DUMMERSTON-When Green Mountain Camp for Girls opened its online registration for this summer's campers on Feb. 5, a new executive director was at the helm, excitedly anticipating the summer months and the new cohort of young campers who will be creating a fresh start.
The camp immediately filled 324 spots out of 458 available for this summer, said an excited Vicky Senni.
The new director has attended Green Mountain Camp Teachers Camp for many years.
"I love this campus and the fact that buildings like Hildreth Hall have been here since the beginning over 100 years ago," she said. "I know the magic of this wonderful place, and how much it means to so many people."
According to a press release from co-presidents Regina Stefanelli and Rachel Glickman, the camp's board of trustees accepted the resignation of Senni's predecessor, Sam Lucheck, in October 2024.
Senni then began as the interim executive director and accepted the permanent position two months later, Stefanelli and Glickman wrote.
Prior to moving to Vermont to attend SIT Graduate Institute in 2009, Senni did service work overseas with teenagers and worked for Nature's Classroom, an outdoor education program in Ohio.
In addition, she brings extensive professional executive experience serving in a variety of roles, including as associate director at the Sara Holbrook Community Center in Burlington, as executive director of Turtle Island Children's Center in Montpelier, and as regional field manager for Let's Grow Kids in Brattleboro.
"I am excited to be back in the area," said Senni, who works during the school year at Hilltop Montessori School in Brattleboro as children's house assistant.
She is also associated with Spark Teacher Education Institute, a 12-month teacher licensure program of Putney-based Educational Praxis. Working with social justice education is "a passion of mine," said Senni.
Former executive director Billie Slade is overjoyed to have Senni, a friend, on board and feels she will be a superb fit for GMC.
"I have had the privilege of working closely with Vicky in a variety of roles over the past 10 years and have always been impressed with her warmth and kind nature," said Slade recently.
"Vicky has a gift for responsive leadership that focuses on inclusion and valuing the contributions of every team member, be they staff, parent, camper, or volunteer," she said.
"The magic is coming back," Slade added.
Slade will also be spending a bit of time at camp, helping Senni feel at home at GMC and enjoying the opportunity to be able to reconnect with the camp, even though she is retired.
Along with Senni comes a host of returning counselors who were inspired to return and support their new director. Most of those returning were campers themselves. Many are in their 20s and out in the working world and felt motivated to return to help her bring back all the old traditions of camp.
Laura Perry will also return as camp cook.
Music Director Cathy "Music" Martin will come out of retirement for this camp season. Martin, a camper and counselor at GMC in the 1960s and 1970s, shared the social justice and traditional camp songs of her youth with campers from 2012 to 2023.
With her banjo and guitar, Martin will lead campers in song as they gather in the mornings and at the day's end. She will also add music to traditions like the wishing log and candlelight pool ceremony and the GMC theme song dance party on the last day.
'An extraordinary impact on the lives of girls'
The summer camp is dedicated to empowering girls through nature, adventure, and personal growth. It has been a transformative experience for campers over the years, fostering lifelong friendships and instilling a deep appreciation for the natural world.
According to its website, "Green Mountain Camp began after a survey was conducted to determine the health of children in rural and urban areas. In the dedication of the Grace Holbrook Haskell Infirmary, Sarah Bradley Gamble reported the results of this survey. The study showed that rural children, contrary to popular belief, did not have the best health, diet and/or living conditions."
In a recently discovered Camp Diary, written from 1933 to 1939, descriptions of the director's many hats were written by Gamble's younger sister, Edith Bradley. She describes her busy days answering the post, ordering sparklers for their July 4 celebration, and the everyday tasks like gathering and stuffing the mattresses in the tents with straw each week.
Bradley also mentions offering scholarships to girls who wished to attend and couldn't afford the tuition.
One entry reads, "I wrote to the two girls who are older and wish to come to camp and could not afford to and offered them the opportunity to come by painting the house."
Scholarships are still available in the form of dollars - a work requirement is not necessary.
In a forward to the diary, Gamble's daughter, Sally Gamble Epstein, writes, "I grew up knowing about Green Mountain Camp for Girls in Dummerston which was co-founded by my mother and her friend Grace Holbrook Haskell in 1917, when both were 19 years old.
"The camp has been in continuous operation ever since and has had an extraordinary impact on the lives of girls over several generations," Epstein wrote.
Senni is already tapped into the history of GMC.
"I feel the heftiness of the position, the important history of the camp and its traditions," she said. "In this uncertain time in the world where many of us are holding our breath every day, camp gives girls a voice. I feel the bigness of that."
Green Mountain Camp offers overnight and day camp experiences for campers ages 5–13 as well as a Launching Leaders program for ages 14 and 15. Camp will run from Monday, June 23 through Friday, Aug. 1. For more information, visit greenmountaincamp.com.
This News item by Fran Lynggaard Hansen was written for The Commons.