Chiara

I have always dreamed about doing something to make the world a nicer place, more harmonious, to leave a mark.

My desire to learn different approaches, to have conversations, to discover new places and the willingness to share the beauty of diversity originates a while back: my 9 year old self, leaving on her own for an international adventure.

Wanting for me to learn English well, my brave parents gave me the opportunity to live with an American family for a month one summer.

The summers after I had the chance to attend Summer Camp with American and Canadian peers. 

Year after year, I learned more and more, until I was old enough and ready to become a Counsellor myself.

For a child and a teenager, this was the experience of a lifetime: unparalleled growth.

As an adult, I realized that it meant even more.

It shaped me and gave me a strong push in opening up to different cultures. 

It wasn’t by coincidence I chose to study and graduated in International Diplomatic Sciences.

Thanks to my studies, I started to contemplate the idea that experiences like the ones I had lived could inspire adults of tomorrow to be more open.

Experiences of language and cultural immersion, especially in an environment that encourages young kids to express themselves, try new things and step out of their comfort zone, could lead to a world with more willingness to listen and learn more about one another.

That’s what my thesis was about and I am still quite proud of it.

After graduating, I accepted a position as district manager for a big multinational company.

But that feeling of being meant to do something else, something I believed in, continued to knock on my door.

After my kids, Pietro and Greta, were born, I could not ignore it anymore.

In 2016, with the ever present support of my husband and my family, I left my corporate job and presented my project of an English Overnight Camp in Italy to an organization that welcomed my proposal.

It was not always an easy path: it required commitment and sacrifices, from myself and my family. 

That first year, I simply worked as a Counsellor in one of their day camps and then organized and directed one single week of overnight camp in Forni di Sopra, Udine, in the Italian Dolomites.

The following year I was assigned a coordinating position for all of their summer programs in Italy.

Eight years later, the projects that I have put my heart and soul into have grown and developed.

They became six day camps and four weeks of overnight camp.

To me, it feels like a strong validation of that calling, born from a child open to the world and developed through a student, mom and professional.

It feels like that calling is alive and thriving and that more and more people and families wish to join in.

I believe this fast growth doesn’t only lie in the meticulous planning, precise scheduling, careful selection and effective training of the staff.

I believe there is something more to it… something magical about Camp and the Culture that springs from it.