Malcolm Gladwell calls them “Connectors” – friends with a “special gift of bringing people together”.
Greg Rogers is exactly the type of Connector to whom Gladwell was referring. A camp director since 1982 (now Associate Director at Camp Olympia) and a lifelong teacher, Greg has impacted thousands of young people. “This is about living in community and co-creating a better world,” he says.
Greg says that “the value of camp is relationships” and he is taking that value and applying it to the school system. During the non-camp season Greg is the Coordinator of Student Leadership for the Toronto District School Board. In this position he runs the Adventure Learning Experiences program where students can learn “camp-style” throughout the year. The student work on special projects (for credit) all year and then get to have a 3 week Study and Leadership Program. This year the students can choose Kenya or India.
Nathan Ferrero, the lead singer from the band The Midway State, has been touched by Greg’s desire to help. When Ferraro was a participant in the Olympia leadership programme, Rogers brought in singer/songwriter Tom Barlow to talk to the campers about the value of music as a tool for expressing themselves. That chat and some gentle encouragement from Greg gave Nathan the courage to begin to perform in front of others. “He treated me as if playing guitar was as good as any other skill. It meant a lot to me,” Ferraro said. “Greg is a huge mentor of mine.” Today the Juno award nominee is playing all over North America to sold-out crowds.
Recently Greg has been instrumental in bringing together Ferrero and another leadership programme alumnus, Marc Keilberger (Me to We founder). Ferrero has become involved as an artist promoting the amazing (and camp-like) programs of the Me to We organization.
Greg leaves us with a final thought. “At camp we develop these relationships. People have this positive impact on our lives, they’re role models for us and then there is also what comes with that: OK, we’ve received that gift, we’d like to pay that back in some way.”
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