Washington state's leadership legacy

Reunions can be wonderful celebrations or awkward affairs. I've been to a few in my life -- happy to see some of my high school classmates 10 years after graduation, and bored out of my mind meeting endless cousins at family affairs. But the reunion Saturday night at the Tacoma Sheraton was one of the most wonderful moments for me in a long time.

The Washington Student Leadership Program is celebrating 50 years in 2006. At the central of the leadership program are its summer leadership camps now held at the Cispus Learning Center, camps I was pleased to work for from 1992-2000. Saturday night was the gala event to recognize the founders of the program and to celebrate all that has happened in 50 years -- lives touched, students impacted and programs expanded.

I had been thinking a lot about the leadership program in the past few months, thinking about how much I liked being part of it and how big an impact it made on who I am today and how I got here. And when I heard about the reunion and celebration I knew I had to go. The program organizer had written to me in an e-mail that I would be so helpful in finding some of those "lost" former staff members. I knew she meant this because when I was on staff I used to keep track of and keep in touch with everyone -- by real mail before e-mail. But those words on the screen glared at me. I had lost contact with everyone I had worked with on staff except my friend Andy, who still works with the leadership program and who often tells me stories of his recent camp experiences, and that fact astonished me.

So Saturday night was a trip -- a trip down "memory lane" and a mind trip. I have rarely been overwhelmed by memory as I was when I walked to the entrance of the ballroom. I wasn't sure what to expect exactly. I went with Andy and I knew I would see people I had not seen in years. I've seen a few of these people over the years, and for others I have talked on the phone or by e-mail or through other people. But there was something almost magical as I saw person after person who I recognized and hugged, my jaw dropping at how much people have changed -- or really how much people are the same. And it was just like camp, just like the experience at Cispus where I always could leave my crazy life behind for a few days and just live in the ideal for a while, where everyone was friendly and by working together you could solve the problems of the world. Saturday night was a little like that.

I caught up with lots of people:
Wes and I worked together at the Cascade middle level camp for a couple years. He now owns a software company in Snohomish, Wash., and told me that his life is completely consumed by that -- but it's good. Wes and I spent some fun times laughing and playing jokes and just hanging out in the Sasquatch room at Cispus.

Ingrid and I worked together at Mt. Baker high school camp and at Cascade middle level camp, and she is now a health and fitness teacher in Bellevue and lives in North Bend. I always remember Ingrid being such a warm and fun person and she and I were buddies on many a camp activity, whether it was a skit or a song or a campfire.

Jeff and I first worked together as junior counselors at Mt. Baker, then at Cascade, where is is now the assistant director. Now working in technology at a Seattle law firm, I have seen Jeff a couple times in the past few years, and I have kept tabs on him here and there. So many of my favorite happy memories from camp involve Jeff. He always inspired me to do a better job, and his humor and stability was comforting and disarming. His genuine personality came through even on Saturday night as he shared his camp experiences with the audience.

Tricia and I also started at Mt. Baker and continued at Cascade, where she is now assistant director now. She worked for a while in Seattle private education and now teaches multicultural education classes at Highline Community College. If I ever needed a boost of self-confidence I got it from Tricia, and she is perfect for the job she has now. I remember her being pregnant at camp one summer and that child is now almost a teenager.

Jim was my high school principal and we also worked together at Mt. Baker. He's now retired from education but works for the state Department of Social and Health Services in Ellensburg. His daughter, Angie, and I served in student leadership together at Ellensburg High School and were buddies. She said doesn't remember, but we worked together at Cascade camp for at least one summer session. I have photos somewhere.

Beej, my own high school adviser, had numerous roles in the leadership program, including some recent work with the newsletter. It was great to catch up with her (she looks the same) and to find out she is a loyal reader of this Weblog.

Pam and Clay are now married and working as the co-directors of Mt. Olympus, where I worked for a few summer sessions with them. I had also worked at Cascade with Pam, who is still teaching English in Mukilteo. They looked great and also happy.

Trent and I worked together at Mt. Baker, and he was also the junior counselor I had when I went to camp as a delegate from Ellensburg High School in 1991. He has had more of an impact on me than he will know. He's now an attorney with a Seattle firm.

Vince and I worked at Mt. Baker, Cascade and Mt. Olympus together, and he is now a challenge course facilitator at Cispus and also the director of the bilingual leadership program at the new Chewelah Peak learning center near Spokane. He told me he plans to leave Washington soon to start his own leadership skill development operation in Louisiana, closer to family. But, he said he is committed to the bilingual camp in Washington for two more years.

Ken was the director of several camps, including Mt. Olympus, where I worked with him for two summers. What an inspiration! He is now retired from Bellingham schools and is the assistant athletic director and women's basketball coach at Biola University in the Los Angeles area.

And there were so many others who I wanted to talk with longer but couldn't: Susan (the program coordinator), Marty (the Cispus director), Lois, Sandy, Joe, Ruth A., Ruth C., Lana, Eleanor, Shannon.

And noticably absent were two of my closest camp pals, Mona and Steve. I know where Mona is because we share common friends, but I have completely lost contact with Steve, who was my Eastern Washington buddy and who got me into more "trouble" (and several scrapes) than I care to admit.

I had told Andy a few months ago that I was considering coming back to camp, if someone would have me. I worked camp for a lot of reasons, and I admit some of those were selfish. As a young person in college and as a newer teacher, I didn't have a lot of good things in my life, I knew I had the support of my friends from camp, and I gained the confidence to do so much of what I do now. I left in 2000 because I decided to pursue a leadership position with the journalism workshop, a position I held for seven years and left after this summer. Maybe now is the right time to return to camp. I had two offers just last night. I need to think about what I could offer and where that fits in my path, but I am thinking more and more that it could be the right choice.

-- Issaquah, Wash.