Rich Deering

Rich and his dog Roxie 2002

Rich Deering is currently Birch Rock's Alumni Director, a position he has held since 2002. Before that Rich held many roles on campus. He was the assistant director to Brad Smith for a couple summers in the mid-'90s, and was Head Counselor in the mid-'80s, but probably enjoyed his Waterfront Director years in the '80s the most. Since being Waterfront Director, Rich can still often be found on the waterfront helping with Instructional Swim.

In the mid-'90s, when the Board of Directors hired Director Brad Smith, Rich was the perfect man to assist Brad in settling in and recovering the somewhat dwindling Birch Rock. Rich's business savvy and amazing sales ability have always been strengths for the camp, but it is his love for the Rock and knowledge of its history that was of great use to Brad and the community in the '90s.

Rich will likely be best remembered for what he did during his own summers as Camp Director. Brad did a terrific job of keeping the camp numbers up enough to stay afloat, but it was Rich who took the camp to the next level. He did this in many ways such as getting the ACA accreditation, hiring the right staff and more importantly paying them appropriately for their service, working closely with the Board of Directors on facility management, and so much more.

Rich has always said that, "...camp is a place of life-long learning for all, no matter what your age."

Camper Years

He has always been at home on the BRC Waterfront

Summer of 1973

Rich's first impressions from the 2001: A Short History booklet:

The carved names, the stuffed animals, the smell of freshly brewed coffee, popovers with jam and brownies that tasted like fudge, everybody saying hello and introducing themselves to me- those are memories of my first hour at camp. I do not remember my parents leaving, but I do remember the bell ringing loudly, calling us together. My first summer at Birch Rock had started.

Rich will always have fond memories of hot cocoa, polar bear swims, and the Midnight Phantom to name a few. Rich also talks often about his time spent with Onie Brewster.

Staff Years

Dave Needle & Rich in the early '80s

Summers of 1982-1985

When Rich moved into the administrative ranks on campus is was a natural fit for him to be in the Waterfront Director position. He always had a love for swimming and the swim area and was a terrific swim instructor. Rich was known to push the kids hard to learn and would often focus on endurance with long swims and long periods treading water.

At the end of the season, Rich and the other waterfront staff would dress up in "costumes" and act as waterfront gods on a throne. Each camper would enter the counselor's swimtent (the Moose Manor), an area they were never allowed to go into, and bow before the swim gods. After being tapped on each shoulder by a sort of plunger scepter, Rich as the Waterfront Director would inform the camper that he passed his swim course that season. It was always entertaining.

In 1985, Rich became the camp's Head Counselor but of course could always be seen helping in the swim area and in fact taught a few classes everyday. Rich was a well organized Head Counselor, and even at that point you could see a developing Camp Director in the making. Mike Mattson and Rich both fondly remember Rich sending then Senior Camper Mike into the kitchen at least twenty times that summer to work with Janice. Mike loved it!

Summer of 1988

Rich returned to work with the CIT group. This particular group was to be CITs for a second summer in a row because Birch Rock decided to move the CIT age to 16. Rich worked with CITs Adam Whinston & Evan Farmer to name a couple.

Director Years

Summers of 1993–1995

Rich & Brad Smith at the 1993 Waterford Parade

In 1993, Director Brad Smith hired Rich to be his Assistant Director. Rich had Birch Rock deep in his fabric, which helped make him the perfect assistant to Brad who was entirely new to the BRC community. Rich had remembered and absorbed each and every detail taught to him as a camper and young counselor over the years and was a fountain of information in a time when there was no real written history. Rich ended up being a link between BRC's heroes of the past and its new legends of the future.

Although Rich was unable to return in 1994 he was right back on campus at Brad's side in 1995, and by the next season was the new Camp Director.

For both 1993 & 1995, Rich used his own CIT program that he had worked on as a part of his Masters degree. The first year it was a difficult program to truly implement because we only had one Super CIT, Andre Ezequelle, but in 1995 Rich had a great CIT group: Thomas Joyce, Brett Ingall, and Tyler Johnston.

