Meet Our staff
Staff are supported and encouraged to help facilitate an experience that is positive and fun, while sharpening their skills as a youth mentor and learning new skills. Our Staff are youth-focused, fun, hands on, attentive, dedicated, and creative. Camp Staff wear many hats to make all the magic happen on the mountain.
Camp Varsity Staff is made up of small year-round team and summer seasonal staff:
Directors, Senior Counselors, Junior Counselors, First Year counselors,
Kitchen Staff, and Office/Admin Support Staff.
YEAR ROUND STAFF
Jason and Trish Brennan, Camp Owners
Together with our two kids, we work year-round caring for all aspects of Camp business operations: managing Camp registration and admin tasks, projects, staff management, facilities and maintenance, land management, and website and social media management. Lucky for us, we met at Camp, became best friends and started our new journey together as Camp owners in 2017!
About Jason: I started coming to Camp when I was 8 years old as a first time camper and have been coming back ever since. After graduating with a masters in Education from Virginia Tech, I taught Earth Science in Annapolis, Maryland for 8 years. In addition to year round Camp work, I have a contracting business designing solar electric systems. When I’m not at Camp you can find me fishing, woodworking and cooking.
About Trish: I received my Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Science from Christopher Newport University in 2011. I first came to Camp as a camper in 1998, then worked as a counselor for five summers before returning years later. Outside of Camp, my work has included environmental consulting, various biology and wildlife projects, and floral design. I enjoy gardening, traveling, music, and learning about all things permaculture.
Kevin Heron, Staff and Leadership Director
I started attending Camp Varsity in 1995 and returned every summer since! I joined the staff the 2000 Summer. I began serving as the Staff Director in 2007 and became the Camp Director in 2016. I am grateful for the opportunity to support our amazing staff as they build relationships with our campers and ensure that each kid has an experience as incredible as mine was back many years ago. In the offseason, I work for a public school division and support schools with professional development. My wife, Kat, and I were married in October 2016 where my former bunkmate served as the officiant. We have two daughters, Aylor and Augusta Rae.
Caroline Urlwin, Camp Director
I started coming to Camp in 2012 and joined staff in the summer of 2016. I am so grateful to be a part of this staff family so many years later! It’s a great gift to spend time in the mountains (tech free!) and to support staff members who are devoted to ensuring kids have the best week of their life at Camp. In the off season, I work as a special education teacher. In my free time, you’ll catch me reading, writing, going to coffee shops, hiking, and spending as much time as I can with the people I love.
Kerry Hill, Camp Director
Camp Varsity has been a part of my life since 2010 and I’m so grateful to still be returning each summer! It’s been an incredible opportunity to work in an environment that has contributed so much to who I am. Getting to see our campers and staff enjoy the same joy and connection on the mountain that I have is the highlight of every summer. I graduated from the University of Mary Washington in 2022 and have worked as an elementary school teacher since. In my free time I love cooking, juggling too many DIY projects, and spending time outside.
Anna Downey, Health Director, Camp R.N.
Hey everyone! Anna Downey here. Camp Nurse, Registered Nurse, human on planet Earth. Raised in NOVA, grew my lil family in San Diego for 20 years, and moved back to the east coast in the summer of 2018 to be close to family and be a Summer Camp nurse!
I graduated from George Mason University's nursing program with a BS in Nursing. My background includes working in mental health/substance abuse, infectious disease, oncology at UCSD, and hospice- where I am currently serving our community. I love love love the hot heat, the beach, and am truly in search of the endless summer.
MEET OUR SUMMER PROGRAM SUPPORT STAFF!
Our Camp Counselors
Camp counselors live in the cabins with campers; some counselors stay for just a few weeks and many stay for the entire summer. There are approximately 4-6 staff members per cabin, depending on the number of campers in the cabin.
All counselors must, at a minimum, hold current CPR and First Aid certifications.
Almost all of our Staff were Camp Varsity Campers once upon a time...
Staff that have been campers themselves have a deep understanding of what being a camper is like and all the feelings that go along with it! This is particularly helpful especially with our new campers who may be experiencing summer camp for the very first time: our counselors know first hand all the excitement, questions, and even maybe some anxious feelings that may arise!
Counselors are selected by our Staffing Director along with the Director Team. Our selection process is unique in that it allows us to build a most supportive Staff that helps create an incredibly positive summer camp culture centered around authenticity, freedom for creativity and exploration, kindness, safety, and inclusion.
Our counselors are a wonderfully diverse group who aside from being counselors also are: students, coaches, community volunteers, gardeners, lifeguards, and food service and hospitality workers.
Counselors in Training (CIT’s) are 16 year old volunteers in training who work for a duration of 3 weeks.
CIT’s get exposure to many areas of Camp: from working in the kitchen, farm maintenance and gardens to animal care, to working with Junior and Senior level Staff to help lead and facilitate groups and activities.
Each year, ALL of our staff have passed background checks. Our background checks include sex offender status check.
All of our returning camp counselors, program and leadership staff and camp directors hold a current CPR/first aid certification.
Many of our Staff are certified lifeguards