ISSUE #4

UNITED KINGDOM

LIVERPOOL

THEY were called the Fab Four but

to anyone who knows the city of

Liverpool The Beatles were not the

only amazing success, which has

originated from the banks of the

River Mersey.

What is most surprising for those

who have never been here, and

we know that many of you have, it

was known as the second city of the

Empire because of its wealth and as

early as 1851 described as ‘the New

York of Europe’. Indeed it housed

the first United States consulate in

1790.

It has also been home to famous

writers, actors and musicians and

Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance

March No 1, was first premiered

here in October 1901.

The place is teeming with driven

people keen to succeed in whatever

walk of life, whether it be sport,

humour or in business.

And therefore, it can hardly be any

coincidence that when you bring so

many diverse cultures together in

one spot there is a melting pot of

ideas and incredible energy.

It was hardly unexpected then that it

became the global birthplace of the

Smaller Earth umbrella of the then

fledgling Camp Leaders.

It was founded by Chris Arnold

and Dave Robinson in 1999, after

they themselves had experienced

the life changing opportunity travel

offered. However, after those camp

programs with BUNAC, they saw

opportunities to make it a more

inclusive experience to generations

of young people, more used to the

back streets of a North West city,

than the golden beaches in some

faraway exotic climate.

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS IN LIVERPOOL ONE

Continued on page 4

The pair founded Camp Leaders

and based it on a simple philosophy,

namely, that through ambition and

passion, anything is possible. It’s a

core belief of determination and a

desire to follow that great American

poet Robert Frost’s analogy of

following the path less well travelled,

which carries through our Western

culture.

Their voices were weak at the time

but the message was strong and in

the first year they sent 32 people to

camp. However, once that message

began to come across to young

people, the business began to

boom. So much so that it was able

to move in to premises on Seel

Street. It was there with a fledgling

national team, the firm recruited

double the number of participants

for its second summer.

Smaller Earth’s commercial manager

Pete Hanbury said: “Moving forward

to 2009, the firm I now work, for

came to fruition, particularly as the

opportunity and desire to inspire

people to go further, in a literal

sense, began to stretch beyond

summer camp in the States.”

This was facilitated by the addition

of volunteering, internship and work

and travel programs, which offered

participants an exciting array of

opportunities. Early successes

came for the new firm in the shape

of the Canadian Winter and the US

internship programs.

He explains: “Since that time the

size and depth of the Smaller Earth

program portfolio has shifted a few

times, moving to its current focus,

with Work and Travel and Au Pair

opportunities leading the way.”

“As SEUK we’re now committed to the growth and development of our participants’ numbers within the other brands to ensure they become fully established portions of our portfolio.”

With just weeks before we herald in

2015, Smaller Earth UK is, according

to Pete, going through a maturing

process in terms of defining itself

and its programs.

“We’re now fully embracing the ‘UK’

in SEUK as we look to hone our

individual identity. In the UK we’ve

traditionally suffered from the fact

that the name Smaller Earth applies

to both the company that we work

for and the range of programs that

we offer, causing internal confusion

towards who we are.

“Moving forward, however, we have

altered the perspective slightly to

provide greater clarity and to bring

a sense of identity to the UK office.”

He hopes the move will bring

strength to SE operations, allowing

it to bring more to the global table

with the aim of removing the

unconscious divide between camp

and non-camp programs.

He adds: “Having come about

backwards, the fact that Camp

Leaders is the flagship program,

which accounts for 80 per cent of

our participant numbers, means

that there had previously been

a subconscious draw of time

and resources towards that one

program.

“As SEUK we’re now committed

to the growth and development of

our participants’ numbers within

the other brands to ensure they

become fully established portions

of our portfolio. SEUK is bigger than

the individual.”

MEETTHETEAM

M I K EP E T E R S

UK Director

Previously, Mike spent 16 years at New York

YMCA, the final eight of which was in a full

time role as its camp director. Part of his du-

ties included recruiting in the U.K., Europe

and South America. Nowadays, you can of-

ten find Mike watching a zombie movie or

playing golf. His ‘lovely’ Scottish accent reg-

ularly resonates around the office.

P E T EH A N B U R Y

Commercial Manager

Pete is the commercial manager for Small-

er Earth. He spent three summers working

at Camp Shane and lived for six months in

South Africa. Among his other adventures,

he participated in a 12 country rally from

London to Ulanbaatar, spent time in Mongo-

lia and even drove a campervan along Aus-

tralia’s Great Ocean Road in an epic month-

long journey. He plays hockey in his free

time and 2015 will see him taking to the road

once again to run the London Marathon, with

hopefully, lots of support from the rest of the

team.

