Spotlight on Staff: Jessica
Hi everybody! My name is Jessica Hutchinson (I’m the Zebra – Yes, just another typical day at Tyler Hill!) but I’m known around camp simply as “Hutch.” I’m 23 years old and from Halifax, which is in Nova Scotia, Canada! I first came to camp back in 2008 on a complete whim. My cousin had worked at THC the summer before as a basketball specialist and loved it. She came home raving about her experiences and said that it was something I just absolutely had to to — she knew it was right up my alley. I got in contact with Andy and came to camp my first summer as a general counselor.
Camp was THE most amazing experience of my life… I couldnt believe that in one short summer, a place like Tyler Hill could become my second home! The next summer I convinced my best friend to come back with me, and the rest is history! Camp truly is a place that I love and call home — just like all of my campers, I count down the days every year until I get to go back.
Throughout the last 4 summers, I have been a general counselor, a basketball specialist and a group leader. My experiences in all of these positions have allowed me to get to know every age group at camp, both in the bunk with my younger girls, and on and off the court with the other divisions of both boys and girls. Working as both a general counselor and as a specialist, I feel blessed with the opportunity to have the best of both worlds — having amazing groups of girls who I lived with, but also awesome groups of campers who I’d see everyday at the basketball courts where we got to ‘ball out’.
When I’m not at camp I live in Nova Scotia, where I also attended university and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology while playing for my school’s varsity basketball team. I work in a restaurant and I’m preparing to go see the world as a youth activities coordinator aboard cruise ships while waiting for June to arrive again so I can get back to Tyler Hill. Oddly enough, two of my roommates and best friends are also people that I have been going to camp with from the beginning — camp truly does create lifelong friendships! My hobbies outside of camp are sports of any kind, reading, zumba, spending time laughing and having adventures with my best friends.
What I love so much about camp cannot simply be explained in one word or thought – there is no other job in the world where I get to wake up everyday and look forward to what new experiences await me with the people I live and work with. The people I meet every year from around the world – both the staff and the campers – are what keep bringing me back. When you go to camp, you actually meet people who you know will become and stay friends with for the rest of your life. My campers are so special to me — I often refer to them as ‘my children’ which can cause some pretty funny looks from people when I say something about ‘my little girls’ or ‘my babies’! I also have the joy of knowing that I could go pretty much ANYWHERE in the world and have a friend to stay with – England, Australia, the US, you name it…
People who don’t go to sleep away camp just simply don’t understand. It’s something you absolutely have to experience in order to know what you’re missing out on! I can honestly say that those 50 odd days a year are my best… The feeling of driving up to the gates and seeing the ‘Tyler Hill Camp’ sign is like no other. Leaving those same gates at the end of the summer is one of THE hardest things I have to do. THC is something I truly live and breathe.
Camp is THE best experience of my life to date and I cannot wait to go back. When I close my eyes, there is no other place I see myself spending a summer.
