By Madeline Otten
Correspondent
Where do you live?
- “I’m lucky enough to live at Camp Friendship. We have family and a team of year-round staff that all live and work together on our grounds.”
How long have you lived in Fluvanna County? What brought you here?
- “I moved to Fluvanna County in 2011. I taught elementary school for ten years in Louisa and Albemarle Counties before living and working at Camp Friendship. I have always preferred the country and love how Fluvanna is surrounded by amazing horse country, but is only a few hours drive from Washington D.C. and other cities.”
Tell us about your family –
- “My wife Skye and I work together to help run the day-to-day of Camp Friendship. Her father founded Camp in 1966, and along with Alina Ackenbom, we are the next generation to keep his legacy going.”
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
- “I was lucky to always know what I wanted to be when I grew up – a teacher! I love working with kids and always was the “helper.” Being the typical type-A perfectionist, I enjoy organization and the strategical thinking that running a summer camp for kids and seasonal retreat venue requires.”
What was your very first job?
- “Babysitting and tacking up horses for lessons so I could get a riding lesson of my own.”
- What do you do for a living?
- “I am a camp director and teacher.”
What do you like to do in your spare time?
- “Horseback ride, garden, and read.”
What is one food that you could never live without? What is one you can never bring yourself to eat?
- “I cannot live withoutSeafood – all kinds! However, I cannot bring myself to eat liver – I know it’s one of the healthiest things you can eat and I just can’t stomach it! Instead, I take a supplement from Ancestral Supplements you can pick up just down the road from Forrest Green Farm.”
If there was a zombie apocalypse, who are three people you would want on your team?
- “My wife. We both are very logical and calm in an emergency. I don’t care who else joins, but I’d hope it was someone who knows how to use a chainsaw and shotgun!”
What are your three favorite movies?
- “Pride and Prejudice (the six-hour version, not the new one), Forgetting Sarah Marshall, any of the Fast and Furious movies. Don’t judge me!”
Which is better – a novel or a movie?
- “Novel. A book is always better.”
What fictional character do you wish you could meet and why?
- “Jo from Little Women. She’s a firecracker and a woman who doesn’t let fear drive her decisions. I’ll always have respect for women who don’t follow the rules. I myself am a rule follower (remember, I’m a type A perfectionist) but admire people who are not.”
What is the best piece of advice you have received?
- “The more you know, the less you need to say.”
What pivotal decision helped to shape your life?
“Choosing to act on love.”
Tell us about a way you have changed over the years.
- “In my younger years, I saw the world through rose colored glasses where decisions were black and white. The more I have lived, the more I see there is so much more complexity that only experience can lend to true understanding.”
What has surprised you about your life?
- “The unique opportunities I have had – what a wild road!”
What’s one thing you still hope to accomplish?
- “To become a mom.”
Tell us about your proudest moment.
- “My proudest moments are always when I see children doing something they were scared to do or thought they would never be able to accomplish. Their achievements fill me up!”
Where is your favorite place to travel to and why?
- “Horse country – wherever that may be!”
When you are having a bad day, what do you do to make yourself feel better?
- “I get a good cup of coffee, go for a ride, and garden right before it gets too dark to see the weeds.
What is one thing the COVID-19 pandemic has taught you?
“First, you were never really in control. Second, you can adjust to any challenge and thrive!”
What quote or saying do you connect with most? Why do you like it?
- “In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of the things not meant for you.” – Buddha
