Mike Mattson

Mike in front of the plaque commemorating his 25 years at Birch Rock

Mike Mattson is the current director of Birch Rock, a position he has held since 2002. Before that he was the assistant director to Rich Deering for four years starting in 1998. He was also Head Counselor for four years beginning in 1995 and was the Waterfront Directors for 3 summers. Mike's camper years were spent mostly on the field and at the nature, campcraft areas. He also loved instructional swim and was often first in the water.

Early Years

After attending a few day camps and one sleep away camp in New York, Mike's search continued for the right camp. In the winter of 1983, David Weeks and Doug Dickey were recruiting a lot of campers for Birch Rock around the Baltimore area. Mike's brother Ron and step-brother Dave Jenkins wanted to attend because many of their school mates were going, Mike however at age 12 was not interested in trying the camp experience anymore but was sent by his parents anyway, for the full 6 week season. He was off to camp fussing the whole way.

Camper Years

Summer of 1983

Mike arrived at camp with a negative attitude but after a few days of homesickness his cabin counselor Paul Voss had him completely entertained. He also enjoyed swimming with instructor Mike Herzig and archery taught by Joe Curry. In fact, he signed up for archery almost everyday and was awarded best archer at Birch Rock for 1983 at the awards ceremony along with the first seven archery badges. Although he had fun, he decided not to return to BRC in 1984 because the family was moving from the Baltimore to the Philly in the summer. He definitely regretted it.

Summer of 1985

The next summer, 1985, was one of Mike's favorites. He was a senior camper in cabin 7 with Paul Voss again, back then cabin 7 & 8 were often used as the senior camper cabins. This time Mike went badge crazy earning many more badges on the field including 7 more archery badges, he also earned his loon and seal and earned the Wilderness Adventure badge, which was the equivalent of the top nature and top campcraft badges combined. One of Mike's fondest camper memories was building a watchtower up on the field using long tree trunk and branch poles all lashed together with rope. The tower could hold two and was tall enough to look offer the basketball court fence. It was the final piece to earning the Wilderness Adventure badge and a happy moment.

The senior campers went on two big trips in 1985, one on the Moose River and the other, a hike up Mount Washington. These two trips were led by trip leader and one of the senior camper counselors. These two trips were highlights in Mike's short camper career.

Counselor-in-Training

Summer of 1986

Mike's CIT summer was his most significant in realizing how much he loved summer camp. In the summer of 1986, Mike was a little nervous about being a counselor-in-training and working with kids, but he was also excited. On Opening Day, when the youngest camper in camp arrived at camp, Mike keyed on him. This boy was an 8 year old named Josh Pincus who was obviously a little homesick and also a real handful. Mike spent as much of his day as he could hanging out with Josh Pincus. They went everywhere together. Josh went from a homesick guy to a life long Birch Rocker. Mike learned that even at the age of 15, he could make a difference in a campers summer.

His CIT year is actually the year Mike got his 15th archery badge. The badge archery guidelines were based on campers 7-15 years old. Since Mike was 15, they decided to let him go for it. Counselor Rob Christie stayed up on the hill with Mike after evening activity a few times and by the 3rd try Mike was an official American Archer. There are fewer then 10 people who have ever earned the 15th badge.

Staff Years

Summers of 1987-1989

Mike spent his first three summers as the cabin counselor of Cabin 1 and loved that age group. Mike taught Archery, Baseball, Basketball, and Swimming, and in 1989, Mike and his step-brother Dave created the Volleyball activity at Birch Rock. Mike loved teaching on the field but had a stronger bond to the swim area and always perceived it as the hub of all camp activity.

Summers of 1990-1993

Mike was the Waterfront Director in 1990, 1992, and 1993. He was in Pete's Palace in 1990 and Cabin 8 in '92 & '93 as the senior camper counselor.

During the summer of 1990, Mike was in a major car accident returning back to camp from the St Croix river trip. The accident happened towards the end of the season and Mike was determined to get right back out there. So after a couple days rest, Mike was back down on the waterfront teaching swimming. Mike was interviewed for the new camp video shortly after the accident with scars on his face. This video was our promotional video for almost 10 years. Mike missed camp in 1991 because he needed to stay home and make money to help pay for the accident.

From 1987-'90, many campers would beg to be on the Mattson team during Cross-Camp Capture the Flag. Mike and his brother Ron would always serve on a team together and went undefeated for 4 consecutive seasons during every Cross-Camp game. When Mike returned to camp in 1992, his brother Ron decided to make them heads of each team. Ron's team won two out three games. Mike was "shot" off the catwalks for the first time since joining the staff ranks five summers earlier.

Summers of 1994-1996

In 1994, Director Brad Smith hired Mike to work as the Program Director and move into the Directors Cabin. Mike's job was to plan and help initiate the program with Head Counselor Josh Church. Mike was also brought in to bridge a communication gap between Director Brad and the Head of Staff Josh, a move that seemed to work well. This would end of being Josh's last summer however.

With Josh Church gone, Mike became Head Counselor for 1995 and 1996, but in 1996 at the age of 25, Mike announced to Director Rich Deering and the Board of Directors that he needed to think of a career life and was ready to move on. Shortly after his announcement, Rich Deering approached Mike with an offer of a year round job as the Associate Director. This marked the beginning of a team that is still in place to this day.

Director Years

Summers of 1997-1999

And so it was that by the end of the summer of 1996 Mike was now working year round as the Associate Director. This was also the time period when Rich was planning for the American Camping Associations accreditation visit in 1997, the first visit from the ACA since the early '80s. Mike and Rich worked closely on the ACA standards, staff training and many new ways to improve and strengthen the program. Camp was on the rize.

Mike continued to act as the Head Counselor during these summers and in 1999 worked closely with Thomas Joyce as he moved into the Head Counselor role. It was during one of these summers that Mike brought the single dink style of bell ringing to Tree Talk time on Sundays, a signal to the campers that its time to settle down. 1999 was the first summer of the new seven week season.

Summers of 2000-2001

At this point, Mike and Rich were working more as equals. Mike moved into a co-director title and was starting to become much more responsible for the full day to day activities at the Rock. In fact, during this time period Rich was also working in downtown Portland during the summer. It was starting in the summer of 2000 that Birch Rock had more than 100 campers coming through campus every summer, nearly twice as many as BRC had ever had from 1926-to the late '90s.

It was also sometime in this time period when Mike started doing the daily journal on Birch Rock's new website. This daily journal has become an important link for the parents to know what's happening at camp.

Summers of 2002-Present

With Birch Rock bigger then ever and much maintenance work still to be done, the Board of Directors decided to move Rich into an Alumni Director/Fund Raising role. Mike was offered the Camp Director position. Mike and Rich continue to be the perfect team with Rich's marketing skills and Mike's programming experience.

In 2004, the Directors Cabin, Mike's home for 10 consecutive summers, was torn down and a new cabin named Chief's was built in its place. The new cabin was the first insulated building on campus and would stand for only 4 summers. It would burn down four days before Opening Day of 2008. Mike moved into the Lions Den for the 2008 summer, it was the first time he would live somewhere on campus other than right on the driveway since summer 1993, 14 summers ago.

The new Chief's cabin, once again an insulated building, will return Mike to his perch along the driveway.