75 boys on a skinny Maine island count on this UVA student

Student Experience

75 boys on a skinny Maine island count on this UVA student

Maine’s oldest summer camp is celebrating its 125th anniversary – and the 15th year of a partnership with the University of Virginia that started when a random man walked into the office of nursing professor Theresa Carroll in the fall of 2009.

That man was Ben Swan, who earned a master’s degree in English from UVA in, he recollects, 1982. The day he wandered into Carroll’s office, he was on a mission. The camp head said it was notoriously difficult to recruit a medic each year. “I saw a sign for UVA Nursing School, and I thought, ‘Well, who knows? Bound to be a bunch of nurses in there,’ and so I just walked in,” he said.

His pitch was simple. Swan needed a young person who could relate to campers and staff, had medical experience and not only the ability, but the desire to commit to living and working on a remote island, where the only electricity and running water are in the dining hall.

And they had to commit for 10 weeks.

Camper Charlie and Sarah Jun working with multiple campers

Camper Charlie and Jun are fast friends. Camp life includes a visit to the infirmary for another camper, also named Charlie, and campfires. (Photos by Theresa Carroll)

Swan could not have found a better sounding board. Carroll’s enthusiasm for helping students and connecting people is legend at UVA. She is the senior assistant dean for advising and student success in the School of Nursing and a Lawn resident who regularly opens her pavilion to the University community.

“They have a doctor who’s on call for them for emergencies, but basically they have this medic who takes care of the scrapes and scratches and sprained ankles, the kind of basic stuff,” Carroll explained of that meeting with Swan. “So, he said, ‘What do you think?’ And I said, ‘Well, I don’t know, but I’m willing to give it a try.’”

The following summer, Page Dunbar became the first UVA nursing student to work at Pine Island. The University has been sending scholars to camp for 15 years, skipping only 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A slice of rustic, unplugged life

Pine Island Camp for boys sits on a little more than two acres in Great Pond, part of Maine’s Belgrade Lakes chain.

Aerial photo boats on Great Pond in Maine

Pine Island Camp occupies two skinny acres on Great Pond in Maine’s Belgrade Lakes chain. (Contributed photo)

The eastern portion of the narrow slip of land is home to a cluster of platform tents, the multipurpose building, the dining hall and the infirmary, which is headquarters for Sarah Jun, a rising fourth-year nursing student and this year’s medic.

Eleven-year-old Charlie has become a big fan of hers. “She’s nice and helps you out. Takes your input into consideration,” he said.

The two have bonded over his cuts, blisters, sore throat and a stomachache he had his first week away from home. He thinks maybe it was because he was homesick. “We talked about that for a little bit,” he recalled. “She gave me like, um, ‘What’s the word?’ I think Tums or something like that, just to like, help with the pain and then just told me to drink a bunch of water.”

The importance of Jun’s presence is not lost on Pine Island’s current camp leader.

“If the head cook disappeared, we’d make it work. If the sailing counselor disappeared, we’d make it work. If the nurse disappeared, we’d be in big trouble,” Alex Toole said. “Not every kid’s going to be solved by a pill. Sometimes they need someone just to be there to hear them and to be nurturing.”

Jun says she is relishing her time at Pine Island. “Alex told me, ‘This is your area. This infirmary is yours. We won’t micromanage you. This is your domain. You do what you think is best.’ And that kind of trust and responsibility has been really influential for me in my confidence as a nursing student, but also as a future nurse,” she said.

Pine Island Camp group photo of all campers and camp staff in 2010

Page Dunbar is the first UVA nursing student to work as a medic at Pine Island. She is captured in the 2010 end-of-season photo, second row, two to the right of former camp director Ben Swan, center, in a tan sport coat. (Contributed photo)

Unlike the camp counselors, Jun does not sleep in a platform tent with campers. “I actually sleep in the back of the infirmary, which is like this amazing big room, and I have my own bed,” she said. “I’m right next to the water, so I get these wave sounds crashing at night. Honestly, one of the best sleeps I’ve gotten in the last couple years.”

At the end of each season, campers, staff and parents gather for a final “farewell campfire” before the boys, aged 9 to 15, return home. Toole said they are often changed after six weeks of hiking, boating, woodworking, camping and making many of their own decisions for the first time. Many of the 75 campers will return next year.

Jun says she wants to go back too.

“Honestly, this has just been the best experience of my life,” she said. “I’m already trying to think of ways to maybe delay getting a job in the hospital. Maybe I can come back next summer, because I really would love to see these kids again and work with the staff again. It’s pretty awesome.”