“I cherish the deep connections I formed with the people around me.”
“Beachmont helped me realize what my passion is in life,” says Joseph Mauler, a former Beachmont Day Camp senior staff.
Joseph grew up in Hereford, MD, with his parents and four older siblings and was homeschooled from a young age. “My parents wanted us to have a community outside of our homeschool environment, and Beachmont gave us that.”
Joseph started camp when he was in preschool. After ten years as a camper, he became a junior counselor and then joined the senior staff. “Beachmont gave me so many great opportunities,” says Joseph. “I earned my lifeguard certification, helped with maintenance, participated in the Teen Nights, and spent most of my weekends in the fall at the Corn Maze. I basically lived there,” he says with a laugh.
Joseph recalls one summer when the pool pump broke leaving 500 hot campers without a way to cool off. “A couple of the other lifeguards and I bought a slip and slide, commissioned a fire truck for the water, and created an extreme slip and slide that Beachmont still uses!” Joseph says those feelings of accomplishment and comradery stay with him to this day.
What he cherishes most about his years at Beachmont are the deep connections he formed with the people around him, which inspired him to pursue an undergraduate degree in business and communications with a minor in psychological health. “I realized what I love most in life is connecting with people and having honest conversations,” he says. “Now I’m working toward a master’s in psychology with the goal of becoming a therapist.”
Joseph says he models his own leadership skills after the Beachmont team and other senior staff. “They showed me how to be an enthusiastic, caring leader. I would watch them reach out to kids and encourage their development as a whole person,” he says. “ I experienced so much growth there and I’ll be forever grateful for those times.”
- Joseph M., Former Day Camp Senior Staff