One summer day in Piedmont, California, a mysterious bus appeared at a park. 11-year-old Francesca climbed into the bus. She found it was filled with fellow campers.
Recognize the intro? If you’ve heard the Magic Tree House audiobook prologue, then I’m sure you do. Otherwise, you’re probably wondering– “how did she remember the entire phrasing of that opening monologue??” You ask, I answer. Since the prologue goes before every Magic Tree House book, and I listened to many of them on audiobook, I still have much of it memorized. Where did that take me? Well, now I’m a voracious reader, writer, and theater kid.
Hi! I’m Francesca, although if you were at camp in 2015 you’d know me as Ninja Giggles.
I didn’t grow up in Frog Creek, PA, I grew up in Mountain View, CA, and ever since I was 11 I have spent a minimum of 2 weeks a year at camp. Outside of the most important 2 weeks of my year I went to school, rode horses, took pictures, played dungeons & dragons, and attempted to bring as much of camp into my life as possible(see: lyra).
I absolutely love music. My favorite colors are blue, orange, and yellow. I wear my crocs almost everywhere and, as a CIRCLEr, made the mistake of leaving them out in the sun!! Fun fact: they shrunk!!
I worked as a barista throughout my senior year of highschool and my favorite part of that job was getting to see people happy when they liked their drink. Although I was sad to leave my coffee family when I left for college, I was beyond thrilled to be returning to camp two summers ago as a JC, and last summer as a full counselor. I love spending time in nature and unleashing my silly side, two things vital to being a Camp Augusta counselor.
As a camper one of my biggest goals was to be a counselor, although I didn’t quite understand why. The counselors were some of my most important role models and I looked up to them for their skills (who doesn’t want to know how to spin fire?!), and their energy. So when my time as a camper was up, I did CIRCLE, then JC, then came back in 2023 as a full staff member to complete the journey!
Last year I fulfilled my 13-year-old self’s dream of doing my own special wakeups, teaching my own clinics, and much, much more, and I loved it! This summer I’m back to do it all again.
(me as a sprite in one of last year’s evening programs!)
(Would YOU eat the pickle cotton candy?)