People of Sanborn: Our Office Staff

Names: Mel, Claire, Cheryl, Trish, Susan, and Nicki - our hilarious and hard-working office staff!

Tenures at Sanborn:
Cheryl: 2 years, Claire: 9 years, Mel: 14 years, Trish: almost 1 year, Susan: has been involved with Sanborn since 2010 in a variety of different roles, Nicki: 6 years

Fun Facts:
Mel: Is a major dumpster diver for furniture to upcycle, rebuild, and do woodwork on.
Claire: Loves being a stained glass artist, gardening, and ski blading.
Cheryl: Homeschooled her kids and coached Science Olympiad (they even went to state multiple times!). She was also involved with Colorado Springs Youth Symphony and ran a curbside recycling business in Teller County for 10 years.
Trish: Used to be a volunteer firefighter when she graduated from college and was proficient at using the fire hose. She’s also the daughter of a summer camp marriage - her parents met as counselors at a camp in Wisconsin.
Susan: Loves doing activities with her husband, Larry (you might see him featured in a couple of weeks!). They camp, fish, and ride their Harleys together.
Nicki: Can say her alphabet backwards.

Favorite memory of working at camp?
Mel: When the MacDonalds’ kids were really young, Mel remembers that she had a screensaver that was able to pop bubbles on the screen or an aquarium that they liked to play with. And, they knew they weren’t supposed to touch her typewriter, but sometimes she would come in in the morning and it would be messed up which would make her laugh. Once, the safe was accidentally locked for a long time and she couldn’t find the combo! She’s since figured it out.
Claire: Claire also works as a Big Spring cook in the summer and also one of the High Trails Outdoor Education Center cooks, which means that she often works with really specific special diets. She recalls one camper who could only eat a very limited amount of food for a few years in a row. One year, he grew a foot between summers and Claire could barely recognize him! He told her he was learning to eat other kinds of food and she was really proud of him - she thought it was really cool to watch him grow in multiple ways.
Cheryl: Cheryl really appreciates the history of this place and having an office right next to Jerry. She thinks he’s so incredible to talk to and learn from. He has hilarious stories, and the depth and specificity of his knowledge from so long ago is quite unique. He seems to know everything about this place. She especially likes when he calls her in to look at a cool bird.
Trish: Trish is constantly amazed at seeing the amount of mail that comes in. Last summer, she would go on some of the mail runs to the Post Office and sometimes we would receive 3 or 4 tubs a day of mail - a full mini-van load! She also enjoys looking at how campers address envelopes, and the unique contents of their mail (sometimes campers do try to send rocks and sticks home as a memento of their summer - it doesn’t quite work!).
Susan: Susan loves seeing how much fun the kids have here. She thinks the staff here is incredible. Her grandson comes for the summer and he loves it - he doesn’t want to go home!
Nicki: Nicki also works as a cook here at Sanborn both for summer and school weeks. A few years ago, Nicki and Clara (a former cook) were tasked by the Junior Counselors to try to make kebabs for the themed JC Dinner at the end of the session. They had some assistance from Taggert MacDonald, but they were trying to make 1200 kebabs for everyone to eat. Once they made it to 800, they gave up and started grilling – but the kebabs fell apart into the grill! In the end, they presented their “deconstructed kebabs” that people could just build themselves.

Favorite cookie?
Mel: Mexican lemon wedding cookies
Claire: Mexican lemon wedding cookies
Cheryl: loves anything dark chocolate
Trish: raspberry chocolate (a rare find in the bakery!)
Susan: oatmeal
Nicki: Mini eclairs or ice cream

Favorite camp tradition?
Mel: Each summer, Mel grows really fond of Big Spring summer staff - when they’re in the office, she really gets to know them and thinks they’re pretty fun.
Claire: Claire has a few favorites – Kangaroo Court (once she served as a witness in a case Mike Piel was defending - but she was released right away because they were friends) and Cook’s Parades (when campers and staff really like the meal, they call the cooks out and cheer for them). She really loves when various kids will come up and thank the cooks for the food. She’s never worked somewhere where people say thank you so much, and loves the atmosphere here.
Cheryl: Birthday cards! Cheryl likes to envision someone getting a 50th birthday card, sitting at the dinner table, and being inspired to tell their family a bunch of stories about their camp memories. The office gets great feedback and responses from recipients each year.
Trish: Trish loves that the staff can act like big kids and have lots of fun, and that it’s okay - it’s camp!
Susan: Loves working with our cooks - they are awesome!
Nicki: Nicki loves the JC Dinner - a themed dinner that the High Trails Junior Counselors put on at the end of their session. She loves seeing the ways that everyone dresses up and has a blast doing skits with their cabinsides. She gets to make the food and watch everyone scarf it down – so many mozzarella sticks.

Favorite camp song or song in general?
Mel: anything classic rock
Claire: David Hasselhoff - she thinks it’s hilarious and so fun.
Cheryl: KBCO is her favorite station, and she always adjusts it to stay on that station in the van. She can always tell when someone has tampered with it!
Trish: Trish used to sing karaoke often with her stepson. He really loved Dolly Parton, and he and Trish would always duet on “Islands in the Stream.” Her favorite camp song is “I’m Wild About Horns” – she even remembers her dad singing it in the car when she was a kid.
Susan: “Dirt Made My Lunch” – a hilarious song she sang when she taught in LA.
Nicki: The “Ooh, I feel so good” song that we sing at High Trails. It often gets stuck in her head during the winter.