Cottage conversations: Camp Leader Ebony 

Q: How did your journey with Cottage begin?

A: “I started at Cottage as a Take a Break program participant when I was in Grade 3 at Tate Street Primary School in 2009. Then, my school was selected to participate in the REEF and Mentor programs, where we came up to four times a year through Year 6 to Year 12 – it just helped with the transition in school. Then, I got a job here as a Camp Leader and I’ve been here ever since! I’m now 24.”

Q: What makes Cottage so special?

A: “It’s another place you can call home. But it’s also got so much adventure and so many new things – although it’s new things that feel familiar because of how comfortable you are here.”

Q: What inspired you to come back to Cottage to work?

A: “When I was a kid here, I always looked up to all the staff members and my Camp Leaders – they really changed my life. They got to do so many cool things and I was like, that would be the coolest job ever! Then, after having felt the impact, I thought it would be awesome if I could do that for someone else.”

"It feels incredible to be a leader in this space because when I see a kid smile and laugh during their experience at Cottage, I know from first-hand experience how genuine and lifelong those small moments of joy are. It just makes it all the more special to know I get to be part of that. I genuinely will never be able to repay how much Cottage and its community has done for me."

Q: How did your background studying nursing and paramedicine relate to your time at Cottage?

A: “They wanted to give us life skills through Cottage’s REEF and Mentor programs, so we did our White Card, barista training and first-aid training. The first-aid course was my first exposure to first aid and medical support in any sort of industry. That inspired my future aspirations to become a nurse and a paramedic.”

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

A: “Cottage by the Sea has given me so much confidence, connections into the real world, leadership experience … and heaps of experiences that I would never have been able to do at home and through normal life. You meet so many new people through the programs and it opens your mind to so many new things that now I know I can do. Maybe I didn’t know I was capable of it before, but they’ve encouraged me so much that I’m stronger.”

“My story here at Cottage is ongoing – I’m always getting new experiences now as a Camp Leader, but hopefully I can be a testament to how much Cottage by the Sea does affect one person. And if you put that same experience onto the 1,900+ children we get a year, hopefully we can have that same effect on all those young kids.”