Jack and Alyssa met during the Summer of 2008. Alyssa was the Lacrosse Specialist and a counselor for the Supers, while Jack was the Baseball Specialist and counselor for the Waiters turned Baseball Director. This was Alyssa’s first summer at Chen-A-Wanda, but Jack started working at Chenny in the Summer of 2006 and was a popular friend and staff member.
They were first introduced by the campfire, and although Alyssa thought Jack was super hot, he also seemed a bit “too cool” to talk to her and they didn’t really hit it off. His attitude quickly changed during the staff bowling night when Alyssa approached Jack and his buddies and asked to join their lane. On the bus ride back to camp that night, Jack insisted that Alyssa sat next to him. Alyssa was so impressed with how Jack listened intently to her stories until Jack abruptly cut her off and said, “Sorry, I really have to pee” before leaving her and running to the front of the bus. The next day, Jack apologized for leaving Alyssa and promised to make it up to her by being her partner for the team building activities for the rest of orientation.
As the summer continued, Jack and Alyssa frequently used their trusted campers to pass love notes to each other and when camp ended that year, they decided to keep their relationship going.
They were married September 18, 2010, surrounded by Chenny love including their wonderful bridal party Chris Evans, Alicia Lantzy (Sciore), Chris Tucker, Paddy Rynne, Libby Hartley (Richmond), Tom White, and Dan Godshall.
They currently live in St. Louis, Missouri with their sweet dog, Kylee. Jack is an elementary PE Teacher and Alyssa is a Child Care Facilities Specialist for the State of Missouri. Summer 2011 was their last summer working at Chenny. Jack and Alyssa both agree that they owe the beautiful life they have built together to Jon, Elissa, and their Chen-A-Wanda family.
Even though Mark had been part of the camp’s waterfront staff since 2010 and Sam had been a nurse in the Health Center since 2012, we didn’t start dating until the summer of 2014. That year, on Staff Bowling Night, Sam got “sheep herded” onto a bus by Mark…literally PUSHED onto the bus (and blocked from getting off) and shoved into a 2-seater that Mark quickly sat down in next to me! We got to chatting on the bus ride back and, the next evening, Mark picked Sam up from the Health Center (in Paul Elmendorf’s Mini Cooper – thanks buddy!) for our first date at Chet’s. We gradually started spending more and more of our free time together, and by the end of summer 2014, we were driving cross-country on our first road trip as a couple. When Mark left to go back to Scotland in September, Sam was a wreck but made her first trip to Mark’s “motherland” that November and has been in love with Scotland (and Mark) ever since. In between our twice-yearly trips (each to the other’s country), Facebook Messenger and FaceTime kept us sane. We even made a tradition of having “Pizza Sundays,” where each of us would get a pizza and pick the same movie or episode of a TV show to watch over FaceTime. It was our virtual date night. Thank God for technology!
In September of 2015, after saving up all of his wages from camp that summer, Mark [very nervously] proposed to Sam in Orlando, FL. She said yes! Sam and her parents were already planning a trip to Scotland at the end of October that year so that our families could meet. Excited and eager to be together and living in the same country for good, we decided to get married during that trip. On November 2, 2015, we got married in Greenock, Scotland with our parents, Mark’s family, and a handful of friends (including former camp waterfront staff members Clair Donnachie and Steph Devine) in attendance. Though we’d initially planned to keep the wedding a secret and had hopes of having a “big American wedding” that more of our friends and relatives could attend, we were overjoyed and soon made it “Facebook official.” In September 2016, our family grew by one when we got our English Bulldog puppy, Jack. Then, in January 2017, Mark was officially granted Permanent Resident status and immigrated to the US.
This past year has felt like a whirlwind for us. After all of the time, we spent apart, literally separated by an ocean and international borders, we still talk about how hard it is for us to believe that we’re both finally living in the same place together…permanently! At the very center of our story, is our home away from home — Camp Chen-A-Wanda! Without camp, there would be no “us.” We are so grateful and appreciative for all of the experiences and opportunities that camp has brought us, and for all of the people that we’ve met and worked with along the way, including and especially each other.
