Personnel:
The Camp of Dreams explicitly strives—in its hiring and board selection practices—to assemble ethnically and socio-economically diverse leadership teams. The Camp of Dreams staff brings a range of qualifications and perspectives to its programs: the summer staff includes a diverse mix of teachers, artists, professionals and college students, and the school-year staff adds university and high school student volunteers to this combination.
Director of Programs& Operations: Jacquita Smith joined the Camp of Dreams staff in April 2010. From her positions as a mentoring program founder, college admissions advisor, Upward Bound camp counselor, and substitute teacher, Jacquita has over 10 years of experience working with youth in non-profit and educational settings. She also gained extensive camping and outdoor survival skills during her 9 years in the U.S. Army Reserves. Having lived in the South her entire life, Jacquita moved from Atlanta, GA, to get a taste of Chicago. She earned a B.A. in Journalism and a B.A. in Geography/Urban Planning from The University of Alabama before pursuing graduate studies in Urban Policy Studies/Non-profit Management from the Andrew Young School of Public Policy at Georgia State University. Jacquita loves college football, spoken word/poetry slams, and roadtrips. In her spare time, she still runs a mentoring program in her native Mississippi, volunteers at various organizations, and tries to adjust to people saying “you guys” instead of “y’all”.
Development Manager: Kristen Campbell joined the Camp of Dreams staff in September of 2009. While this is her first experience in the Chicago non-profit community, Kristen has always been passionate about working with youth. Over the years she has served as a tutor and mentor through the Yale Bulldog Buddies and Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Connecticut programs, a gymnastics coach and summer camp counselor, a teacher’s aide in pre-school and kindergarten classrooms, and an intern at a Child Conduct Clinic where she learned about and assessed youth behavioral issues. Kristen graduated from Yale University in 2008 with a B.A. in Psychology and plans to pursue graduate studies in either Psychology or Social Service. In her spare time, she enjoys travel, running, being outdoors, and Chicago sports.