Summer Adventures: Jack Anderson

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Jack Anderson is an incoming first-year chemistry major at UMass Amherst and sat down to talk about his summer adventures!

What are you doing this summer?

I am working at a summer camp, Camp Wanocksett in Dublin, New Hampshire, as field sports director. I’m running all the stuff that has to do from basketball to cornhole. We also do campfires, skits and songs – Right before this I was with some friends planning a Back to the Future skit for tonight!

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Do you live at the camp?

I come in on Sunday morning, live here, then I go home for about 24 hours on Saturday afternoon. This position is for about eight and a half weeks.

What have you learned so far? What skills have you developed?

I’ve definitely learned a lot about leadership. One big thing I’ve been working on for myself is public speaking because we’re in crowds of a couple hundred people. I'm trying to learn what it’s like to be kind of like a public figure. 

Previously, you mentioned a trip to the University of Colorado?

I am going to the National Order of the Arrow Conference! I am pretty involved in scouts, I am an Eagle Scout. The Order of the Arrow is Scouting’s National Honor Society. The national conference is a gathering of people all over the country that’s held every two years for everyone in the OA. There are a bunch of different activities, like this year I’m doing stuff like goat swimming yoga, maybe some whitewater rafting, and some different leadership trainings as well. 

What have you learned in the scouts, being an Eagle Scout, reaching the pinnacle of scouting?

You learn a lot of different skills from camping, survival, cooking, but there are also a lot of other things you learn. Personally, I’ve learned a lot about personal fitness, personal management, specifically money management. There’s definitely a lot of leadership roles like in my current role, the lodge that I’m running is over 500 people, but also in my own troop, I served as the leader and senior patrol leader and I’ve learned a lot about planning and stuff like that. 

Scouts is a great opportunity to learn all these different skills and now I can give back the many summers I had here as a camper. 

Besides Scouts, what else have you been up to this summer?

One thing I did this summer, I went on a trip to a friend's lake house in New York. We did a bunch of different things, she had a boat, we did some tubing, we went on a hike, made some pretty good food. My friends and I are planning to take a Six Flags trip this summer because Six Flags is always fun!

As an incoming first year student, what are you looking forward to at UMass and the Honors College?

There are definitely some things I am looking forward to. UMass is a big school so there are a ton of opportunities. I'm really looking forward to intramurals, I really like ultimate frisbee and soccer, so I’d love to get some friends together and make some teams. I also play the trumpet so I’ve considered joining the marching band or trying out for the jazz or concert band. 

I’m also just looking forward to meeting new people, enjoying the social life and all that.