Director Jud's Blog

All of us at Stone Mountain Adventures are excited to introduce our 2018 All Star Staff Team:

Introducing Matthew Dyer (aka Flat Matt)

Age: 23

Home Town: Perth, NY

Recently graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, this particular counsellor can often be found shredding the gnarly bike trails as one of our mountain biking instructors. If he isn’t living up to the self-proclaimed title “the songbird of his generation” or being mistaken for Jimmy Hendrix, you may find him skiing or instigating search parties for his sister with reindeers in blizzards. Matt’s life aspirations include, but are not limited to, living within walking distance of a Chipotle and Chikfila, performing 6 continuous backflips on a bike, and riding the whole Encilada.

Nathan Moore

Age: 24

Home Town: Belfast, N. Ireland

 The inspiration for the well-known song “Belfast Boy”, this Northern Irish trainee mechanical engineer is a BMX biking and comedic genius. Nathan spent the previous summer building an indoor skate park with his bare hands.  This summer he will be making his American Summer Camp debut as a Mountain Bike instructor and official SMA paparazzi photographer. Alongside the possibility of learning to play the piano, we are excited to see what this summer will bring for Nathan!

Jordan Durham

 Age: 22

 Home Town: Chester, England

 Having spent most of his life being trapped in a tower by an evil witch, Jordan has recently escaped by chopping off his hair (this is something that is still very painful for him and he needs all of our help to overcome this emotional battle) and is ready to explore the world outside with his best friend chameleon (Nathan). Jordan is joining boat crew this year, enjoying showing off his mad boat parking skills. He is looking forward to practicing his American, playing some sports, grilling meats, and learning to floss. We are hoping for him to continue his winning streak of never breaking a bone and keeping as much of himself in one place as possible.

Bethany Clewes

 Age: 27

 Cheshire, England

 Bethany just cannot keep away from SMA (believe us, we’ve tried)!! Bethany was a much-loved camp counsellor in 2012 and 2013. She has spent the last few years travelling, pursuing excellence in paddling, mountain biking, hiking and scaling cliff faces. She has also gained professional qualifications in knitting, balloon animal butchering, underwater basket making, and walking ferrets. We are absolutely buzzing to have her back this summer to fulfil the roles of lead rock climbing instructor, outdoor expert and “cool camp aunt.” Bubbling with enthusiasm, Beth is creative chameleon and is passionate about the arts (especially drama and poetry). We are sure these talents will provide comedic value in the talent show and in our invention convention, her two most favorite activities. Welcome back Beth!

 Diego LKS Cervantes

Age: 22

 Home town: Oaxaca, Mexico

 If you google “man of many talents”, google will return a picture of this strapping young Mexican. Diego is working on perfecting 6 languages and 30 sports with varying degrees of difficulty; from wakeboarding to weaving friendship bracelets. Diego will be joining us as a lead rock climbing instructor and general all-rounder- we are yet to find something that Diego cannot do. Diego’s life goals travelling to every single country, creating Mexico’s number one tourism company and being scouted by the Mexican Soccer team for the 2022 World Cup.

(Do ado ado do) Musical Matt (Lebowitz)

Age: 21

 Home Town: Princeton, New Jersey.

 Here is a story about how one counselor’s life got all switched upside down. After he got into a fight (with the notorious salad ingredients gang and Steve), his mom got scared, and Matt was sent to SMA as a part of his witness protection program. Matt is a seasoned camper at SMA and is absolutely STOKED to be returning to SMA as a counsellor for the first time as boat crew. Matt is the player of all musical instruments and the singer of all songs- this year he’ll be managing SMA’s first all-star camp band (label pending). If he can be persuaded to put down his guitar, take off his flannel shirt, and put his bird book away, Matt can be found shredding the waves on a wakeboard. His latest wake boarding students have had a 100% stand up rate throughout staff training.

