Board Member Spotlight: Sarah Smith

This was the closing paragraph to my spotlight, but as both subject and editor, I gave it pride of place: Camp Mohawk is always looking for support, both from donors and volunteers.  Enrollment at Mohawk has been high over the last several summers, which is the exception and not the rule in terms of summer camps nationally.  As enrollment has gone up at Camp, so has the need for camperships.  If you have time or money to give, please consider contributing to Camp Mohawk so girls continue to benefit from the friendships, mentorship and self-discovery that we had. 

My first summer at Camp was in 1984, when I was eight.  I was immediately hooked and excited to work my way up through the units and eventually become a CIT, JC and staff member – the women I saw in those roles were SO cool and kind and fun.  Unfortunately, Camp fell on hard times after a change in leadership in 1986, and enrollment and staffing plummeted.  It wasn’t until I was an adult that I learned just how close we came to losing Camp Mohawk for good during that time, and that the arrival of Fran and Sally Marchand in 1988 was something of a Hail Mary to save Mohawk (spoiler alert: it worked!).  As a kid, I only noticed that some of the activities were no longer offered, there were far fewer campers and some of the units were even shuttered due to lack of staff/campers (Utes and Seniors).  However, I still loved my time at Camp and could not wait to return every year.  Camp was a bright spot in my tumultuous childhood. 

During the late 80s into the 90s, Mohawk relied heavily on international staff who often worked at Mohawk for a single summer.  As a result, even as a CIT and JC, I was responsible for coordinating much of Mohawk’s riding program every year as one of three riding staff.  I knew the returning horses and their temperaments, lesson plans and how to run everything on Camp’s tight schedule (and budget).  It was the most responsibility I’d ever been given and I learned a lot in those summers.  I worked my final summer at Mohawk in 2000 as the Stable Manager, helping coordinate two riding programs and caring for over 20 horses.  Thank you to all the campers who took riding, farm, stable management, and got up before Reveille every morning to help us feed, groom and tack up the horses. 

I settled in Boston and began a career in commercial real estate investment, occasionally returning to Mohawk for alumni events or to volunteer in the off season. In 2018, I became a volunteer with the newly created Camp Mohawk Alumni Committee to engage decades of Mohawk alumni with one another and with Camp.  Our Committee helped organize reunions, posted to social media, worked on an archive of documents and photos, and of course, developed this very newsletter, The Ivy Twines. It has been wonderful to continue to make new camp friends from all generations.

I joined the Board in February 2020, not realizing that in a few short months, COVID would close camps across the country for the summer (and many of those camps would never reopen).  I have always known it, but the last five years have reminded me how important Camp Mohawk’s mission is.  It has been a tremendous privilege to work with Mohawk’s dedicated Board and Committee members and Mohawk’s staff (both year-round and summer) to ensure that Camp is thriving and able to allow girls to develop friends, to learn and grow, and to see their own value and potential.