The following summer, in 1983, I was a Group Leader for the Middies and Gene was Head Waiter. Our hometowns were about an hour and a half apart, so during the school year, it wasn’t easy for us to be together during time off from school. Being at Chen-A-Wanda gave us the opportunity to be together, have fun, meet some fascinating people and make life-long friends both here and abroad without having to worry about classes and studying. The time we spent at camp allowed us to really get to know each other, push and test our relationship, and it ultimately helped take us to the next level; we knew that we wanted to stay together. We have now been married for thirty-three (33) years and were thrilled to have had had some of our Chen-A-Wanda family at our wedding.
Rob and I met at camp in the summer of 1997. With a little help from a few campers, Sabrina Malden and company, and evenings at Chet’s, a summer of fun began! It was a whole lot of fun, but we never thought it would last a lifetime! At the end of that summer, Rob and I thought that it was goodbye. Although Rob lived in Virginia at the time, we lived near each other in England and that Christmas we saw each other again.
My first encounter with Joy was on the second day of camp. We were playing get to know each other games on the lower hockey rink during staff orientation. The game was where your partner was in one circle and you were on the outer circle, both circles would go in different directions and when the music stopped, you would get on one knee and your partner would run over to you and sit on your knee. At the end of Summer ’05, in the pouring rain, I had a friend help get her to the lower hockey rink, in the same spot where we first met and I proposed.
It was the summer of 1999 when Jordan Dank, a Collegiate, and Elyse Forman, an Inter, met at Camp Chen-A-Wanda. Sparks flew immediately and they quickly began an on-off relationship that lasted five summers. Even when not romantically involved, Jordan and Elyse always made their friendship a priority and continued to keep in touch as the years went by. Fast-forward to the Summer of 2008, Jordan asked Elyse to meet for a sushi dinner on Long Island. As they sat down, they immediately felt transported back to Fiddle Lake. While the exact date of this “first sushi date” is unclear, they decided to link their anniversary date to the place that first brought them together…Camp Chen-A-Wanda. As the years went by, their bond only grew stronger and Jordan decided it was time to take their relationship to the next level, and planned to ask Elyse to marry him. He popped the question in the Spring of 2015 and they sealed the deal in the Fall of 2016! They are happily married and currently living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Thank you to CAW for bringing us together!
The feeling of being respected, loved, and looked-up-to, by what were total strangers just a few weeks beforehand, was just incredible.
During the winter I thought about camp most days, if not every day. I just couldn’t wait to be back. I’d get texts from my boys saying they missed me and couldn’t wait to see me – I honestly couldn’t remember what life was like before Chenny. The craziest part was that I’d be going back as Head Staff. I was no longer able to sink into the background and just be Joe. I was JoeCo the Media Director.
Since I’ve been running Media – together with my amazing teams over the years – I’ve brought the standard of content that we produce (that Chenny parents wait up late at night to see) to a new level, and it’s something I’m very proud of and will continue to do as long as I’m here. This role has taught me how to manage people and stay composed under pressure. Having worked in media and videography roles back home, I had the technical experience, but nothing can really prepare you for the camp environment. It can get pretty hectic and tough at times, but it’s always rewarding in the end. (p.s. Late Night with Leahy will always have a special place in my heart!)
Hi, my name is Rani Fink Houlis and my first summer at Chen-A-Wanda was in 1987, I was just 8 years old in Bunk B. From the very first moment I got off the camp bus, on the dirt road, near the Apple Tree, I knew this place would forever change my life in so many ways.
My first summer at camp, I was a basketball specialist – I got paid to teach and play basketball all day and got to hang with my amazing Junior girls (what could be better?). The following summer in 2015, I became the Group Leader for my girls who were now Middies. In 2016, I was coming back as a Group Leader and a few days before leaving for camp, I was asked to be an Assistant Head Counselor for Mohican Camp and that’s where I still currently am! CAW is so amazing and will change your life regardless of the position you hold. The environment is just something to smile about. The bonds and relationships that you create at Chenny, whether it’s between you and your campers or with the other counselors, is amazing.
