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Senior Staff Bios

Merritt Duffy - Assistant Camp Director

Adirondack has been a part of my life for over 28 years and it is my personal goal to pass on the same ideals of leadership, growing, and caring to staff and campers that were given to me by my counselors. My summers here were spent rock climbing and tripping all over the Adirondacks and when I wasn't climbing a mountain - I was swimming in Lake George. Lifelong friends from my days at Adirondack include Shawn Carraher, the owners' daughter, and Matt Basinet, our director. My daughter, Heather, loves Camp too and wants to be a counselor someday. There is no task "too big" or "too small" for me at Camp and I try to help out wherever I am needed. Camp has afforded me an amazing opportunity to grow as an individual and I can't imagine any better place to spend my summers. My independence, self-confidence, and success as an adult are all the direct result of the positive community that Adirondack affords children. I earn my living as an independent insurance agent in New Jersey and am also currently working towards a master's degree in secondary education. I honestly believe that every minute of every Adirondack day is a gift to all of us and that our time together should never be wasted.

Jen Zahorchak - Chief Camper Advocate

When I received my science education degree, I thought I'd do what most would and teach in the classroom. Then I discovered one of the worlds best kept secrets – the combination of outdoor, environmental education and camping. Though my parents still ask when I'm going to get a "real job", I know there is nothing more real than building community with young people in the greatest classroom on earth. Camping has allowed me to teach, live and work with children throughout the U.S., travel and live in amazing natural environments and introduced me to my husband Gregg. Now, after an even dozen years teaching science to young people in the great outdoors, with two daughters and a loving husband, I’ve settled down to anticipating my third year as Adirondack’s Chief Camper Advocate, while Gregg leads Adirondack’s Wilderness Adventure Program. In the off-season, that means I help to select qualified candidates for openings in our staff, correspond with parents regarding their children’s needs and generally assist in planning for the coming summer. When summer arrives, the job means only one thing – to do whatever I can and to marshal whatever resources are available, in working with cabin counselors, line heads, the program director, the Camp nurse, the Director and Assistant Director (anybody!) to assure that each and every child (and they are each very different!) has the summer of his or her life and nothing less than that.

Sam MacNaughton - Programming Coordinator Extraordinaire

I arrived at Adirondack a nervous thirteen-year-old and haven’t looked back since! I have since spent a decade’s worth of summers on the beautiful peninsula where I have found some of my closest friends and fondest memories. I came to camp a soft-spoken and reserved teenager, and Adirondack brought out the best in me, instilling a sense of confidence and vivacity that no other experience could have afforded.

As a staff member, it has been my goal to have every camper experience Adirondack with the same smile and thrill that I have. As a camper, I discovered my passion for the sport of windsurfing, and I spent every possible minute exploring Lake George on a board. It seemed only natural to come back as a surfing counselor to share my passion for wind and water with a new generation of nervous, fresh-faced campers.

After three amazing summers instructing windsurfing, I moved to the office to assume the role of the Program Director, and it has been nothing less than outstanding fun. My duty in camp (in a nutshell) is to ensure that every day is as fun and safe as possible, for campers and staff alike. I make sure every camper’s daily schedule reflects his or her unique activity preferences and that every evening is chock-full of fun. I also schedule the instructional staff such that every camper has a safe, fun and constructive experience at camp. I take pride in knowing all 180+ campers’ names, and every year they give me 180 reasons to stick around for another great summer.

Brooke Bradley - Head of Swimming

I have had such a lucky career—I’ve been in the camping field as a professional for over twenty-five years. Every summer I get to see the most amazing magic unfold; children arrive at camp as individuals and leave having grown in so many wonderful ways. When my own son went away to camp, I really understood and valued the independence and self-confidence that a quality camp can help develop.

When I decided to pursue a career in teaching, I knew that I wanted to find the perfect camp for a summer job. I spent as much time choosing Adirondack Camp as any parent looking for a quality camp for their child! Using my background as an American Camp Association Certified Camp Director and Standards Visitor and Instructor, I thoroughly checked out the camp. What I discovered was impressive, from the stunning location on Lake George to the values that are woven into daily camp life. I was especially concerned about safety, so I was very impressed to find that the commitment to safety matched my own high standards.

