An EPIC Connection
By Molly Hott Gallagher, Executive Director of SCOPE (Summer Camp Opportunities Promote Education)
For so many of us who are looking to find our connections in the camp industry, curate a pathway to growth, develop relationships that will encourage learning, and exploration in an industry that is based on building community for all people, EPIC was my entryway.
After graduating from college in the early 2000s, knowing that my day and overnight camp experiences had been the most impactful in my life thus far, I was hellbent on navigating a way to make camp my career industry.
My family didn’t own a camp, or work in conjunction with camp. I was single. I was young, eager to learn, and hungry to get involved in any way I could to grow my camp career.
In 2002, I attended my first Tri-State CAMP Conference as a part of the resident camp team I worked with that summer. In 2003, I was hired as an ACA, NY & NJ pre-conference office intern, to help with all the Tri-State event prep. This 4-month internship became a 6-month opportunity that introduced me to so many camp industry professionals, from owners and directors to vendors, nonprofit professionals to other volunteers, looking to make their way just like me. This internship was my launchpad for being part of camp-centric conversations without being connected to one particular camp. It was through this very internship that I got connected to EPIC, SCOPE (Summer Camp Opportunities Promote Education - which had a different acronym then), mentorship, and what became my first “real” full-time job in the camp industry.
When I learned about EPIC, I was floored by the idea of a community of young professionals who were all brought together to talk about camp and further ourselves through camp work. A group that learned from and with one another, and encouraged the concept of emerging through our industry was everything I didn’t even know I needed. I remember admiring from afar, the leadership of the EPIC Committee and jumped at the chance to join when approached. I volunteered to chair social engagements that would bring all EPICs together at Tri-State, in relationship to other ACA, NY & NJ conferences throughout the year, and for fun. I not only made industry friends, I also made life-long bonds with like-minded camp professionals who have been and continue to be a professional sounding board for me in this industry.
As I moved through my professional career, I took an opportunity to work at a camp that was connected with ACA New England and my first point of finding my way to meeting other camp-passionate young professionals was to join ECP (New England’s version of EPIC). Finding your “people” allows you to feel settled, wherever you are. EPIC/ECP were my industry-understanding population. This group made my time living in a new place, outside of my comfort zone, feel comfortable... just like camp.
When I returned to New York, I re-engaged in the ACA, NY & NJ EPIC community, even after feeling as though I had emerged in my career becoming a camp director. Later on, after my volunteerism with SCOPE became my full-time role as Executive Director, EPIC was a philanthropic partner in efforts to bring our industry together by partnering to make camp accessible for all children.
EPIC continues to be a necessary building block for first-time full or part-time camp staff and veteran staff with goals to emerge in this industry. EPIC remains a free space that brings industry professionals on varying position levels together to learn and activate one another, to be better in their current role, while encouraging growth for future positions. I attribute the strength of many of my professional camp relationships to time spent planning EPIC conferences and social events and showing up to meetings to be amongst like-minded peers. I know that my professional development in this industry was motivated by the leadership opportunities EPIC provided for me to step outside of the small camp bubble I came from, to support growth in our industry at large. Being a part of EPIC carried a lot of pride, it still does.
During the 2024 Tri-State CAMP Conference a text chain of the early EPIC leadership was ignited – reminding us all of the formulated group that brought us together, and the paths we have all forged to grow and strengthen our positions in the camp world, continuing to lean on one another for our self-growth and the betterment of our industry as a whole.