Tim “Tim Tam” Rice

 Age: 22

 Home Town: Wakefield, MA

Please give a warm welcome or a friendly “HELLOW” to Tim, a prized member of our 2018 boat crew. Since graduating as an engineer, Tim has floated through the Panama Canal and has created a comprehensive bucket list- to travel EVERYWHERE, use his degree to make a positive contribution to the world, and to get over his crippling fear of 8 legged hairy friends. Tim has impeccable manners, the patience of a saint, and is super excited to help our campers grow and develop new skills. Tim’s personal goal for the summer is to learn to wakeboard and take his mountain bike on some unforgettable dates with the trails of Pennsylvania.

 *had to remove jokes in order to be nice to Tim. This is specifically done to make him feel loved and included.

Swaggers

 Age: 23

 Home Town: Solomons, Maryland

 Despite our best efforts to rename her “Rose”, she refuses to answer to anything but Swags/Swaggers. Swaggers was a former camper of 4 years and is returning for her 3^rd year as a counsellor, earning her the new title of “Camp Mom”. We are thrilled to have lured Rose back to SMA one last time to make up our boat crew and Counsellors’ Counsellor. Now Swaggers no longer believes she’s color blind, we hope she might stop hitting volleyballs into lakes, while trying her level best to not break any more bones and remain relatively intact before her departure to England to undertake her PGCE. Swags life goals include photobombing someone’s Christmas card photo and is most excited for white water rafting this summer.

Helen Stroheker

Age: 22

 Home Town: Oakland, CA/ Salida, CO.

 We are delighted that former camper and camp counsellor Helen has decided to take a break from training polar bears, cooking Swedish Fish, running from leopards and shape shifting this summer to return to SMA. This year she’ll be throwing the BEST dance parties on the basketball court, instructing rock climbing activities and sharing amusing anecdotes about flying pigs jumping into swimming pools.  As a recent Stanford architecture graduate, Helen is looking forward to spending the summer in Pennsylvania’s outback before moving to the Emerald City of Seattle. 

Ellie Boulding

 Age: 21

 Home Town: Princeton, New Jersey

 Ellie is our resident French speaking, New Orleans veteran and Tulane University enthusiast ambassador. Ellie was a camper from 2009 through to 2011 and is super excited to be a counselor here for the first time. A near professional knee boarding ability and general love of water has landed Ellie (real name Ellis) a spot on our boat crew this summer. She can lick her elbow, is passionate about public health, and is on the cusp of moving to France for a year to teach English. Her goals for the summer include improving her wakeboarding skills and actually waking up when her alarm goes off!

Jessica Moody

 Age: 21

 Hometown: Dublin, Ireland

 This firecracker of a nurse is joining us this year to spread her rampant enthusiasm for sports, sports, SPORTS (and also arts and crafts)! She loves all games and is so excited to teach some campers the right and proper Gaelic Football. She has recently finished a world tour as the captain of the under 8’s national team in this prestigious sport watched by leprechauns all over the world. In her free time, Jessica enjoys long walks on the beach, pranking her teenage siblings into thinking they are adopted, pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain.

Ash Clewes

 Age: 24

 Hometown: Winsford, Cheshire England

 Joining us this year through the frequent stories from our own Beth Clewes (no relation), Ash finally has a break in her busy career to squeeze SMA into a year of travelling through India and Sri Lanka. On these travels, she has successfully become a professional elephant whisperer and have solidified her great love for yoga and staying at home at all times. When she is not going on adventures, she is part of a competitive pun making team and enjoys kayaking. Over the course of this summer, she is most excited for everything but especially getting over her intense fear of being outdoors. In future, she hopes to continue traveling, starting her own business, and sharing her infectious smile with as many people as possible.

Cassie Miles

 Age: 25

 Howntown: Knockin, Shrewsbury, England

Being obsessed with vans, this was the prefect job for Cassie after her recent retirement from formula 1 and illegal stationary sound effect car racing. She is also an avid white-water amphibious vehicle kayaker. Through this experience, she has learned many things such as water being wet (but is it???) and that seagulls are horribly misnamed as they fly over all types of water including but not limited to seas, oceans, bays, rivers, lakes, streams, creeks, and large puddles. Cassie is looking forward to continuing her educational adventures as the most qualified member of the boat crew. Her goals include successfully running away from moths, butterflies, and Tim.