Adrian Cook started his first season on the year round staff as Assistant Camp Director during the Summer 2007. He grew up in Swartz Creek, Michigan, and graduated from Swartz Creek High School in 1993. Adrian attended Western Michigan University and graduated in 1997 with a teaching certificate and a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Chemistry, Physics, and Math. While at Western, he was a member of the University men’s track team where he threw the hammer and participated in the shot put. In 2001, he received his Master’s degree in Secondary School Administration. For the past ten years, Adrian has been a chemistry teacher at Heritage High School in Saginaw, Michigan, where he also coaches the shot put and discus events on the men’s track team. He has coached numerous conference champions and has also had several athletes participate at the state and collegiate levels.
Adrian’s first summer at Blue Lake was in 1989 as a band major (bassoon). He traveled with the International Band in 1992 and returned to work on staff in 1993. Since then he has worked in many capacities at the camp including Counselor, Unit Director, International Counselor, Associate Staff Director, and Staff Director, all spanning ten seasons.
Adrian and his wife Emily met at camp when they were both on staff in 1998. (Emily continued to serve on the counseling staff for four summers, most recently as Camp Bernstein Director in 2003.) They have been married for 6 years and have two children: Aiden (3) and Kieran (1). Adrian is an avid outdoorsman who likes to hunt and fish. In his spare time he brews his own beer and also enjoys cooking. Emily and Adrian also love to garden.
One of Adrian’s favorite Blue Lake moments: “One of the funniest moments I had at camp was when I was a unit director walking down Canterbury Lane at the end of a middle school session with a camper from my unit. I was talking to him about how he liked camp and if he was thinking about coming back next year, and he said how he really enjoyed it and wanted to come back. He then said, ‘Can I ask you a question? Why did they bring all this sand here? That’s the only part I don’t like.’”
A moment of Irony: After Adrian’s first season on the counseling staff, he wrote an extensive letter to the camp administration outlining a number of obvious deficiencies of the counseling program and those who ran it at the time. He was 18. He felt strongly that the campers and the organization as a whole deserved better, and thought the camp was in need of a significant change in this area. His letter sparked a number of management discussions about problems from that season, which eventually led to Heidi [Stansell] being offered the position of Camp/Staff Director that fall.
Adrian says: “I have so much to be thankful for with all that Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp has given me. As a student, I was able to grow in the performing arts and learn independence as a person. On staff, I learned organization, leadership, and how to work with others. I was able to travel to Europe three times, which I never dreamed would happen. I met my wife at Blue Lake, and our family has grown in wonderful and unexpected ways—all with the thread of Blue Lake through both of our lives. If it were not for the experiences I have had at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, I would not be the person I am today.”
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