Every summer, Patrick Henry College hosts Teen Leadership Camps to give high school students an opportunity to grow in their faith and learn about everything from C.S. Lewis to speech and debate.
This year we're excited to offer a Virtual Camp Experience, and the camp staff is so excited to engage with campers. Camps started this week, so we caught up with some of the counselors.
[For our other counselors, see Get to Know Your Teen Camp Counselors Part I ]
GraceAnna Schmidt
How she got involved:
I attended PHC leadership camps in high school, where I was impacted and challenged to grow spiritually.
What she’s looking forward to most:
The students! They are the reason camps are amazing, and I’m so thankful to be able to serve them this summer. I’m also really excited for the virtual format of camps this year. It’s new and different, just like every camp year! It’s really going be an amazing experience, and I’m incredibly excited for the opportunity to serve in the process!
Favorite book:
Sherlock Holmes (really any of the short stories).
What does Teen Camps mean to you?
Teen Leadership Camps brings many great memories, but more than that, it is where I developed amazing friendships and was challenged to grow in leadership and my relationship with Christ.
Brynna Rice
What she’s looking forward to most:
I am looking forward most to getting to know my campers each week, seeing them learn a lot, have fun, and grow in Christ. I love interacting and relating to campers, and I pray God uses me as a tool for His good in each individual's camp experience this summer.
Favorite book:
One of my favorites is Total Truth, by Nancy Pearcey. I love its emphasis on how our Christian faith and worldview informs every single area of life, from the arts and sciences to politics, philosophy, and history.
What does Teen Camps mean to you?
Teen camps, to me, means opportunity. It's an opportunity to learn, to grow, to make good friends, to have fun, and so much more I have yet to discover. This summer will be amazing, and I cannot wait to see all God will do!
Isaac Homoelle 
What he’s looking forward to most:
I am really excited to work with kids and make a difference for a change. College is fairly self-centered work, and I am glad to be able to pour into doing good externally, even in a small way.
Favorite book:
Death By Living, N.D. Wilson
What does Teen Camps mean to you?
I certainly hope to participate in an environment which gives light during a dark time, hope for the future, and give support for struggles, if the opportunity arises.
Sam Bittner
How he got involved:
I first experienced Teen Camps as a camper in 2016 and 2017. It was quite the time.
Favorite book:
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
What does Teen Camps mean to you?
Teen Camps is an immersive experience, both academically and spiritually. We aim to keep it that way—pandemic or otherwise.
Gabriel Blacklock
How he got involved:
All my older siblings went to Teen Camps, so I was super excited to go myself as a highschooler. It had a profound effect on my faith and my decision to attend PHC, and I always wanted to be a Teen Camps counselor myself. This year is the first time I've had the opportunity, and I'm obviously excited.
What he's looking forward to most:
I'm looking forward to having fun. I remember how much fun it was to be a camper, to learn about more about God and about academics, and to have great conversations with counselors. I'm looking forward to experiencing all that from the other end.
Favorite book:
My favorite book is Middlemarch by George Eliot. It's a sadly underrated 1800s British novel about the members of a town and how they interact with each other. It illustrates beautifully what makes relationships form, stay strong, or fail.
What does Teen Camps mean to you?
To me, Teen Camps means an opportunity to grow academically and spiritually and to make new friends. This goes for campers and counselors alike. I can't wait to get to know people and be the best leader I can.
Kyle Ziemnick
How he got involved:
I’ve been around PHC for almost 13 years now, so I’ve been able to see many generations of campers come through, although, I never had the chance to participate myself. Last year, my now-fiancée and several of my best friends all became counselors, and they all told me about the chances they had to work with campers and share their lives and experiences with them. They also said how much fun it all was. So from then on, I planned to apply this year, and now I’m here!
What he’s looking forward to most:
I’m really looking forward to getting to work with a bunch of different campers with a number of different interests. Maybe the coolest part of camps from the counselors’ side is that we get to experience all the varieties of camps, from SI to debate and Lewis to journalism. With all those different topics, we get a lot of teenagers with interests in areas all over the place, and getting to hear about their lives and be a small part of their journeys as followers of Christ is the thing I’m looking forward to most.
Favorite book:
My favorite book(s) will always be the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which I need to read again. It’s been over a year, which is far too long.
What does Teen Camps mean to you?
The biggest word to me is “Leadership,” since it’s vitally important to understand what that means in the context of following Christ. When you grow up hearing that you have to be a leader, you may think that means setting trends or publicly putting yourself out there to be someone in the front, but so often, Jesus set an example of servant leadership—leading by giving of yourself to others. That’s what I hope we’re able to do for the campers, and it’s what I hope the campers will be inspired to do for others because of these camps. And I also hope we’ll all have a ton of fun learning how to lead together.
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Learn more about PHC's Teen Leadership Camps here...
