary – Riding Program Co-Lead, Lead International Week activities from Sports to the Kitchen, working with the cook and Angela to make authentic entrees.
Angela, 22, from Hungary – Kitchen Staff, and joining in everywhere else with grace and gusto both.
Livka, 25, from Germany – Arts & Crafts, Ceramics, Photography and smiling participation in everything, she’s Denise Hodgeson’s daughter, one of Winnetaska’s 1970’s Counselors back to see how camp had such a big place in her mother’s life after so long – now she knows!
…and in the forefront…
Ralph, 37, from Connecticut – WoodShop understudy to Mr. B last year, he carries on the tradition of helping kids learn tool use and to turn imagination into reality by designing and doing in our well-worn shop.
Malissa,33, from Australia – Riding Program Co-lead, Organized our first Camp Horse Show in recent memory!
And not pictured are…
Nurse Maggie Lohman, 50-something, RN of New Hampshire – with us for 8 seasons in weeks one to four with Band-aids and Banana Bread, healthy wallboard cereal, a Middle School nurse and a Lifeguard too!
Nurse Jeanne Parady, 40-something, RN of New Hampshire –weeks five to seven giving care and counsel to campers and staff no matter the type of distress.
and Cori’s Kids- volunteer staff trained in the Boy and Girl Scouts: Joe DiTommaso (23), and Missy Marshall (33) who put shoulders to the wheel of camp whenever they could…
and our CIT’s from last summer, helping out at activities and with cabin life were Irina (16) and Katie (16)
 The CIT Program for ages 16 & 17:
Quinebarge has always hoped our camp kids will continue on as staff after they age-out of being campers after 15… The CIT program is the gateway to being staff in late High School and through College. Nearly half our staff this summer are alums!
We look for those kids who are interested and engaged in camp activities. Who show that difficult to describe "camp spirit" :
- an interest in all things camp, activities and trips - a good upbeat outlook - wit and humor without meanness
- the willingness to chip in and help out, doing what needs to be done even when it seems to be "work!"
- concern for others, caring about and for and sharing with those who are younger - show respect for those who are older
- and are growing into the independence to handle things when they are "in charge"
… So only some of our 15 year olds will "graduate" into CIT's, and we'll seldom accept kids who've not been in camp with us in prior years as CIT's unless they have skills and show real potential as great future staff.
CIT's are still campers, with their parents paying half the regular tuition. They traditionally have been expected to stay all 7 weeks, but we will split this into 4 or 3 weeks. They actually work a bit- usually a couple of hours each day and will stay in a cabin of younger kids at night to help out in cabins. They assist counselors at activities and on trips. They may even work a little on maintenance and construction projects and trail repair. In return they earn a group night out each week and some extra perks to honor their maturity and helpfulness.
The Junior Staff ages 18 to 20: Cabin Counselors, Run Activities, Lead Games, Evening Activities
The Senior Staff ages 21 and up: Lead Activity Areas, Lead Out of Camp Trips, Drive Camp Vehicles
The Leadership: or Who's Running this Road-Show, anyway?
Director: Tom Hannaford arrived at Quinebarge in 1964 as a camper under Mr & Mrs B, glad to be away from home and feeling he'd rather read than play sports. Gradually he realized that Camp Q let you try anything as many times as you wanted to and he could actually be good at some things he'd been afraid to try… He stuck with Camp Q through 2 seasons each as Camper then CIT and was on Staff through his BS in Geology at Tufts University where his main interest was in the Tufts Mountain Club- the closest thing to Camp Q he ever found in the real world. His outdoor skills include ski-mountaineering and telemark skiing, camping, hiking, rock climbing, caving, canoeing and kayaking, archery & riflery, and an ability to teach. He has spent years in facilities management caring for commercial and apartment rental properties and runs an auto parts store for obsolete vehicles called Then & Now Automotive when he is not at Camp. He bought Camp Q in 1984, and finally felt he'd learned enough to Direct in 2009. Lucky for him five other folks at camp are equally or more qualified to keep him on his toes and advise him. So far so good!!
 Assistant Director:
Cori Hannaford
Cori raised two daughters in Girl Scouting, one all the way to Gold Award and her son in Boy Scouts up to Eagle. She has taken Scouting's Wood Badge Training- a widely recognized leadership training program. She started out as a camper at "BoulderBrook" then "Camp Winnetaska" in the 1970's and keeps us connected to that camp's noble goals. She brings a mom's caution and genuine caring, fairness and sportsmanship to camp, as well as outdoor skills and enthusiasm. Cori is a CIT in the top row of this mid-1970's Camp Winnetaska group photo
Facilities Director: Paul "Arnie" Wooten Arnie started with Camp Quinebarge in the late 1970's as a cabin counselor, then Trips Program Leader, and now Facilities Director. He's worked with 5 Directors, and has been director himself for 4 years. But all along he's been making sure everything in camp was safe and ready to use from the roads and trails to the Cabin roofs and stairs- he's our "Arnie-of-all-Trades". Campers praise him as "tough, but fair".
Director Emerata: Barbara Brunelle ("Mrs.B") from the Boy Scouts' Camp Clark in Plymouth MA in the late 1950's to Camp Quinebarge from 1963 to 1984 the Brunelles have amassed several lifetimes worth of camp directing and child rearing experience- Mr. & Mrs B’s campers were like their own children, and their children and grandchildren have been campers then counselors and now their great grandchildren are at camp too. Mrs B is everyone's surrogate grandmother making sure the Wood Shop projects are painted well and that the kids all get their Shop awards, complete with the right hand-colored hammer to note their progress… She provides a deep well of decency, parenting knowledge and faith on which we all may draw.
“Shop Steward” Ralph Ventura has been in a union or two in his careers, so he appreciates his new title! He joined us last summer as understudy to Mr. B and now carries on in his footsteps making the Woodshop a center of accomplishment and camp spirit as he leads kids through their shop projects and makes his own Native American-inspired wooden flutes and drums… He keeps an eye on the Nature Shack’s animals as well.
Nurses: Maggie Lohman, RN. (Staff Week to Week 4) Jean Parady, RN. (Weeks 5-7) Maggie has been "vacationing" with us for many years from her duties as School Nurse in Franklin, NH and the Ski Patrol. Her daughter Kat and their puppy Abbie have both grown up in camp, as Maggie herself did at a camp in NY. She kept our hands clean and the flu at bay last summer. Jean is another well qualified NH School Nurse. Her kids Laura and Henry will camp with us.
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PHONE: 1-603-253-6029
FAX: 1-603-253-6027
800: 1-800-869-8497
