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Summer Camp is full of significant moments and experiences. Join Sherry Group members, Drew Demery and David Sherry as they speak with Scott Brosman about an impactful experience he had with a young camper.

Scott, thank you for being on the podcast, it's a pleasure to have you on this episode. Can you please share with us a meaningful experience from your camping career?

Thank you for having me on the podcast. I've recently retired after several decades with Camp Tecumseh YMCA, The experience that I'd like to share today is one that happened early on in my career at a camp I was Directing in Minnesota.

It was early in the week and a camper was having some behavior issues and the staff needed some support in managing this camper, so they got me involved. I spent the morning with this camper and we had some good conversation about how he should be acting at camp and he agreed to try and be better. When he returned to his cabin mates for lunch though he started handing out candy that he had stolen from my desk.

So we went back to my office and we called his father. When we hung up the child said he'd be better now because he really did want to go. He told us that his father beats him at home and then showed us the marks on his body. I was really taken aback in this moment and felt really bad for the kid. He was a fun kid with some minor behavior issues but now it was very clear that something extreme was happening in his life.

So we called Child Health Services and they said this wasn't the first time they had been called about this family. Then they came to camp and took the boy with them. I never heard how it all turned out for him and his family but this experience has stuck with me for decades.

This experience really showed me that we have no idea what's happening in a camper's or staff member's life outside of camp. So we should be kind, caring and accessible if they need to share something like this young camper did. After this experience I always tried to impart this lesson on my staff and give them this kind of perspective on working with children.

Thanks for joining us Scott, it's been a real pleasure.