Switching gears from campus life to camper life, Soundings and Arts Reach Manager Sam Green spends the academic year managing the Castleton University Soundings program before trading its hallowed halls for the Barn Day Farm and Wilderness Camp in Plymouth, VT for the summer.
“When I was hired, I knew this was a school year only position, and I would be looking for a summer position. My wife has worked at Farm and Wilderness for 13 years, and at the end of my first year at Castleton, they had an opening on the staff,” explained Green, whose ten-month position at Castleton allows her to fulfill camp duties from mid-June and to early August.
Now serving as the wilderness camp’s Assistant Director, Green started as a counselor for the four-year-old camp group before working the next two years as the head of work projects, where she taught carpentry and building using hand tools for community engagement.
Supervising a staff consisting mainly of college-age students over the summer, she spends her time working on logistics to help operations run smoothly, while also interacting with campers through lifeguarding and joining in on milking the farm’s goats.
“It’s important to let both my students here and my summer staff know that I have high expectations that they are capable of meeting, but to be understanding of the learning curve they take to get there,” said Green, adding that she finds many similarities between her Castleton and camp duties. “I think it’s also important to model the behavior I expect from them, and that future employers will also expect.”