Ask Cindy Knapp, shown above, (1968-71)— there was no question that her time at Maqua influenced who she was as a person. ‘I loved my summers there, treasure the memories and friendships that were formed, and am grateful to have had the opportunity. Maqua helped give me confidence and taught me a lot about leadership. I had always wanted to be a teacher and I know some of that desire is from the modeling of teaching that I watched at Maqua. We learned to be friendly, kind, loyal, curious, confident, respectful, responsible, trustworthy, fair, and strong. That’s pretty good character building, if you ask me.”
“I became a teacher and there is no question that my camp experiences have influenced my career. When I taught sixth grade for several years, it was a tradition to go to a nearby Y camp for three days. I recreated a lot of the program, using my Maqua experience as a model. (Prior to that, it was kind of just school in a different place and I was having none of that!). I always sang the old songs with my kids. I have been teaching preschool for the last 12 years and the Maqua songs are especially fun with them!”
Tally Cone (1960-65) became a teacher and had always wanted to teach the younger kids, but after her Mastes degree, she taught math to middle school kids. “Maybe, I ended up being drawn to the age that I actually was at camp. I love middle school kids. One day, they are wanting a sticker on their work, and the next they are crying over a break-up of a boyfriend or girlfriend.”
She and her husband retired early, after raising two daughters. Both girls went to camp, but they never camped as a family. Instead, as teachers, they were able to take the summers off and visit the U.S. “Now when I see a birch tree or even smell “S’Mores” or a campfire, I think of Camp Maqua.”
Carol Wahl used her camp counseling experience for years on her resume, until her resume filled up with the many jobs she had. Many of her years have been spent in education as a science teacher for adjudicated teens. “I use the lab as hands-on for the kids as much as possible, and many have returned to say it was their favorite class. When I was at camp and saw the bad behaviors in the girls, I made sure I taught mine better. Camp was a wonderful experience for campers and counselors. I still have rocks from camp painted with “Camp Maqua 1974” and a piece of driftwood somewhere.”
“When I think of camp, I think of home,” said Sharon Williams, a counselor in the seventies. “It was my summer home. We were just a group of people working together having a great time. We were open and accepting of each other. You came into your own at eighteen and nineteen and there were many changes and time to develop. Those times really helped to shape and reaffirm my career choice in physical education. My first job in teaching was junior high level in Plymouth Middle School.”
Pat O’Tool l (1944-52) loved arts and crafts and went on to become an art teacher, convinced that the arts she learned to enjoy at camp influenced her career choice. “The leadership and supervision and forever directing something as a kid influenced me to teach, To this day, she still teaches art and still remembers the postcard from Camp Maqua featuring the girls in front of the craft hut.”
When Sue Michelson (1963-73) was not at camp, she was babysitting or volunteering with children at home—always involved in the community in some way. Her camping days and love of children helped to make the career choice of becoming a K-12 principal. As a teacher, responsible for children and talking to parents, her roots with writing reports as a camp director gave her great experience.“Camp Maqua was so influential in my life“ Part of the reason I went to Michigan State was due to many of my counselor friends going there. Half of us went to Michigan and the other half to Western. It was more than a summer experience. It was a huge part of my life. I had always wanted to be a teacher, and I looked up to those counselors.
Others were influenced to attend a certain college, Betsy Falvey, (1968-75) said, “I do feel like camp influenced my choice of college. I chose a small college and I was active in my sorority and my major was history, but my minor was in music. Everyone was singing and playing guitars at camp, including me, so I was in a band in college. I think I am the only one I know with a liberal arts degree that has made it work in my life.”
“I think camp guided me into teaching,” said Carolyn Stanton (below) (1947+). “ I was a waitress at Camp Sherwood and Huntingdon later, so I liked camps. I ended up as a reading specialist and got my Masters in the eighties. I had good values already, but camp strengthened them.”