My husband and I live near Knoxville, Tennessee where our son John is a freshman at the university. Currently I am working on a Master’s degree in Elementary Education and teaching fourth grade at Garden Montessori School. Last summer as the Swimming Head at Adirondack, I was able to combine my love of the water with my camp directing experience. The result was a dynamic team of swim instructors who delivered a safe, fun, quality swimming program for our campers. I easily had as much fun at Adirondack as any camper and I can’t wait to return. I feel lucky to be part of such a dynamic and caring team!

Peter Macfarlane - Canoeing Senior Advisor

Being English, summer camps were always foreign to me; but through my association with Adirondack, I have come to appreciate the personal development and spirit of involvement the American Summer Camp provides. My formative years were spent largely in kayaks, especially on (sometimes in!) the North Sea. I competed in slalom to a high level, and more recently took up marathon racing, completing the 125-mile Devizes-to-Westminster Race in 2004. From 1994, I visited Vermont regularly, finally moving here in 2003 to marry. My wife introduced me to the delights, and relaxed paddling pace, of wilderness canoeing. We head for the remote Adirondack lakes and rivers, paddling our self-restored cedar-strip canoe, using homemade paddles. I have found that many canoeing skills have served me well in competitions and can be applied to leisure paddling – thereby making it easier and, therefore, more enjoyable. My role at Adirondack has been to lend this experience, together with what I learned about the art of teaching from 18 years teaching high school science, to the canoeing counselors. My aim is that the campers should develop strong individual and crew boatmanship, coupled with an awareness of safety, and so have access to a perspective on the environment that only small watercraft can afford.

Ron Kumetz - Archery Senior Advisor

A National Archery Association Level 3 Coach trained at the US Olympic Center in Chula Vista, California, Ron has the heart as well as the eye of Robin Hood. Ron has been making arrows fly exactly where he wants them to go for over thirty years and has spent over eight summers at Adirondack Camp. "Nothing makes me happier than seeing our campers take up this sport and enjoy it the way I do - especially when they shoot well." Campers who are old enough can even be certified as National Archery Instructors. When Ron is not shooting bulls eyes - he is designing radio and and TV equipment or is out in the field with his pet falcon, imagining his is a knight in King Arthur's Court.

Mitch Mitchell - Sailing Senior Advisor

I first came to Adirondack Camp in the early 70’s as one of Camps younger campers and remained for 13 summers. I learned many of life’s important lessons at camp as a camper, counselor and activity head and have come to reflect often on the examples set by my counselors over the years. My son is now a camper at Adirondack Camp having just completed his first summer experience. I like to say that “Everything I truly love to do, I learned to do at Adirondack Camp”. My passion at camp was sailing and I would often be found on the crystal clear waters of Lake George with a boat full of kids or standing on a dock practicing dock landings or teaching a group of campers how to rig and unrig a boat. Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to sail for pleasure or race on many of the world’s oceans in sailboats both large and small. I look back fondly on the days as a camper when I was first introduced to the sport and as a counselor where I taught others and I’m please to continue to be able to make a contribution to the sailing program. Today, I play an active role as an advisor to camp, the sailing program and as a parent to a camper. I’ve committed to supporting the sailing program at camp and providing guidance and insight to the staff on how best to run a fun and educational program that strives to create a lifelong love and appreciation for the sport.

Maurine "Mo" Paishon - Adirondack Arts & Archives Director

After earning a BA in Art and spending many years in a successful career on the creative side of television and commercial art production in New York and Hawaii, I recently returned home to the Adirondack playground of my youth to spend quality time, at a slower pace, with myself and aging members of my family. I think most artists who find themselves in commercial settings, dream of a day when they can afford to simply practice their own unique brand of creative expression. To discover what might manifest if allowed to bring, in my case, brush to paper or hand to clay and just begin, without needing to be invested in the outcome. To allow myself to get lost for a time in my own creative process and experience joy in it. I viewed this coming home as an opportunity to experiment with that. It didn't take me long to realize that what I was aching for was to return to where I had already been intuitively, as a child, with my art. What child do you know who worries about how his painting will turn out before he begins? Have you ever known a young child to not enjoy being creative in any way, shape or form? What positive change could occur on a broader scale if children were encouraged to keep in touch with and expressing from that creative place?

