WEEK

reassuring a parent who’s apart from their kid for the first time, or tracking down receipts that have been missing for months – she can problem-solve them all. Regardless of what Glenn is finding, fixing, or figuring out, she expertly and warmly provides help to others.

Glenn carries the camp spirit far beyond the boundaries of Kiniya’s campus, and far beyond the months of June through August. The Rutter-Patterson household is filled with mementos of camp, from flags, to prints of their favorite hymn sing lyrics, and a wall in their home which would typically be reserved for kids’ measurements has grown to include countless camp people. Glenn has opened her doors to countless Kiniya- and Dudley-ites, who have come to live in her home for stays ranging from brief to familial. I can’t describe the love for camp and the commitment to ‘The Other Fellow First’ that exists in Glenn’s household without also mentioning her three wonderful daughters, Mahala, Beavan, and Celia - campers number #20958, #22758, and #23858, respectively.

They’re now the fifth generation of camp-people in the Rutter family, and the first to be campers at Kiniya. Furthermore, they’re incredibly strong, intelligent, and compassionate young women, who epitomize Glenn’s outlook on the world as a place to improve and adventure through whenever possible. And I absolutely can’t forget to mention the many, many cats in Glenn’s home — they love camp too, whether they know it or not.

Beyond her home, camp is always on Glenn’s mind in the o season, as she attends work weekends with her family, brings neighborhood families to Dudley’s campus to go camping in the fall, and takes every further opportunity she can to expose camp to as many people as possible. There were multiple summers in which about 8 kids from one neighborhood attended Kiniya, all at the suggestion of Glenn - no, not from one town or one city, but eight kids from one tiny section of Burlington. This speaks multitudes to Glenn’s influence at bringing people in, and further building the camp community.

Even in her work outside of camp, Glenn consistently upholds camp’s motto of ‘The Other Fellow First’ and its mission to better the lives of others. She works as a lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Vermont, alongside serving as an education consultant to the state of Vermont, and will shortly be completing a doctorate in Special Education. Glenn is a champion of access to education for all, which is an important component of her overall dedication to the development of others — whether it be socially, emotionally, academically, Glenn strives to better everyone and anyone that she can connect with, urging them to do more, be more. Wubba Murray, camper number #16963 and a long-time camp sta member and friend to Glenn, summarizes it best in saying: “Glenn inspires me to be a better human. She combines a deep comprehension of the living world, human nature and the way the world spins on its axis. Glenn stoically, confidently and warmly approaches a challenge as a ‘solvable problem’, and works harder than ten people combined. In the 25 years we’ve been friends, I have yet to hear her utter an insincere, unkind or un-informed word.”

If there is something Glenn can do in order to ‘do more’, she will do it. If there’s a way for her to better camp, or to better the lives of others through camp and the values we instill here, she will do it. For her tireless commitment, her endless support, and her far-radiating kindness, Glenn is a glowing example of the Spirit of Camp Kiniya.

With that, it is an absolute honor and privilege for Marnie and I to award the 2022 Spirit Dedication to our role model and dear friend: camper number #21158 Glenn Patterson.