Hello there.
I’ll start with the hard facts.
My name is Stephen! I’m 20 years old, and I was born and raised as an ocean-child in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. I grew up around the Ocean. I’m super passionate about the Underwater World and the creatures that live within it. I’m also rather frazzled over the state of the World’s oceans, so I decided to study Marine Biology at college/university. My big life dream is to hopefully make a positive impact on the health of the sea. Smaller dreams include building my own sail boat and living in it, living as a professional blacksmith, going on a crazy half-year long backpacking trip, and being a traveling musician.
I spent this last year outside of college, doing two things: working on a sailboat, and volunteering at a sea turtle hospital & refuge in Indonesia. I also had the chance to teach a few third-grade classes in the Caribbean about Reef Biology, which was an amazing experience. I also learned some Indonesian from the Indonesian children that crushed me in volleyball every day while working at the turtle hospital.
I shall counsel for Cedar this summer!! This will be my first year at Camp Augusta, and my first summer as a counselor at an actual overnight camp- and I gotta say, I’m happier than a seal on a rock to be able to share this summer with y’all!
I learned about Camp Augusta from my good friend (who happens to be a counselor too!) who I met last year at the University of Puget Sound, Sofia. She got me really excited about this wonderland of nature and magic, and, long story short, here I am!
With me I will be bringing my passions for nature, adventure, exploration, and laughter. I’m very excited to have the opportunity to share/create so many crazy memories with so many people, and I hope to be the best I can be at filling those memorable moments with energy and humor.
I AM BRINGING A PUPPY TO CAMP
Her name is Lucy. I found her as a one-pound, hairless, wrinkly ball, orphaned and dying on the streets of Nusa Penida, Indonesia. I took her in, raised her to health, and managed to bring her back to the United States with me. At the moment, she is 12 weeks old, 12 pounds, and is still very much a baby. She’s a very sweet puppy, but she is still a bit shy, so she might bark and hide from you for about fifteen minutes after meeting you. She’s still very young, and she’ll do a lot of growing up this summer. She has floppy little ears.
And now, fun facts:
I’m a vegetarian, with one exception.
I love sardines. Many people think it’s disgusting to eat canned sardines as much as I do. Because of this, very few people have ever agreed to eat a can of sardines with me, though I ask many people if they’d like to.
I love wood. Fun fact about me- I was a traditional wooden boat builder’s apprentice last summer. There I learned much about wood and how to use wood-tools. I also learned that there are some woods that are actually poisonous, which is kinda crazy to me.
From 14 to 16 years of age, I went through a phase in which I would run along beaches collecting aluminum trash, which I would then melt or blacksmith into neat little objects (forks, letter openers, etc.). This phase quickly escalated into a full-on blacksmithing hobby, which lasted until I graduated high school. I’ve been traveling a lot, so I haven’t had many chances to stoke up the forge, which is something I’m very excited to get to do at camp!
I really like to build things out of wood, and I like to burn pretty patterns into wood, which has been a hobby of mine for years now.
I love to find wild mushrooms. They’re mysterious, and they excite me. If you see a weird mushroom, or mushroom-like tree-growth, I will always be down to talk with you about it.
Speaking of wild mushrooms, I love wild plants. I read many books about forest plants and why they’re interesting, so if you ever wanna know about a particular shrub, slime, bush, leaf, seed, or root, I’ll probably be able to give you its name, and possibly an energetic rant about why it’s amazing- complete with fun facts.
Also- if you’re ever curious about fish, I would be more than delighted to talk about fish with you. I love them, and I love to teach people about them.
The above three pictures are from the designing and building of that little boat by us apprentices last summer. It sailed!!!