CSA 2026 Letter from the Director
Dear Camp St Andrew’s Community,
It’s the Monday after camp, and I am returning to my normal 9-5 job. As I walk through downtown San Francisco, I find myself wishing I were sitting in the chow hall having breakfast instead of waiting for the bus with my coffee in hand. Granted, the coffee I pick up on my way to work does taste better than the coffee at the Nature Cabin, but I would gladly trade the smell of the city for the scent of pine trees. My phone is buzzing with notifications and updates from the week past, and I find myself wishing I could trade it for my radio.
The return to reality has a funny way of reminding me just how special the week before was. I think about seeing campers and staff happily engaged in programs, making new friends, pranking one another, telling stories, laughing, and simply connecting with each other. I instantly missed that feeling of connection and community.
Camp holds such a special place in my heart because of the community that makes it all possible. It is the people who work so hard, year-round, to create a place where our campers can smile, laugh, learn, grow, and simply be themselves. There is something incredibly rewarding about finally getting to sit back, take it all in, and see all that hard work come to life. Seeing campers make it up the hill, watching them have fun, hearing their laughter, and knowing they are creating memories they will carry with them makes every late night, long meeting, and countless hours of planning worth it.
And then, almost as quickly as it began, camp is over. The buses head home, the cabins get quiet, and all that remains are the memories of another year at Camp St. Andrews. But those memories are what push us forward into another year of planning. They remind us why we do what we do, why we continue to show up, and why we work so hard to make camp the best possible experience for our campers.
I would like to thank all of you for being part of the community we call home. Thank you for being the reason we work so hard to create the best week for our campers, ensuring they are cared for, supported, and given every opportunity to grow and thrive each year at camp. CSA would not be what it is without the time, energy, love, and dedication that each of you brings to this community.
I am so thankful to call this place, and these people, my home.
As we look towards another year of CSA, it is time to begin thinking about the community that will help guide us into the future. Each fall, we hold our annual Camp Leadership Committee (CLC) elections to appoint the primary leaders for next year’s camp. Our election will be held on Saturday, October 10th, at 10:00 am, and the entire community is encouraged to join us via Zoom.
If you would like to nominate yourself for one of the following community-elected positions, please send your nominations to [email protected] no later than September 11th at 11:59 pm.
Community Elected Positions: Camp Director, Medical Director, Scarf Director, Registrar, Member-at-Large 2027-2029, Archery Director
Following the October election, members of the community will have the opportunity to self-nominate for the following Camp Director-appointed positions: Assistant Camp Director, Operations Director, Spirit Director, Program Director, Bookkeeper
If you are interested in one of these director-appointed positions, please email [email protected] between October 11th and November 13th to submit your self-nomination.
Included with this letter is a tentative calendar of events and meetings for the 2026-2027 camp year. We warmly invite and encourage everyone in our community to attend, participate, and continue shaping the future of CSA.
Once again, thank you for a truly wonderful year of camp. Camp St. Andrews would not be what it is without all of you: our campers, leaders, staff, and community members. We look forward to many more years of adventure together, and we can’t wait to see you again when registration for next summer opens in January 2027.
Until then, I’ll be counting down the days until I can trade my coffee for the Nature Cabin’s, my phone for my radio, and the city for the mountains.
With gratitude,
Sara-Catherine Paoli (SCEP)
Camp Director 2025-2026
