When I was growing up, Glorieta was only about an hour away from home. I went to a few smaller camps around New Mexico, but I came to Glorieta twice as a camper back when it was owned by Lifeway. Some of my earliest memories here feel almost surreal now.
I paddle-boated with my mom in the reflection pond, which today is filled with ziplines and giant slides. I wandered through the Lifeway bookstore, which is now our Family Camp game room. I ate ice cream from the Chuck Wagon, which today is Aspen Café.
But if I’m being honest, I didn’t love camp growing up.
I didn’t have many friends, and I was extremely fearful of anything that felt “high risk.” While other campers were excited about activities, I mostly felt anxious. The parts of camp I appreciated the most were the mountains and worship. Worshipping freely with other believers felt so different from my normal church experience. At camp, I felt closer to the Lord and experienced His love in a new way. Still, as I got into high school, I slowly drifted away from youth group and camp stopped feeling important to me.
Everything changed in 2017.
At the end of my second year of college, I got a job as a summer photographer at Glorieta, and those three months completely changed the trajectory of my life. For the first time, I discovered a way to combine three things I loved: media, the outdoors, and ministry. Before that summer, I had no idea how those passions could come together. There wasn’t really a college major that pointed clearly in that direction. But suddenly I found myself living it.
In order to capture what campers were experiencing, I had to participate in the activities myself. I hiked miles and miles with campers, made countless espresso drinks, swung on the super swings, and kayaked on the waterfront. I also met some of my closest friends.
That summer stretched me in ways I didn’t expect.
I started the job while I was walking through the aftermath of a really difficult relationship. So while I was growing creatively in my photography, I was also learning to trust the Lord with the broken places in my life. That summer became a season of healing and rediscovering where God might be leading me.
For the first time in a long time, I felt like I could see a path forward. I ended up spending two more summers at camp. One summer I returned to the media team, and the following summer I served as a Group Camp Counselor.
That third summer was both the hardest and the most meaningful.
I was again entering the summer after the end of another relationship. I felt unseen, unwanted, and unsure of what my purpose was now that I had graduated college. As a Group Camp Counselor, youth groups relied on me to lead Bible studies, guide activities, and help them experience the truth and hope of the Gospel during their week at camp.
The hard part was that I felt like I was preaching the Gospel to myself every single day. I was trying to help students understand God’s love and faithfulness while personally wrestling through my own doubts, insecurities, and brokenness. That summer pushed me emotionally, spiritually, and physically in every possible way.
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But by the end of the summer, something had shifted.
I felt renewed. Recharged. Ready to step into whatever opportunity God might place in front of me. I realized I was tired of trying to control my own plans and desires. For the first time in a long time, I simply placed my future in God’s hands and trusted Him with it.
Two weeks after the summer ended, I moved back to camp to work as a Retreat Guide.
I was one of the older guides that season, and while my main role was to serve guests, I often had to play a lead role for some of the younger staff while serving guests who came to Glorieta for retreats. I was excited to serve camp in a new way and focus on loving my coworkers and guests well.
What I didn’t expect was to meet the man I would eventually marry. Isaiah was also a Retreat Guide, and we quickly became friends. Not long after, we started dating.
Then COVID happened.
Camp changed overnight. Guests stopped coming. Many staff members were let go. The community and daily rhythm that I loved so much suddenly disappeared. Instead of hundreds of guests and coworkers filling camp, there were only a handful of us left on site—including Isaiah and me.
It was an unexpectedly hard season, but it was also incredibly sweet. Life slowed down in a way none of us had experienced before. The world seemed to pause, and relationships suddenly mattered more than almost anything else. That quiet season deepened many friendships and strengthened my relationship with Isaiah.
I finished out my contract, moved back home, and Isaiah and I got married in the fall of 2020. Camp was woven throughout our wedding in ways that felt really special. Two of my bridesmaids were friends I met while working at Glorieta, and the chef from camp during retreat season catered our wedding.
Even when we weren’t living at camp, it still felt like a part of our story. From 2021 to 2023, Isaiah and I served in church ministry. We loved serving people in that context and truly felt called to ministry. But throughout those years, we both kept sensing the Lord gently drawing us back toward camp.
Then in the fall of 2023, the door opened. Isaiah accepted a job at Glorieta, and I started working part-time. We moved back to camp and stepped into a new season of life here. Camp felt different after COVID. There were new staff members, new systems, and a new era beginning. But we didn’t come back just for jobs. We came back for the community.
The kind of community you simply can’t find anywhere else. We came back because we believe deeply in the mission of this place and the impact it has on students, families, and staff.
Now it’s 2026, and I’ve come full circle in a way I never could have imagined. Today I serve as the Hiring and Recruiting Coordinator for seasonal staff. I get to travel to colleges across the country and share the mission of Glorieta with students who are looking for something meaningful to do with their summer.
I get to tell them my story. I get to share how God used this place to stretch me, heal me, and guide my life in ways I never expected. And I get to invite them into the possibility that God might do something similar in their lives too. Glorieta is a special place for so many people. For 75 years, God has used this place to change lives, and I’m just one small part of that story.
Every summer, students come here looking for a job or an adventure. What many of them find is something much bigger: community, purpose, and a deeper relationship with the Lord. That’s what happened to me.
If you’re a college student wondering what to do with your summer, I’d love to invite you to spend it here. You might come for the mountains and the experience, but you may leave with a completely new direction for your life.
Come spend a summer at Glorieta.
You never know how God might use it to shape your story.
