Our Leadership

Cole & Kate Kelly, Owners/Directors

Shortly after meeting for the first time in August 2000, the idea of summer camp came up. Kate had spent two summers as a head counselor at wonderful girls camp in western Massachusetts. Cole was finishing his MBA at the University of Georgia and wanted to work with young people, teach, and run a business.

After finishing her Masters of Education at Harvard (Cole’s M.Ed. is from UVa), Kate and Cole decided to pursue their mutual love of camp. Almost two decades in, it continues to be the second best idea they’ve made together.

Cole spends his summers setting the tone for camp, joining in on the fun with the kids, and supporting both the staff members at camp and parents back home in every way possible. While there are too many joys of camp to list, getting the youngest campers’ ‘happies’ each night and leading the weekly Friday Night Campfires are among his favorites. During the off-season, Cole travels to meet potential new families around the world and oversees the preparations for another great summer.

Kate’s day-to-day at camp is focused on ‘creating amazing’ for our campers and staff members. Whether it’s working side by side with our Division Heads, helping with the daily schedule of surprises, leading our nightly ‘Flagpole Nominations’ or just spending time with the campers, Kate is a huge presence each day. Kate spends her off-season guiding our thinking about the upcoming summer. (With two Ivy League degrees, she’s the smart one!)

Both Kate and Cole have come a long way together from their captaining their collegiate teams (soccer at Dartmouth for Kate and golf at Virginia for Cole.) When not talking camp or volunteering in their home community of Athens, GA, they spend their time with their parenting their three boys – Jack (18), Cole3 (20) and Luke (16) – and caring for Camp Dog Maverick. Kate and Cole have been the directors of Weequahic since 2009.

Sue Baldwin, Associate Director

Sue Baldwin

Associate Director

Dana Stassen, Assistant Director

Dana Stassen

Assistant Director

James Stassen, Assistant Director

James Stassen

Assistant Director

Leigh Laughlin, Parent Liasion and Health Center Manager

A lifelong friend of Cole’s, Leigh had heard about camp for years but not growing up as a camper herself, she did not understand the full extent of the experience. After much convincing (and the birth of her 3rd son!) Leigh was ready to give camp a chance.

Leigh and her family instantly became huge fans of Weequahic. Leigh started was our very first ‘Food Fairy’ and got to hand out snacks and canteen treats to the campers daily. She loves seeing the campers and getting to check on them to make sure they are doing well. After her first summer at camp, Leigh began working part-time in the winter office. She now enjoys connecting with and supporting our first time camp families and working with the staff in various ways.

After Leigh’s 5th summer at camp, she took on a new role as Health Center Administrator. Being a mom of 3, she feels that one of the worst things is to be sick at camp. No one wants to miss out on all of the special experiences! She wants to do everything she can to get the campers well, whether it’s sending them to the nurse or just giving them lots of “mom love!”

John Wiedner, Maintenance Director

A former collegiate football player and one-time member of the Philadelphia Eagles, John has built a reputation as a respected builder and general contractor in Eastern PA and New Jersey over the past thirty years.

After spending a few months working with Weequahic to repair some winter damage, John decided to join the team full-time during Summer 2018. Since that time, he’s worked closely with Cole to improve Weequahic’s physical property, ensure the safety of our campers and staff, and keep a patient and consistent rein on Cole and Kate’s wild ideas.

The Weequahic family is blessed to have such a thoughtful, talented person leading our Maintenance team.

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Camp Weequahic has been Sue’s home away from home for over a decade and she has worked alongside the Kelly’s almost continuously since 2003.

Sue was Kate’s college soccer teammate at Dartmouth College and finished her college career as team captain, first team All American, Academic All American and top 10 finalist for NCAA woman of the year. She moved on to coach soccer at Stanford University and the University of Virginia before entering the summer camp profession full time.

Sue spends her summers crafting each camper’s dream program, maneuvering our staff to all the fun places they need to be, and training and coaching our program leadership team to create amazing daily. Sue spends her off-season working closely with Dana and James to identify, interview, and hire the best staff in camping while also working closely with Kate and Dana to create an incredible summer program for each camper to enjoy.

When not talking camp, Sue is running the Baldwin mini-camp for her four energetic children, training for running races, or cheering on her husband’s powerhouse collegiate softball team at the University of Georgia.

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Dana Stassen has always known she wanted to work with and around children. Some of her earliest memories include setting up her bedroom like a classroom for her younger brothers, complete with a library card catalog system. She went on to earn a B.S. in Elementary Education from the University of Maryland, (GO TERPS!), and later an M.Ed in Reading Education from Towson University before spending a decade teaching in the classroom setting.

