From Camper to Counselor: Celine Is Helping the Next Generation Find Their Team

When Celine first heard about Camp Lucy, she wasn’t searching for a lifelong sport. Celine was a sixth grader at Mercer International Middle School when Camp Lucy Manager Zoe visited their class and introduced students to a free rowing camp for girls.

It sounded fun, welcoming, and completely new - so Celine decided to give it a try.

That single invitation became the beginning of a much bigger journey.

Celine returned to Camp Lucy for four consecutive summers, from 2022 through 2025. With each summer, Mount Baker Rowing and Sailing Center became more familiar. She reconnected with returning campers and coaches, formed new friendships, and grew increasingly confident on the water.

Camp Lucy soon became more than a summer activity. It gave Celine a place where she felt supported, challenged, and part of a team.

“I came back every year because of both Camp Lucy and rowing,” she says. “I loved the friends, the community, and having so much fun at camp.”

Her connection to rowing continued long after each summer ended. Celine joined Mount Baker’s regular rowing program, where she now spends early mornings training on the water. Even after her own practice concludes, she often stays to encourage novice crews as they learn the sport that has become such an important part of her life.

She loves the physical challenge of rowing, but what keeps her coming back is the way teammates support one another through that challenge. Rowing has taught her to keep going when something feels difficult - and to help the people beside her believe they can keep going, too.

“Rowing makes you mentally stronger,” Celine explains. “You’re telling yourself that you can do this while empowering your teammates that they can do it too.”

Today, Celine is passing that encouragement on to a new generation as a Camp Lucy counselor.

It is a full-circle moment: the middle school student who once signed up simply because rowing sounded fun is now helping younger campers take their own first strokes. Because she is close to them in age, Celine understands many of their questions and uncertainties. At the same time, she is learning how to be someone they can trust and look up to.

Her role involves much more than helping campers develop rowing skills. Celine encourages them when they are struggling, helps them work through disagreements, and makes sure they feel heard. She has learned to listen carefully, acknowledge different perspectives, and lead with empathy rather than immediately choosing sides.

Those lessons are shaping the kind of teammate, friend, and leader she is becoming - not only at camp, but in every part of her life.

This summer, Celine’s rowing journey reached another milestone when she received a scholarship to attend the University of Washington Rowing Camp. As a Camp Lucy alum, she will have the opportunity to train with collegiate athletes and coaches, stay at the historic Olympic House, improve her skills, and experience rowing at an entirely new level.

For Celine, the scholarship is both an exciting opportunity and a reminder of how far one invitation has taken her.

Like many young athletes, she has sometimes wondered whether her size might limit what is possible for her in the sport. Hearing about successful collegiate rowers who faced similar doubts has helped her see that strength, persistence, and determination can matter more than stature.

She doesn’t know exactly where rowing will take her. She may continue rowing, or she may eventually explore coxing. For now, she knows she isn’t ready to leave the sport - or the community she has found through it.

“I love rowing right now,” she says, “so I want to keep rowing as long as I can.”

Camp Lucy gave Celine an opportunity to try rowing. But it also gave her lasting friendships, trusted mentors, growing confidence, and a community that continued to invest in her well beyond her first summer.

Now, as a counselor, she is helping other girls discover what she found: a place to be challenged, a team that believes in them, and the confidence to believe in themselves.

Sometimes, one invitation is all it takes to change the course of a young person’s life.