by Susan Miller, Director of Marketing/Communications

Joe Bertolino has a prestigious position in the world these days; he’s president of Southern Connecticut State University and prior to that, he was at the helm of Lyndon State College in Vermont. But before he rose to acclaim in academia, Joe started out as a reluctant camp counselor. In fact, it was here at YMCA Camp Ockanickon, Inc. where his leadership skills were honed. Joe – known fondly as “Spiffy Joe” during his tenure at Ockanickon (more about that later!) – came to our camp in a most inauspicious way. Here’s how he explains it:

“I needed a summer job. I returned home from the freshman year of college in 1983, saw a posting in the Courier Post – ‘Counselors Wanted’ and I thought, ‘I’m a psych major, I can be a counselor.’ Had no idea it was camp. My friend and I were headed to Virginia Beach that summer. I secured an interview with Gary Williams, the executive director. So my friend drove me to camp on our way to Virginia Beach. When we pulled up, he asked, ‘Did you know this was a camp?’  I said, ‘Nope.’  He asked, ‘Did you ever go to summer camp?’ I said, ‘Nope.’  He said, ‘Do you even like the outdoors?’  I said, ‘Nope.’

My interview went something like this:

G – Been to camp?

J – No

G- Can you swim?

J – No

G- Sports?

J – No

G – Boating?

J – No

G- Archery?

J – No

G Arts and Crafts?

J – Maybe

G – Like the outdoors?

J – No

G – So why are you here?

J – I think I’d be good with kids

“After that, I left, went to Virginia with my friend and by the time I got down there, my mom called and said, ‘Come home – you were hired.’ Moral of the story – you don’t have to have any skills, because there is a place for everyone at camp!”

During his years working at camp (1983-90), Joe was a counselor, a village chief, the head of arts & crafts, a CIT (counselor-in-training) director and an assistant program director. Later, he served on the camp’s board from 1997-2010. (There’s a bench and a plaque honoring Joe’s contribution to camp near a lovely fishing area on the property.)

Joe treasures the connections he made at camp, especially one with a former camper who became a lifelong friend. As a 19-year-old counselor in Algonquin (now cabin 7), Joe met a 9-year-old camper named Steve. “His mother dropped him off, as his parents were going through a divorce. He needed someone, and I was there. For the next few summers, Steve was in my cabin-  until he was around 14. I was HIS counselor and he was MY camper. He won two blue feathers.”

As the years went on, the two men stayed connected by letter and via telephone. “Steve called often for advice; I was like a big brother. We stayed in touch as he went through high school, college and his first job. When he was 16, he even asked me to ‘teen sit’ him while his mother was in Florida, because he did not want to stay with his grandmother.”

“The bottom line is, we accepted each other for who we both were. We love each other like brothers. Today our relationship remains the same. We don’t always get to chat or connect, but when we do, it is meaningful.”

In 2001, 18 years after they first met, Steve asked Joe to be the best man at his wedding. A few years later, the former camper asked his former counselor to be the godfather to his firstborn son, Matthew.

(Steve and his son Matthew (Joe’s godson) in front of Cabin 7 in 2016)

In 2016 and 2017, Matthew attended Camp Ockanickon – and stayed in Cabin 7,  the Algonquin cabin that his father had stayed in decades earlier as a camper.

Joe said he loves the fact that Matthew got to stay in the cabin where he and Matthew’s dad met. “It’s a testament to the camp legacy and our relationship. It’s a reminder that counselors can touch the lives of campers and vice versa.”

He added, “Camp has been the single most important influence in my life. I credit camp with my becoming an educator and the reason why I am now a university president.”

These days, he’s called “President Joe,” but back in his Ocky days, he was known as “Spiffy Joe.” Here’s how Joe explains the origin of the nickname: “The name was given to me by Steve Kudriavetz in 1983. I was cleaning out my cabin before the kids came. He couldn’t help but notice that I had made signs for the cabin, put up curtains on the cubbies and swept the cabin at least a dozen times. He said, ‘What is wrong with you? All this cleaning and prepping. You are so damn….spiffy! That’s it, I am going to call you Spiffy Joe!’ It caught on pretty quickly. In fact, some folks didn’t know my real name for years … they just thought it was Spiffy Joe.”