Experiences – Anne Hauze

My experiences as a sister, summer camp counselor and manager, budding educator, project manager, theatre director, and student have taught me that leadership is more listening than telling. Uncovering this knowledge has led me into the most valuable experiences of my life so far.

Right: a fort built by some of my campers in winter 2024

Sticks lean on each other to create a triangular shelter in the woods in this black and white image.

Summer Camp

I serve as resident camp manager at an overnight camp in the mountains of Vermont. My track at the camp since the summer of 2023 has been is as follows: assistant counselor to head counselor to program team member to resident camp manager.

Navigating Newness: My First Summer Counseling

Counseling taught me more about myself than I expected. It taught me how to be patient, how to show love and gentle care to children who are accustomed to violence, and how to respond to questions I don’t know the answer to myself. We are a Christian Camp, and I have served as a ‘shepherd,’ a role generally filled by a local pastor. As a shepherd, a counselor, and a leader of a program for prospective counselors, I have discovered how to more meaningfully engage with my faith while experiencing the discomfort of newness.

Camp Agape

Once a week every summer and for one weekend every winter, we host a camp called Camp Agape. Agape gives children of incarcerated parents the camp experience and the opportunity to connect with peers who have similar experiences to theirs. As an Agape counselor and then as manager, serving in a behavioral support role, I have experienced the behavioral effects of childhood trauma on kids as young as seven and as old as seventeen. I have counseled small children who have the cynicism of older teenagers and kids whose anger runs so deep that they threaten their peers with violence and need to be physically restrained. These same kids have listened intently as I sing Elizabeth Mitchell songs at bedtime and leaned on my shoulder as I tell them stories. My job is to give them a space in which they feel that they can be kids, and I am forever grateful for that opportunity, as difficult as it can be.

A Lenape beaded bandolier bag is pictured behind text reading 'Powering the Narrative Through Art: An Inclusive Excellence Fellowship, Highlighting Lenape History at Swarthmore'

Inclusive Excellence Fellowship Initiative

As an Inclusive Excellence Fellow at Swarthmore College, I co-manage a project called Power the Narrative Through Art. Through this project, I have gained a range of skills in research, website-making, team building, professional communication, and how to navigate especially nuanced and controversial DEI topics.

Below is the mission statement for my project.

Mission Statement

Elementary Schools

In my senior year of high school, I conducted an independent study focused on inter-ability classrooms integrating sign language and Braille into everyday lesson plans. This allowed me to shadow a communication facilitator for a student who used speech-assisted-sign. Observing his communication facilitator and classroom teacher working together to make his education accessible and engage other students in learning with him (in his language) was a valuable experience for me.

In an introductory education course, I completed fieldwork at a school in Philadelphia which emphasizes culturally responsive education. The same semester, my Deaf Literacy class took trips to the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, where I was able to witness an entirely different type of school environment.

I have since experienced field placements at a variety of schools in the Philadelphia region, including-but not limited to-a school with a focus on multilingual and multicultural learning through the arts and a school with a focus on agency-supportive project-based learning for middle schoolers.

A sign reading 'Pennsylvania School for the Deaf' sits in a bed of purple flowers. The sign is in front of a large tree and an old-fashioned Pennsylvania schoolhouse style building made of stone.

My Skills

French

I took up to AP French (5) in high school and took one advanced writing course in French at Swarthmore. I have a high level of proficiency in spoken French and French writing, academic and casual.

Basic proficiency in Spanish, Italian, Latin, and some ASL

I have independently studied a range of romance languages and function well in immersion settings. I have taken classes and conducted independent studies related to ASL and working with deaf/HOH children.

Project Management

As a part of the Inclusive Excellence Fellowship Initiative, I learned how to lead a project effectively and communicate professionally with a team. My project, Powering the Narrative Through Art, required a high level of independent research as well as group discussion, and I learned how to navigate complex subject matter by contacting professionals in a range of disciplines to develop a nuanced understanding of the topic.

Grant Writing

As a part of the Inclusive Excellence Fellowship Initiative, I learned how to compile materials for a grant application and, upon receiving the grant, manage funds and multiple community partnerships towards the completion of a successful event series.

Working with children

As a camp counselor, resident camp manager, and substitute teacher, I have years of experience working with children. This range of experiences equips me to navigate difficult situations when working with children. Above, in my section about working as a camp counselor, I detail some experiences which have taught me about responsive group management. I have also witnessed and studied many different ways to cater to children’s learning styles, and have led children through the process of expressing themselves through both visual and performance arts.