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Hello Campers and Parents!
I’m an Alaskan Native from a very small and isolated village in Western Alaska. My name is David Michael; I’m a twin, 24 years old and half Eskimo.
This past fall, along with a couple of friends, I spent three weeks biking down the Oregon Coast. One night, after a long day of biking we pulled into a campground and set up our tents next to some other campers. It turned out those other campers had just spent the summer as counselors at Camp Augusta. We ended up spending a few days together, on our bikes, riding south on Highway 101 and all they talked about was the great summer they had just spent at Camp. I knew right away that this was something I had to look into.
So, back in Alaska, I had been keeping in touch with my new friends and learned that Camp Augusta was looking for a Counselor for the upcoming summer. I jumped at the opportunity! The thing I’m most looking forward to this summer is being around energetic young campers. Campers who are looking forward to doing things they’ve never done before. Watching the confidence build as we do things we never imagined doing. Being excited about getting up each morning, about really using our imaginations and being even more excited about sleeping under the stars!
So, this will be my first year as a counselor; and given the reputation of Camp Augusta, I’m expecting an incredible summer. I’ve been to camps in the past as a kid, but never to a camp in this role. I’ve been promised that it’s not going to be like a normal job – so I’m looking forward to a summer of fun!
I love being outside more than anything – even more than my #2 favorite thing in the world which is dancing – more on that later. I love to hike and mountain bike and explore. One of the best things about living in Alaska is the outdoors. Alaska is twice as big as Texas and is one of the least populated states in the country - which means there are tons of places to explore! Where I live now, in Anchorage, I’m minutes away from the ocean, the tallest peak in North America (Mt. McKinley), hundreds of miles of bike and hiking trails and all kinds of crazy big wild animals like huge grizzly bears and moose.
Before Camp, I was working at the very top of North America, hundreds of miles north of the Arctic Circle, at Prudhoe Bay. I was working at a base camp that supports people who drill for oil. The sun sets in November and doesn’t show itself again until February – but in the summer it’s light out 24 hours a day! I’ve seen Polar Bears roaming the tundra, huge herds of caribou and all kinds of little arctic and red foxes. Sometimes in the winter, the temperatures gets close to 100 degrees below zero! They don’t let us go outside when it’s that cold! In the summer time the mosquitoes come out – and like everything else in Alaska, they are huge!
About three years ago I entered a culinary program here in Alaska. I’ve always loved to cook and wanted to spend my day doing something I enjoyed. After graduating, I took a job up on the North Slope at Prudhoe Bay. My job, like all of the other jobs at Prudhoe Bay was shift work – two weeks on and one week off. I worked in the kitchen cooking food for all the oil workers. Definitely the best part of the job was that I had everything I needed, the best ingredients and a big beautiful kitchen. There are some things that oil companies know how to do well – and one of them is feeding their employees. When I wasn’t working, I was sleeping. I won’t miss the shift work, and I definitely won’t miss the cold, dark winters.
I love to dance – and I hope all my campers love to dance as well! Even if you don’t think you’re good at dancing, that’s ok, it’s about moving your body and feeling the beat and having a good time – it doesn’t really matter what you look like. So if you have any Mariah Carey at home, brush up on your lyrics because Mariah is my favorite artist to dance to.
So, that’s me in a nutshell. I can’t wait for camp to start! I have lots of energy and passion and I hope to inspire all the kids about nature, my culture and the outdoors. We’re all going to do things this summer that we’ve never done before and probably will only ever do while at camp – I’ll see you soon!
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