Dana joined us at Weequahic in 2010 by answering a need for a nanny for our Associate Director’s children and fell in love with camp. She’s worked at Weequahic as a Division Head for the Inter Girls, as the Special Events and Evening Activities Coordinator, before assuming her Assistant Director role in 2017.

In the off-season, Dana spends her time creating evening activities, planning Special Event days and specialty meal nights, organizing trips, and finding ways to enhance the senior experience. She tries to add a little sparkle wherever she can, which is how she earned the camp moniker Princess Sparklepants or ‘PSP’ for short.

Dana also works with her husband, James, to hire our incredible summer staff. She takes this job very seriously as she knows how important it is to hire counselors who are going to be warm, friendly, fun, and who will be deserving of the trust of our wonderful parents.

During the summer, Dana sports a fanny-pack full of whatever a camper or staff member might need, (mostly a million pens and bandaids), totes her clipboard full of notes and wild ideas, and often will pop into classes at camp to provide a little motivation or connection to whomever might need it. She is most at home in the middle of a spontaneous dance party on main camp, in any activity that involves a costume, and loves when campers and staff come by her office to chat and enjoy a freeze pop!

Dana’s camp experience has come full circle and now she and James have two little ones who join us at camp each summer with their own nannies! Their eldest, who is five, is counting down the minutes until he can move into a bunk!

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Possibly the only summer camp assistant director with a Grammy Award, ‘Scrappy’ has been a part of the Weequahic family since 2012. His love for Dana made him a frequent visitor while not touring the world as Justin Bieber’s Production and Stage Manager.

Ready for a change as he and Dana started a family, Cole and Kate (and everyone else) did all they could to convince him to join the Weequahic full-time team. With over 20 years in the music industry and many years of experience in setting up massives experiences for fans, Scrappy had unknowingly prepared perfectly for his role at camp.

During the off-season, Scrappy focuses his time on finding, interviewing and preparing the finest counselor staff possible alongside his bride, Dana, and our Associate Director Sue. He also works closely with our camp parents to prepare all aspects of our campers’ travel to and from camp while also keeping the social media engine of camp running.

During the summer, Scrappy focuses on the logistics of the day, supports our wonderful staff members, and keeps a watchful eye over our kitchen and social media efforts. He and Dana are thankful to be raising their two children alongside the Weequahic campers each summer.

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A lifelong friend of Cole’s, Leigh had heard about camp for years but not growing up as a camper herself, she did not understand the full extent of the experience. After much convincing (and the birth of her 3rd son!) Leigh was ready to give camp a chance.

Leigh and her family instantly became huge fans of Weequahic. Leigh started was our very first ‘Food Fairy’ and got to hand out snacks and canteen treats to the campers daily. She loves seeing the campers and getting to check on them to make sure they are doing well. After her first summer at camp, Leigh began working part-time in the winter office. She now enjoys connecting with and supporting our first time camp families and working with the staff in various ways.

After Leigh’s 5th summer at camp, she took on a new role as Health Center Administrator. Being a mom of 3, she feels that one of the worst things is to be sick at camp. No one wants to miss out on all of the special experiences! She wants to do everything she can to get the campers well, whether it’s sending them to the nurse or just giving them lots of “mom love!”

Spoiler title

A former collegiate football player and one-time member of the Philadelphia Eagles, John has built a reputation as a respected builder and general contractor in Eastern PA and New Jersey over the past thirty years.

After spending a few months working with Weequahic to repair some winter damage, John decided to join the team full-time during Summer 2018. Since that time, he’s worked closely with Cole to improve Weequahic’s physical property, ensure the safety of our campers and staff, and keep a patient and consistent rein on Cole and Kate’s wild ideas.

The Weequahic family is blessed to have such a thoughtful, talented person leading our Maintenance team.

Summer Camp Staff

Handpicked following an extensive set of face-to-face interviews, reference, and background checks, our summer staff are chosen to fill two roles: amazing bunk counselor and teacher in a specific area at camp. Summer staff join us for a nine-day orientation experience before the campers arrive in order to form a tightly knit community focused on creating amazing in a safe environment.

Hailing from all points of the compass, our staff members have finished at least their first year in college and cannot wait to get to Weequahic to help everyone they meet experience a GAC summer. In addition to our new friends, we are thrilled to welcome back many former campers to serve as bunk counselors and program leaders each summer.