Needless to say, when I discovered Adirondack in the summer of 2000, I knew it was a match made in heaven. I now consider it my mission to nurture every child's innate creativity and encourage all campers who express an interest to keep creating and enjoying the process - through oils, water colors, drawing, potting, sculpting, dance, music, even video journalism - whatever it takes! Even as I do, they continue to reinforce the same in me!

Renee Mitchell - Associate Arts Director

Renee Mitchell is the wife of long-time Adirondack alumni, Mitch, and the mother of two campers, Hugh and Alice. She has served on the Camp Advisory Board for the past eight years. Renee's creative experience includes owning a flower shop and teaching art to children in both camp and studio settings. She is currently pursuing her Masters of Education in Arts & Learning at Endicott College in Massachusetts. Renee’s love of nature and Adirondack Camp shows in the projects she directs in Creative Arts.

Viveka Fox - Fencing Coach and Senior Advisor

Viveka was introduced to fencing at summer camp 30 years ago and has been addicted to it ever since. She was team captain at Harvard and received all-Ivy honors. Since 1990, she has been foil champion once and a foil and epee finalist several times at North Atlantic Section Championships. She has been head coach of the Vermont Fencing Alliance since 1992. In 2006, her students took medaled at North Atlantic Section Championships and the US National Championships. She is the founder of the USFA Green Mountain Division, and a nationally certified referee. She believes that fencing is not just another sport, but is a creative way of thinking and moving that links us to the past and allows us to express ourselves as individuals.

She is looking forward to another season of overseeing the Adirondack fencing program and introducing young people to this exciting sport!

Gregg Van Deusen - Director of Wilderness Adventure

Gregg's interest in the outside world began when, as a young teen, he and his family moved from big city and suburban life to rural Delaware. The Nature Center next-door became his playground and fostered a late blooming interest in the natural world. In college, Gregg acquired an AA in Rural Resource Management and Outdoor Education and a BS in Natural History/Environmental Education. Through teaching, he soon discovered that even though he was voted quietest in his high school class, this tag was not applicable when around young people. He found his niche in outdoor education and teamed up with Jen, Adirondack’s Chief Camper Advocate to practice his avocation over the next dozen years in and on some of the thickest forests, highest peaks, lowest valleys and wildest waters in the country. Today, he brings his wealth of expertise and zest for adventure to a Camp that believes with all its heart in its motto –

Every child is at heart an adventurer.

Mac MacDevitt - Head of Sailing

My love for sailing goes deep. I have been sailing on Lake Champlain in the Adirondacks for over 20 years. I feel renewed and recharged every time I can get out on the water and be challenged by the ever-changing and often surprising combination of wind, waves and water and it effects on boat and crew. I’m called Captain Mac by campers and sailing instructors. My primary responsibility is to insure that all of our sailing activities are safe, fun and build skill and character for all participants. It is wonderful to watch our young campers step up to the challenges offered by sailing. To see them overcome fears, take measured risks, learn from mistakes, bond with each other and with our excellent instructors, and become SAILORS – competently handling the complexities inherent in sailing, and growing in self-confidence built on real skills and good judgment. Sailing can be a lifelong interest, and many of our most passionate young sailing instructors were first introduced to sailing at camp. In the off-season I work as a social worker assisting coalitions of youth and adults in our local communities to plan programs to reduce drug and alcohol use, and make their towns and schools healthy places for youth to grow up. My two sons Ben and Zak are both campers, and with my wife Darla Breckenridge, it has been a joy to be part of the outstanding growing experience they have both had this past season at Adirondack.

Ron Splatt - Water-ski and Wake Board Senior Advisor

I live, work and play on Lake George for six months of the year with my wife Linda. I am a retired music teacher of 32 years. One of my favorite sayings is "Never, Never Be Without a Song". I may be the only singing wake boarder you will ever know. I have been connected to summer camping for some 38 years. I worked my way up the ladder from being a camper, clown, waterfront director, chief of staff and was finally elected President of Everything. No matter the specific job, what I have truly enjoyed all my adult life is working with young people and watching them become successful in something that I taught them. Our young people are the joys of our life. And they teach us as much as we teach them! The best kind of water-skiing and wakeboarding are the runs where you can range far to both sides, crossing your wake, lifting a leg, maneuvering on a big enough and un-crowded body of water. We could not have a better spot than here in Northern Lake George to learn all the techniques!

