Sitting down for the interview, Brooke’s excitement to talk about camp was bubbling over and infectious. For Brooke, Camp Asbury is more than just a place where she spent her summers, it’s a place woven into the very fabric of her life. As a child, a week away at Asbury was a cherished tradition for her and her brother. When the annual camp brochure arrived in the mail, they’d tear through it together, circling their favorite programs and counting how many times they appeared in the photos. They sang camp songs so often that their parents learned them too and joined occasionally.
Brooke describes her relationship with her brother as very close. So, when they eventually went to different schools, she began to feel that sense of growing distance. But camp became their bridge, a shared experience that kept them connected. For Brooke, Camp Asbury became something permanent, something that was, and still is, theirs. When Brooke reflects on camp, one memory rises above the rest: her very first Thursday night Communion. She and her brother had been in different groups all week, each busy with their own adventures. That evening, as campers made their way from the lake up to the top of Communion Hill, Brooke decided she wanted to walk with her brother.
She stopped to look for him, only to find that he was already right behind her, thinking the same thing. “So, we walked up the hill together, and that moment felt like something just for us.” Before camp, Brooke had only experienced communion in church settings. She had never seen the sacraments taken by intinction before, and she’d never felt communion as something so intimate and personal, yet so full of community and connection. “I just felt like this was what it was all about.”
Brooke’s faith journey hadn’t always felt simple. Her Catholic school education, layered over her religious upbringing, left her feeling unsure and overanalyzed in her faith. “Camp brought a feeling of God is here. He cares. I’m here and He loves me. That brought me a sense of peace and belonging that I was missing.” At Asbury, faith didn’t feel intimidating. It felt personal, welcoming and real. “At camp there was no sense of judgement or expectation around people’s spiritual journeys,” she said. In a season of confusion and searching, that freedom brought her deep comfort.
Brooke carried that peace with her as she grew from camper to CIT to counselor, a role she says she loved so much she would have done it for free (and has, as a volunteer). “I’ve always been someone who has anxiety. I’ve worried about how I’m perceived. At camp there was no expectation for me to be any type of person. I don’t have to be anyone else for someone else. I just have to be Brooke. It’s one of the first places where I’ve not only been accepted as myself but appreciated for it.”
Today, Brooke is a music teacher, a fitting next chapter for a former music specialist. Her students affectionately sometimes call her “Camp Counselor”. She weaves camp songs into her lessons, keeps her students laughing and learning with games from her days as a counselor, and even draws on her low ropes training and wisdom from camp guru Bob Ditter when managing her acapella group or navigating challenges. The lessons she learned at Asbury continue to guide her every day, blending her love for music, teaching and community into one harmonious calling.
When we sat down to talk, the very first thing Brooke asked was: How is camp doing? Her love for Asbury still runs deep. She’s grateful that Camp Asbury continues its ministry, shaping lives as it shaped hers. Her hope for the future is simple but profound at the same time: that Camp Asbury will continue to be there for generations to come. She dreams of one day sending her own children and grandchildren to experience its magic. She hopes Asbury will always remain a place of deep connection, faith and belonging, where people are celebrated and loved exactly as they are. “Asbury can be a life changing experience in the best way possible,” Brooke says, “Campers are welcomed with open arms. They are so safe, loved, encouraged to step outside of their comfort zones, and can find themselves. I’m so grateful for it, I’d go back and do it all over again.”