Forest Cliff Journey: Kate “Hops” Stenning
Kate is currently in her final year of Linguistics at Western University, pursuing a career as a Pediatric Speech Language Pathologist. She has known for a long time that she’s wanted to work with kids, which is where Camp fits into her story!
What do we mean by a ‘Forest Cliff journey’?
Kate has been a part of Forest Cliff for over 13 years in various camper and staff experiences. Her Forest Cliff journey began at 6 years old when she went to Overnight Camp for the first time, trying out lots of new activities and making new friends! Overnight Camp is for kids coming out of Grades 1-7 and at the end of her time in kids camp, she was already super excited about doing Service And Leadership Training (SALT) the following year! In SALT, Kate took part in leadership training and was given multiple opportunities throughout the week to serve meals and clean up (of course accompanied by a clean up dance party!) with her Grade 7-8 cabin crew. Then came our Counselor In Training program, now known as Leader In Training (LIT), for highschoolers who have completed grade 9. LIT’s receive training on various topics such as childcare expectations and how to make camp awesome. Then, they jump in with a cabin at Overnight Camp or PAL group at Day Camp for the week and lead alongside the staff to get some practical experience.
Kate, now known as ‘Hops’, completed her LIT placement at Overnight camp and Day Camp. Since then she has returned to Day Camp with the opportunity to join Forest Cliff for the spring and summer seasons, investing in Forest Cliff’s mission of giving children unforgettable, life-changing experiences. In 2023, she took on the role of a Head Counselor (now Care Lead), who oversees all things childcare and coaching group leaders in how to give kids a great week at Camp. Then in 2024, we had the privilege of having Kate as one of our 3 Site Leaders, overseeing a Day Camp team, programming and all things camp! In this role, she was able to disciple the team spiritually throughout the summer, and coach them in their leadership and professional development.
As a camper, Kate loved the new activities Camp had to offer and all of the new friends she met each week! Now as a part of our staff team, she has the opportunity to strengthen the leaders, who help to give kids an amazing camp experience, just like she remembers from when she was young!
What makes her so ‘Hoppy’?
Camp names always add an extra element of fun to the week, and sometimes, campers will even think of what they want their future camp name to be, even when they’re still in camp! How did Kate get her name, you may ask? In high school she participated in multiple sports including track, which ended up having a big influence on her soon to be camp name! In the process of trying to think of a camp name for the upcoming summer, her dad thought, ‘Hops’ would be fitting! Also around this time, the movie Zootopia featuring a character named ‘Judy Hopps’ came out, which only made her fun new nickname catch on even more with friends and campers!
Why is working at Forest Cliff awesome?
There are so many reasons Kate keeps coming back to work at Forest Cliff!
1- She has met so many amazing people and has built many valuable life-long relationships
2- Kate loves seeing the growth of campers and staff who return each year
3- Through camp she has grown personally, professionally and has developed many skills. Her willingness to learn is so evident!
Kate has a great story showing what a Forest Cliff journey can look like! From her first time as a camper many years ago, to being a Site Leader in 2024, Kate has been able to experience the fun of Camp in so many ways! Kate is one of the many campers who have had unforgettable memories at camp and is now invested in fostering life-changing experiences for the next generation of children!