Summers of 1996–2001

Mike gets puppet of bearded Rich made 2001

Rich stepped up into the Camp Director role in 1996, and he continued the up hill march that Brad had started in helping BRC grow. Rich noted that there was very little paper history and because of the many different directors over the recent years everything from files, photos, equipment, etc. was all over the place and needed to be gathered and organized. A supreme and daunting task. Rich spent much of 1996 pulling the office together.

He also started to connect with the other camps and researched returning Birch Rock to accreditation status with the American Camping Association (ACA). Rich hired Mike Mattson as a year round employee at the end of the summer of 1996. The plan was for Birch Rock to be visited in the summer of 1997 and there was much work to be done. Under Rich's leadership and diligence, and with the assistance of a few of the key staff members, the ACA standards book was prepared, along with all the other on campus manual and we would master the accreditation visit. The Birch Rock staff that summer was top notch, as always.

Thanks to all that hard work and the extra efforts to come over the next few summers Birch Rock was beginning to grow. After the summer of 1998, Rich reported continued growth and the Board of Directors decided to change the summer from 6 weeks to 7 weeks, and by 2000 a new cabin, Owl's Perch was built with beds for more campers. This new cabin pushed Birch Rock passed the 100+ campers per summer mark.

Also, during the summer of 2000, Rich, with help from Mike Mattson, along with Camp Runoia Director Pam Cobb and their Trip Leader Todd Erler developed a new coed trip program for BRC's older campers. This was the Maine Wilderness Adventure program which started up in 2001.

Summers of 2002-Present

Rich & Mike with Kiko & Roxie 2007

With so much growth and positive momentum it was time for a slight shift in roles and responsibilities. Although the Deering/Mattson team stayed together, Richard redirected much of his energies to the alumni as the camp's new Alumni Director and also focused on Fundraising as the camp started up a major campaign fund raising effort.

Not including his membership with the American Camping Association, Rich has spent much of his recent camp years getting to know the camping industry all over the state. His interest in Maine youth camping in general motivated him to become the President of the Maine Youth Camping Association in 2007. Rich has developed strong relationships with many Camp Directors in the state and has called upon those connections a number of times to the benefit of Birch Rock.

At this point, with so many summers under his belt, Rich wears many hats for Birch Rock. Ultimately, the fact is he still finds himself down on the waterfront teaching swimming where he himself learned as a camper.

Rich's Summers at the Rock

Year	Cabin	Role	Note
1973		Camper	with Counselor ?
1974		Camper	with Counselor ?
1975		Camper	with Counselor ?
1976		Camper	with Counselor ?
1977		Camper	with Counselor ?
1978		Camper	with Counselor ?
1979		Junior Counselor
1980		Counselor
1981		Counselor
1982		Waterfront Director
1983	Eagle's Nest	Waterfront Director
1984	skipped
1985	Eagle's Nest?	Head Counselor	Program
1986	skipped
1987	skipped
1988	Swordfish	CIT Director
1989	skipped
1990	skipped
1991	skipped
1992	skipped
1993	Lion's Den	Assistant Director	worked with Brad Smith
1994	skipped
1995	Swordfish	Assistant Director	worked with Brad Smith
1996	Swordfish	Camp Director
1997	Swordfish	Camp Director
1998	Swordfish	Camp Director
1999	Swordfish	Camp Director
2000	Swordfish	Co-Director	Ran Camp with Mike Mattson
2001	Swordfish	Co-Director	Ran Camp with Mike Mattson
2002	Swordfish	Alumni Director
2003	Swordfish	Alumni Director
2004	Swordfish	Alumni Director
2005	Swordfish	Alumni Director
2006	Swordfish	Alumni Director
2007	Swordfish	Alumni Director
2008	Swordfish	Alumni Director
2009	Swordfish	Alumni Director