Our 2011 Adlinistrative Team

A lot of great staff members are necessary to make a camp run smoothly. Our last several newsletters have detailed the counselors, trip leaders, and support staff who have committed their summers to making camp great. We’re proud to introduce the administrative team that will be there to support those staff members and ensure that each of our campers has a safe and meaningful summer of 2011.

CIT Director – Jeff McCormack:
Jeff returns to North Star for his 16th summer and his 7th as our CIT Director. In this role Jeff oversees our Counselors in Training and serves as a vital mentor to our youngest staff members. Jeff grew up across the lake from North Star as his grandparents owned a resort on Spider Lake, but didn’t join us until he we needed a senior counselor in the middle of the summer. Jeff hasn’t left since. During the off season, Jeff is a special education teacher in Denver, working with young adults. He’s also known to play a bit of disc golf from time to time. Most importantly, he’s the husband of Kim (our program assistant) and father of Lake.

Waterfront Director – Cathy Topping
Cathy joins us for her first summer. Cathy has been a long time high school state champion swim coach and she is a open water swimmer having swam to Alcatraz and in New York harbor. Her dream is to swim the English Channel. Cathy worked for Pratt and Whitney selling jet engines to foreign countries and is now back in school getting a masters in education. She will add to our dog pack. A big welcome to Cathy.

Trip Director – Jason Mann
Jason joins us for his second year on out trip staff and his first as trip director. A Soils and Waste Management student at UW Stevens Point, Jason was referred to us last year by another camp in the area who had already filled their trip staff, but really liked Jason… We’re glad they did. Jason made all of his trips a lot of fun and all of our campers loved having him as their trip leader last year.

Village Director – Michael Eichner
Returning for summer number nine, this will be Michael’s first year on our administrative team. He brings a tremendous amount of enthusiasm to North Star. Michael hails from Northbrook, IL where he went to Glenbrook North High School and he is now a student at the University of Illinois where he is involved with the Phi Chi Theta business fraternity. He is also our climbing wall project head and resident pop culture expert.

Village Director – Ben Mizel
Ben joins us for his eleventh summer at camp and his second as a Village Director. He grew up in Scottsdale, AZ, attending Chapparal High School, and will be graduating from the University of Chicago in a few short weeks. At camp Ben has been a tremendous counselor and has helped oversee our athletics programs over the past two summers. He brings a thoughtful sense of humor and intelligence to all that he does at camp. Ben has worked with all ages as a staff member and has played a big role in planning many of our special programs.

Village Director – Andy Rodheim
Joining us for his ninth summer from Buffalo Grove, IL, this will be Andy’s first summer as a village director. Andy has been one of our great junior village counselors and has done a tremendous job working with the little guys. Just about to finish his freshman year at Northwestern University, Andy is active in the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, where he is the rush chair.

Village Director – John Sheehan
John joins us for year number two and his first summer as a village director and adds to a village director team that is exclusive to Illinois Universities. John will actually be coming to pre camp this year a few days late as he is about to embark on a month long mission trip to Kenya. An avid basketball player, John headed the program last year for us and was also on our ski staff. John is from Carol Stream, IL and is a senior at the University of Illinois.