Counselor of the Day: Sarah Henry

Today's counselor is Sarah Henry. Sarah is a rising Sophomore at William & Mary college, studying psychology with a minor in studio art. 

Sarah is a counselor in 9-11 for 9th and 10th grade girls. 

How long have you been with SEP?

This is my first year as a counselor. I was a camper when I was younger. 

What made you want to work here?

I went to SEP as a camper and I wanted to come back. A lot of my friends at William and Mary are either other former SEPers or know people I met at SEP. It is just such a cool experience that I wanted another round!

What's your special topic?

Urban Scrawl: The History and Design of American Graffiti. I became interested in street art when I lived in the Mission District in San Francisco, which is one of the street art (primarily murals) capitals of the country. In my class, we are going to discuss whether graffiti is art, a political statement, or just vandalism. We are also going to work on creating our own "tags."  

What's your favorite part of camp, and why?

Trivia is always really amazing. The number of all the random facts the campers know is simply astounding. It is so great to see that people their age still have the goofy knowledge that all teenagers must possess.

What's your hall theme?

My girls are called my "pod" because that is what a group of whales are called. My door decorations are themed around "It's Going to be a Whale Tale's of a Summer!"

What's your favorite memory from being a camper?

We did a non-fashionable fashion walk-off my rising 9th grade year and I thought that was really fun. We all dressed up crazy and had to give our best strut. I was the representative from my suite! The pictures are really embarrassing now, but I always remember how fun it was. 

Do you prefer eating at O-Hill or St. Anne's?

Totally St. Annes. St. Anne's food rocks! A lot of it is locally grown, which is something I am really passionate about. Plus, it is just too delicious. 

What's something about you that someone might not expect if they didn't know you well?

I've been to Egypt with my Latin class in high school to see the Roman ruins. 

When you first started working here, what's something that surprised you?

It has just been so long since I've been to UVA and a lot of things have changed since I was a camper, especially the locations of the dorms!

What's a funny story that's happened at camp so far?

After a long lecture to my campers about how they shouldn’t run in the rain, I completely ate it on the patio at St. Annes. Of course my previously-decided-as-a-great-substitute-for-rainboots, a.k.a. Crocs, don’t have the best traction. Most of my girls witnessed my messy wipe out, and gave me a hard time about it. Not sure what was worse--the fall and its wounds or the campers joking about me!

What do you think is the most difficult part of the job?

It is pretty tough to balance the counselor-time to camper-time schedule. Obviously, I want to be there for the campers, but deciding when to let them go and make their own friends is tough--why do they have to leave me?!

What do you think about gifted education?

My school didn’t have a program, so I don’t know much. But I think SEP and other programs like this are amazing because gifted teenagers get to see that there are other teenagers who care about education just as much as they do.