C H R I SC O V E N T R Y

Brand Manager

It is Chris’s job to ensure that our online and

offline marketing is running smoothly and

our brand image is connecting with our de-

mographic. He also ensures our recruitment

strategies are always ahead of the game.

Chris comes from a retail background, hav-

ing worked as a store manager for Top Shop

at the tender age of 20. Having worked at

Camp Horizons, Chris was lured to the dark

side working for Camp America as an area

rep, until he saw the light and applied for a

full time position with Camp Leaders!

J A M E SM E L L A N

Brand Team

James joined Smaller Earth where he is in-

volved in all things digital. He spent two

summers in New Jersey, where he worked

at Easter Seals Camp Merry Heart, catering

for adults with special needs. In 2013, he

backpacked around nine different countries

in South East Asia, where he volunteered

with orphans in Cambodia. Something you

may not know about James is that he can

sing every word to every song on the Arctic

Monkeys’ first album. If you don’t believe us;

test him!

H A R R YP U R C E L L

Brand Assistant

Harry has recently taken on a new position

as brand assistant for Smaller Earth U.K. His

main responsibility is taking care of all off-

line activity and marketing as well as lead-

ing the national team. He originally started

out as a national team member himself ,after

spending three summers at URJ Eisner camp

in a variety of different roles.

H E L E NC O U R T

Global Travel Co-ordinator

Helen has been with the company for over

10 years. She is currently taking some time

away from the office on maternity leave, to

raise her son Harrison. Helen’s unique and

creative ways of viewing situations will often

leave her global travel teammates inspired.

Helen’s favourite holiday destination is Mex-

ico.

S O P H I EH O D G S O N

Global Travel Adviser

Sophie is currently away from the office on

maternity leave, raising her son Ted. She

worked at Camp Lincoln and Lake Hubert for

several summers, where she met her hus-

band, who is also part of the Smaller Earth

family. Sophie loves animals and will often be

found in the stable taking care of her horse

Bill, a favourite amongst the rest of the office

staff.

N A O M IT U R N E R

Guru - Team Member

Nao heads up the Camp Leaders guru team,

looking after applicants post-interview and

making sure their applications look perfect.

She takes the lead on organising the hir-

ing fairs for the U.K and spent ten summers

working at a Girl Scout camp in Virginia. She

loves to be busy and splits her free time be-

tween roller derby and volunteering with the

police force.

R E B E C C AF E R R A N

Guru - Team, Member

Rebecca has been working in the office

since 2011. After a brief stint of volunteering,

she started processing the Aussie-based

applications as well as working with the U.K

returners. Rebecca spent four summers at a

camp in Massachusetts and, more recently,

travelled to Prague to gain a TEFL qualifica-

tion. She loves to write, whether it be blogs,

web content or poetry, but cannot be trusted

with filing, as reciting the alphabet can be a

struggle. She can often be found subjecting

the rest of the Gurus to a musical One Direc-

tion ‘power hour’.

M E LC A M E R O N

Guru - Team Member

Mel is the inspiration for Mark’s impressions,

joining the U.K office from a small village just

outside of Cardiff. She is part of the team,

which help applicants prepare for summer

camp, and right from the moment they finish

their interview until the day they board the

plane. She is preparing for her 14th summer

at Camp Equinunk and Blue Ridge and loves

spending time in New York and taking lots of

photographs.

I A NM I L L S

Guru - Team Member

Ian is another valuable member of the team.

Over a period of 17 years, he has spent sev-

en summers at a camp in upstate New York.

He has also travelled to many different coun-

tries, but has lasting memories from his time

in Israel, while he found Mexico to be an

amazing place. He may be the eldest person

in the office but he will happily remind you

that he does not look it!

M A R KN I C O L S O N

Explorer Team - Co-ordinator

Mark is the co-ordinator for the team, which

head up both recruitment and sales in the

U.K. office. Mark spent four summers at

Camp Mondamin, an outdoor adventure

camp for boys. He also spent a summer

coaching sports in Hungary. Mark is great at

motivating his team and his impression of a

Welsh accent could have you believing he

was born and raised in Cardiff!

J O NO ’ B R I E N

Explorer Team - Global Travel Adviser

The U.K. office’s answer to Clark Kent, Jon

divides his time between the Explorer team

and saving the world! When he’s not doing

either of these, he can be found playing the

ukulele or working at Camp Echo Lake. He

lived in Ohio for two years but when it comes

to his favourite place in the world, he is torn

between New Orleans and Denver.

