Staff Spotlight: Nadia Kelem
Nadia Kelem poses (top left) with a jolly crew of Camp Fire Central Oregon's Teen Connects at a holiday volunteer service project.
This fabulous Community Engagement Coordinator is now heading up our Summertime Teen Offerings ... and we're thrilled to share more about this amazing friend and leader!
Camp Fire Central Oregon is super jazzed to announce a role change for one of its current year-round staff members, Nadia Kelem, aka “Poppy.” In a newly created Community Engagement Coordinator position, Nadia (she/her/hers) is now heading up our SummerKids teen programs! We caught up with Nadia to ask a few questions so you can get to know her better and learn how she’s planning to evolve her work with Camp Fire and our teens. She’s been with us for about nine months and is a true team player!
Q: What's your role as Community Engagement Coordinator?
A: I joined Camp Fire about nine months ago and work on a lot of different projects! Most of my responsibilities are community relations work, coordinating Camp Fire’s presence at community events and helping plan Camp Fire events like Absolutely Incredible Kid® Day and the Autumn Family Faire. I do volunteer intake and coordination. I do direct service with families to support inclusive, equitable camp experiences that help kids thrive. I am on the social media team, order and inventory Camp Fire swag, and am on the SummerKids leadership team, this year running teen service and leadership programs!
Q: What are your sparks?
A: My sparks are swimming, doing ceramics, and snowboarding.
Q: What are your future goals (professional and/or personal)?
A: One of my big work goals is making Camp Fire more accessible to families, and making it more fun for everyone to engage with Camp Fire outside of our awesome programs!
Q: What's your favorite part of working with youth?
A: It’s getting to provide activities and spaces where they can really be themselves, have fun, and do things they love!
Q: What are you looking forward to most in your new role, working with teens?
A: I'm very excited to facilitate teens being more deeply engaged with their community. Central Oregon's teenagers are so innovative and inspired to create meaningful change. I can't wait to help them make an even stronger impact!
Q: Why is helping teens thrive important, especially today?
A: We are in truly unprecedented times—whatever "playbook" we thought we had to guide us has essentially been thrown out the window. Teens face unique challenges today and an unpredictable future, and need a new set of skills and type of resiliency to be able to thrive. Prioritizing teen well-being fosters a generation of empowered individuals poised to make positive contributions to society.