ROBERT PIKE
GRACE BLINKOFF
HANNAH PUMA
High school physics teacher Robert Pike works hard to learn his students’ names within the first three days of each semester, so they feel valued and appreciated — a habit he started as a longtime mentor for National Leadership Conference.
Upon joining City Year AmeriCorps, each member is presented with a red jacket, which they dedicate to a person, idea, or cause that inspires them to serve. Most people dedicate their red jackets to family or friends — but Merrowvista seasonal staffer Grace Blinkoff said it was a no-brainer for her to dedicate hers to AYF.
Hannah Puma’s AYF experience began when she was a small child, running around Miniwanca as her mom worked at camp for multiple summers. She couldn’t wait to be a camper herself, and she went on to graduate from NLC in 2017. Just like her mom, she has returned each summer to work as an AYF seasonal staffer ever since.
The former Merrowvista camper and seasonal staff member said that, like her City Year red jacket, the mission of the AYF inspires her to wake up and serve others each day. City Year AmeriCorps members work daily in underserved schools for an academic year, working with students to help them succeed in their educations and lives. When Blinkoff graduated from Oberlin College in spring 2020, she said she wasn’t quite ready for grad school and wanted to take time to do something meaningful, which is how she landed with City Year in fall 2020.
Last year during her internship with the AYF, Puma created a multiweek series of dares to be used on Miniwanca, Merrowvista, and NLC social media. She used the recently published For Real and On Purpose and the theme of balanced living to encourage those following the AYF to exercise their four folds from home. Puma said 2020 helped her realize that her annual AYF experience allowed her to recharge her body, soul, and mind. Without it, she searched for a tangible way to connect with others and the AYF mission remotely.
Pike keeps a smile on NLC participants’ faces nearly every summer, but it took nearly 20 years to return to the AYF after his time as a Miniwanca camper and then volunteer, as his teaching schedule was incompatible with NLC programming. He returned to the shores of Lake Michigan when the program was moved from August to June. Pike recalls his time at camp in the 1980s as positive and memorable, so he works to create similar experiences for first-year participants, the group he works with every year. Pike loves the conference’s emphasis on inclusion and open, respectful dialogue. He’s passionate about getting young people to work together — whether at conference or in the classroom — so that they can determine on their own what specifically they need help understanding. Last year Campbell High School students awarded Pike the school’s MLK Humanitarian Award, which honors those who embody the spirit and mission of legendary civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Pike attributes this honor to all he has learned from participants and staff members throughout his time with AYF, passing the flame from one NLC class to the next each year. He said he will continue to mentor NLC participants because the genuine, humble philosophies of best self and balanced living established by the camp’s founders withstand the test of time.
Blinkoff credits her time as a Merrowvista staff member with helping her realize she has a strong passion for working with kids. Blinkoff believes she helps others — whether it's campers or her students — be their best selves by recentering herself every morning. In doing so, she said she creates a continuous cycle of enkindled spirits, where she inspires the students to be their best selves, which in turn inspires her to be her best self. In fact, the AYF motto “My own self, at my very best, all the time,” is what first spoke to Blinkoff as a new camper years ago. She said her time with the AYF taught her she is a lot stronger — physically and mentally — than she ever thought she could be.
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Puma said she didn’t intend for so many people to interact with her more than 50 dares (and counting), but hundreds have engaged with the posts. She attributes that to the convenience of seeing it while scrolling through Instagram, an easy, fast way to remind campers and AYF alumni to take time to self-reflect and focus on what matters. Puma said the AYF mission and its four-fold philosophy are beautifully broad, and her time at Miniwanca helped her overcome some uncertainty and confusion regarding her values and spirituality. In her daily life as a high school English teacher in a Milwaukee suburb, Puma believes attending camp developed her strengths as a leader and reinforced her love for kids and her passion for teaching.