B E C K YM A T U L E W I C Z

Explorer Team - Global Travel Adviser

You may recognise Becky, as the new face

of Camp Leaders vlogging… if not, watch

this space! She has spent six summers at

Island Lake Sports and Arts Camp and also

took a three month trip around Europe. She

loves to learn about new cultures and trying

different things. She is also part of a young

farmers club, who take part in a lot of fund-

raising events. To that end, she will shortly

burn some rubber by pedalling 400 miles in

a week long challenge to raise money for

charity!

S T UY O U N G

Explorer Team - Global Travel Adviser

Stu brings enthusiasm and energy to

everything he does. He has spent eight sum-

mers working in the States and has also trav-

elled parts of South America, Australia and

New Zealand. If you ever want to hear an

interesting story, ask Stu about the time he

looked a Great White Shark in the eyes and

survived...!

R A C H A E LR O S S

Explorer Team - Global Travel Adviser

Rachael has been with Smaller Earth for four

years now and currently works guiding par-

ticipants through the process for the majority

of the SEUK programs. She has had the best

of upbringings as a child and in her youth

at the family owned Camp Cody, a summer

haven where she still spends her summers.

Aside from generally being the only Amer-

ican accent heard in the UK office, her ad-

venturous nature makes her stand out; her

hobbies include surfing, paddle boarding

and cycling.

J O EG R E E N

Explorer Team - Global Travel Adviser

As another member of the explorers team,

Joe, has had a busy few years. After working

at both Camp Winnebago and Camp Mon-

damin, Joe cycled 800 miles through Cam-

bodia and Vietnam, as well as spending time

coaching soccer in Budapest. He recently re-

turned home to England after a year-long ski

season in Canada and is currently planning

his next adventure to the Australian outback.

K I MB A K E R

Global Travel Co-ordinator

Kim heads up the team who work on the

SEUK programs. She can tell you something

interesting about every program she has

worked on and has travelled extensively,

working in Maine for seven summers and

taking trips to Australia, New Zealand and

several parts of Europe. She would love to

visit Italy and South Africa in the future. If you

ever want to make Kim sneeze, just offer her

a mint, it works every time!

K A T I EC U N L I F F E

Flights and Logistics Co-ordinator

Katie has just entered her fifth season work-

ing for SEUK. In the past she has worked at

two different summer camps namely Camp

Wapanacki and Camp Lake Hubert. She also

took a two month trip to Australia, where she

climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge and

back in Europe she spent a fortnight coach-

ing sports in Hungary. Katie loves to bake

but balances this out by running 10k and half

marathon races throughout the year.

N I C KG I L E S

B E NO W E N

Social Media - Recruitment Adviser

Intern

Nick joined the company in September

and is working hard to promote recruitment

through social media.

He has spent time over in the States working

as a soccer specialist and has toured both

the East and West coast. He has a back-

ground in events promotion but secretly

dreams of becoming an astronaut.

Ben is the fresh-faced intern of the office. He

will be working in the U.K office for a year,

before returning back to Manchester Met-

ropolitan University to continue business

studies. In his spare time he enjoys playing

basketball, both for a local team and his uni-

versity. This hobby has taken him on coach-

ing trips and tournaments all over Europe.

R O BS C O T T

Information Technology Co-ordinator

Rob has been part of the team since 2008.

While he is the technology expert in the of-

fice he loves to spend his free time reading

Terry Pratchett novels and watching anything

Marvel related on TV. He previously spent

time on the other side of the world in the

Camp Leaders Melbourne office.

LANGUAGE

Afrikaans

Czech

Danish

Esperanto

Finnish

French

German

Greek

Hawaiian

Hindi

Icelandic

Irish

Italian

Japanese

Korean

Latin

Lithuanian

Maori

Norwegian

Polish

Portuguese

Russian

Spanish

Swahili

Tagalog

Thai

Vietnamese

Welsh

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Gesëende Kersfees

Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok

Glædelig Jul

Gajan Kristnaskon

Hyvää Joulua

Joyeux Noël

Froehliche Weihnachten

Kala Christouyenna

Mele Kalikimaka

Bada Din Mubarak Ho

Gledileg Jol

Nollaig Shona Dhuit

Buon Natale or Buone Feste Natalizie

Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto

Sung Tan Chuk Ha

Natale hilare

Linksmu Kaledu

Meri Kirihimete

God Jul

Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia

Feliz Natal

Srozhdestovm Kristovim

Feliz Navidad

Kuwa na Krismasi njema

Maligayang Pasko

Suksun Wan Christmas

Chuc Mung Giang Sinh

Nadolig Llawen

2 0 1 4

D E S I G N E D BY

T E A M P H OTO S BY

Dean Maddocks & James Mellan