Andrew Ledee - Head of Athletics

I was born and raised in the Bronx, where being tough was a part of life. My mother always believed in summer camps and would tell me there was more to life than just the city buildings and staying on the block. When I was about 10 years old, I joined the Boy Scouts and went on many camping trips. I became an Eagle Scout when I was 17 and remember well the proud feeling I felt when I received my award. The Eagle stood for merit badges, long hikes, meetings, and community service and when I came to Adirondack Camp, I found something that I thought I already had: a home. Adirondack is a special place with special people - so special that this past year I decided to join our director, Matt Basinet, and work with him all year round teaching at the same school in Connecticut. I have met friends for life at Adirondack Camp and I hope you take the same opportunity I did. Now whenever I see an Eagle - I think of a home, a family, and a safe place where I love to be.

Carolina Macrini - Office Manager & Chief Chef for Culinary Fun

I am proud to say that Culinary Fun out polled even Water-skiing and Rock Climbing these last few years as Adirondack's most popular activity. I think that might have something to do with the tastiness of what our kids get to cook as well as the fact that we have a terrific amount of fun together. Yes, I have been told that my cooking is the secret weapon behind Memorial Day Work Weekend. I learned to cook at the feet of my Mother, Marietta Marchese Tavolacci who was a wonderful woman. I remember those days well, because I am Sicilian; and Sicilians don't forget anything. So far all my memories of Camp are the kind they write about in stories with happy endings. I have worked for Linda and Alex for nearly 30 years now and I've been with Adirondack for over 9 of these years. I have since entrusted Camp with my greatest treasures - my three grandchildren. I even moved here permanently to help run the office year around. Can you imagine a Bronx born, nice Italian girl living up here in the North Country where in the winter it's hard to tell where land ends and lake begins and you can go around for months on end looking at your own breath? Only for Adirondack!

Tim and Steve Condit - Facilities Director and Assistant

Our family moved from New Jersey to the North Country back when I was a very young man; and I've never looked back. You can still breathe the air and drink the water up here. I've been working at Adirondack for nearly 20 years. At Adirondack we think of ourselves first as stewards for the young minds and bodies entrusted to us each summer. We also take seriously our role as a custodian for the environment around us. In that context, I also sit on the local town planning board. For a man who likes to work with his hands and who loves children, this is a great job.

I also get to work with various regulatory officials to make sure we are in full compliance with various safety requirements. I am proud to say, we always measure up. My brother Steve is my "right hand man" and helps me manage a crew that goes from two to four year around (not including our Memorial Work Weekend when I get to supervise a bunch of alumni who come from all over to contribute something back to the Camp in return for some of the best Italian cooking south of Rome). Some would say our work is a little like washing dishes. That is, there is always a roof or something like that to do. But honestly, you haven't lived if you've never sat up in the cab of a truck and moved two ton rocks! I love my job!

Kevin Porterfield "KP" - Webmaster, Occasional Guest Master Counselor

I was simply told I was going to follow my brother and sister at camp for the summer of 1982. A 10 year-old city kid, I had no idea I was beginning a tenure at Adirondack that would change my life. I fell in love with Adirondack in the first week, and returned for six years as a camper and thirteen (!) as a staff member; heading several activities, teaching on the waterfront, counseling senior camp, and assisting the Director. Each summer I would tell my parents I was going back to camp because as long as I had the opportunity to go, I wanted to make it count. I yearned to be a part of Adirondack year after year not only because it was fun, beautiful, and inspiring for myself, but because I wanted to give kids the same amazing, life-long memories and experiences I had the fortune of experiencing as a camper (and even as a staff member). I am a programmer at an animation company now, that unfortunately doesn't allow me to take an 8 week vacation each June, but I remain actively involved in all areas of camp and run the Adirondack website. People always ask when my last year at camp was, and I respond by saying, "I don't know yet." I hope to return again and again.

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Senior Staff Bios