By: Samantha Keane
Supporting children with special health care needs at Camp Boggy Creek has been an unforgettable experience for UF students.
Every year, the camp — located on 232 acres in Eustis, Florida — relies on more than 1,800 volunteers to work with children ages 7 to 16 who have medical challenges like sickle cell disease, cancer and congenital heart defects. Ishany Martinez and Amelia Slayden — two 2026 graduates from the UF Department of Tourism, Hospitality & Event Management, or THEM — are among the helpers.
“You’re [volunteers] just there to have fun and take the weight off the parents,” said Martinez, who has guided families and campers through safe, age-appropriate activities, such as archery, horseback riding, swimming and music. “Camp does a good job at creating a really jam-packed schedule and different activities for different personalities.”
Since the 1996-founded, donation-funded, year-round camp opened in Eustis, more than 90,000 children with serious illnesses and family members have been served at no cost. Slayden coordinates with families prior to arrival and helps prepare the program.
One of the most memorable activities, Martinez and Slayden said, is known as Tumbleweeds. The activity encourages campers to spread kindness by taking a piece of colorful yarn from a pom-pom and tying it to another person’s pom-pom. Martinez and Slayden have kept their Tumbleweeds as reminders of the impact the camp has had on them, and how they have made a “lifelong family” there.
“I would encourage anyone to go,” Martinez said. “Anyone can benefit from it, and you can see it in all the people who volunteer there. It’s impactful overall.”
Students like Martinez and Slayden are required to complete 12 credit hours of experiential learning for their degree in THEM in the College of Health and Human Performance. The students learn essential skills in the classroom, such as tourniquet training and crisis management, which they can apply in real-world settings, including camps, theme parks and resorts.
The students noted that they appreciate the unique perspectives their professors provide.
“I feel like HHP really gave the framework for our fields, specifically in THEM,” Slayden said. “It’s not that our professors just become experts on the subject, but they’ve lived the subject, and they have so much personal experience and still work in hospitality… It also has really made me feel more confident in how to market myself and my skills.”
This classroom experience has led to real-world impacts at Camp Boggy Creek.
“We are always thankful to welcome students from UF to Camp Boggy Creek. Amelia and Ishany brought compassion, professionalism and enthusiasm to their field experience, helping to create positive experiences for the campers and families,” said Kirstin Cauraugh Youmans, M.Ed., the director of program operations at Camp Boggy Creek. “At the same time, they gained valuable hands-on experience honing their interpersonal, leadership and critical-thinking skills as they collaborated with peers, worked directly with campers and families, and adapted to the dynamic environment of camp. Experiences like these allow students to translate classroom learning into practice while making a meaningful impact on the lives of others.”
