Meet the Staff of '15: Peter Interviews Amber!

The sixth installment of our 17ish part series:

Meet the Summer Staff of 2015!

PETER "Lil' PETEY" MCBRIDE

SHOOTING SPORTS COORDINATOR

-----------INTERVIEWS---------

AMBER LOMBARDI

SHOOTING SPORTS COUNSELOR

PETER: Good morning/afternoon/evening (insert time of day here, because I'm not sure what time of day you will be reading this so I have left a generic option)

I had the opportunity to ask Amber Lombardi a few questions regarding her past, present and future endeavors regarding the wonderful world of summer camp. Now, before we begin a quick logistical point! My initial questions to Amber are thise in black font. Her responses are in green and my response to her response in the ever exuberant blue!

Okay here we go.

Now my first question is a burning question, and don't worry everyone will be subjected to this when I first meet them! What is your favorite baseball team?

AMBER: Boston.

PETER: I swear that she said Boston! Why would I lie? And I definitely swear that she didn't say a team that is located in Pennsylvania, just south of New Jersey. Amber clearly has a good grip on the correct team to support.

PETER: Good, now that you have answered that question correctly we shall play a little game. Basically I say (I know that I'm really writing and that is the correct verb to use, but for the purpose of this blog post lets stick with say) a word and then you respond with the first word that comes to mind.

PETER: Camp

AMBER: Disney (Who ever said Disney is the happiest place on earth has clearly never been to camp!)

PETER: Lake -

AMBER: Leadership Weekend

PETER: Battle

AMBER:...for the Island

PETER: Salad 

AMBER: Wasabi Ranch located in my nose. 

PETER:I'm not a huge Wasabi fan but when I do eat it, it is usually in small amounts. But, Wasabi and the inside of your nose just doesn't sound right. It's like referring to rubbish as garbage or trash as bins!! Quite unsettling!

PETER:Cabin 

AMBER: Rest hour

PETER: So this is the first REAL question! Why did you voluntarily decide to apply for a position that will see you spend 8 weeks of your life living in a wooden cabin with hundreds of different people, surrounded by numerous wild animals, constant humming of odd sounding songs that have a peculiar rhythm and lyric to them and you're awoken in the morning by 10 chimes of a bell?

AMBER: I just so happened to apply due to the fact I LOVE CAMP AND I CAN'T GET AWAY, that sounds crazy right?! but seriously, my first year as a camper it was always a goal of mine to become one of those crazy and enthusiastic people that made my first week away from my parents a perfect one.

PETER: What is your very first memory of summer camp? Like if you close your eyes and think of Lindley G. Cook 4-H Camp (see how the word association has become useful again) what springs to mind?

AMBER: My first camp memory is from outdoor cooking. In outdoor cooking Jesse and Ben were our counselors, and we had a CIT in our class named Kara. Kara was as sweet as could be to a brand new camper. While as to entertain the class Jesse would some times threaten to burn Kara's "campers"...but don't worry back then the practice campers were just crayons in a crayon box. 

PETER: I can't tell you how relieved I am that you added that final sentence.

PETER: Imagine that a friend of yours decides that they want to go to summer camp and they have to choose between 3. One is L G. Cook and the other 2 are hypothetical (mainly because I don't know any other camps) what you say, using only 5 words, to entice them to join us for a week at camp?

AMBER:   

Peaceful

Secluded
Memorable

Chaotic

Action-Packed

PETER: I must admit that I was going for 5 words that made up a coherent sentence but the choices you have made seem appropriate.

PETER: This is not your first time at the rodeo! (the noun rodeo is being used as a substitute for camp because it's a play on the famous phrase regarding a visit to the rodeo which interestingly enough we in the UK don't use. I mean we use the phrase not your first time at the rodeo but I have never been to a rodeo and for that matter I don't even know what a rodeo is! Anyways that's beside the point...) What makes you keep coming back to summer camp?

AMBER: I keep returning to camp because I basically can never get enough of camp, there's always something crazy and unpredictable happening every second. As soon as I completed my volunteer week I was counting down the days until I could apply to become staff.

PETER: This will be your first summer as a counselor! What are you most excited about for this summer?

AMBER: HANDS DOWN CHAOS WEEK! No doubt about it. Volunteering last year was the first time I attended chaos week which meant I got to actually witness the chaos for myself instead of virtually.

PETER: I'll bet that once you have been through things such as egg roulette, human mural, the gunk hat, shake and bake, pour lake water over an innocent person, that you will wish you could still witness it virtually! To this day I still wake up in cold sweats because I can hear the squelch of Lake Sahwanni water in my shoes, which interestingly enough I still have!! FUN FACT!!

PETER: What are you most nervous about this summer?

AMBER: One night I actually had a dream about this summer, well looking back on it it was pretty funny and entertaining. My dream was that all of my campers ran away from me, the funny part was how I chased them all around camp. Just imagine a whole bunch of little children running in all directions and me chasing after them saying "where's your buddy?" that was pretty much continuous the whole dream.

PETER: Not a lot of people know this about me because I tend to keep my fears very well hidden, but I am afraid of bears. (No need to insert a gasped emoji or expression, its a given!) Have you ever seen a bear? Do they frighten you?

AMBER: I have never actually seen a bear but I have seen some pictures if that counts! (No it really doesn't!) While attending camp one of the many weeks, a bear walked past our cabin, so the bear sighting could have been a possibility if I were awake. I don't think a bear would frighten me, although running into one in real life is a completely different story. (I have made a mental note of this sentence Amber!!) I'll let you in on a fun fact about me since you told me about your bear (Amber, it isn't MY BEAR!! If I had a choice of pets, a bear is at the bottom of the list. Actually that's a lie, a rhino would be at the bottom but the bear isn't too far behind!!) , I am actually frightened of spiders. It's just something about them give me the heeby jeebies.

PETER: Final question Amber, if everything was to be removed from camp, barring one thing, what would that thing be?

AMBER: If only one thing could stay at camp I would choose to keep the people, camp isn't camp due to the location or the food. location and food does play a role but people play a much larger role. We could take the people from camp and transport everyone to a nice sunny beach in Florida and it would still be the same (apart from the mass snowfall in the winter). We are all brought together for our love of camp and what I've learned over the years is that you don't need to be at camp to make camp part of your daily life.

What an excellent note to finish on!!

PETER: Thank you for your answers Amber!
(Amber then thanked me unreservedly for the interview, using words such as "professional" and "interesting.")