Summer Staff Highlight: Haydn Fabre
Every year without fail one of the things that parents rate most highly about their camp experience is our top-notch Summer Staff. We visit hundreds of college campuses from Atlanta to Los Angeles to find the best-of-the-best. Every once and a while, we like to highlight some of these Summer Staff to give you an idea of just how awesome these college-aged students are who are choosing to give up their summers for something bigger than themselves.
How did you get involved at WinShape Camps?
I am a junior at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette majoring in Marketing. I first got involved with WinShape Camps when I was in 4th Grade, attending WinShape Camps for Communities in Lafayette. I volunteered for years and literally counted the years until I could apply to be a staffer, finally getting to work camp summer 2018. It was a dream come true. As a 4th grader, I gave my life to Christ at camp. Now, nearly 10 years later, I got to watch as other campers made the same decision I made. It was an incredible experience.
What have you enjoyed about your roles at camp?
My first summer I served as a Media Specialist, my second summer I served as a Camp Pastor, and summer 2020 I will be returning as a Volunteer Director. The opportunity to capture memories, preach the gospel, and now lead volunteers in encountering Christ at camp is amazing.
This coming summer I’m most excited about my move to Volunteer Director because, when I volunteered, I often went into it looking for fun and came out of the week feeling refreshed and replenished by the Holy Spirit. The opportunity to be used as a tool to blindside unexpecting volunteers with the love of Christ is exciting!
Do you have any favorite memories of camp?
Some of my favorite memories at camp center around the friends I made along the way. The experience of leading campers and creating an environment for them to experience Christ is so much more rewarding when, at the same time, you’re doing it with people who will be your life-long friends. Late nights in hotel lobbies, hard days where your friends lift you up, and weekends exploring towns across the US with 27 awesome people are just a few of the memories I consistently look back on.
Another memory that comes to mind — One summer, I volunteered in Wiffleball. It’s always worrisome when you got into the volunteer meeting, wondering who you’ll be working with, if you’ll get along well, and a million other questions. When they called my name, I met the Summer Staff I was paired with named Bear, and I was immediately welcomed. I didn’t feel like a confused volunteer, I felt like a part of the team. I felt like I’d been friends with Bear for years. That week, I lead bible lessons, I lead games, and I felt more empowered to lead that I ever had before. I was in high school and I had bright orange shoelaces. Every day, Bear would tell me how cool my shoelaces were. At the end of the last day of camp, Bear came up to me and traded a shoelace for a shoelace. To this day, I haven’t forgotten Bear. And I still have the shoelace.
Would you recommend other people getting involved with WinShape Camps?
If you’re thinking about sending your kids to WinShape, coming to volunteer with WinShape, or applying to work for WinShape, I have two words: do it. I would not be who I am today if my parents wouldn’t have sent me to camp, my friends wouldn’t have convinced me to join, and the Lord wouldn’t have told me to give my summers to His Mission. There is nothing more rewarding you can do with your summer than get involved with WinShape Camps and the Mission of the Gospel.