{From left, volunteer Waterfront Assistant Missy Foote and Sailing Specialist Sarah Collier at Merrowvista}
Every summer, Merrowvista campers converge on Dan Hole Pond for favorite waterfront activities like swimming, canoeing, and sailing. They don lifejackets and hop into simple boats with Sailing Specialist and more experienced campers and glide onto the water to learn the basics of sailing.
This year, two wonderful women oversee this maritime operation: Missy Foote and Sarah Collier.
Collier started her days at Merrowvista as a camper in 2014 when she was 10 years old. Almost a decade later, she is working on staff for the first time as a Sailing Specialist.
Foote is a camp legend. She started working at Merrowvista in 1987 and has returned nearly every summer. This year, she served as a volunteer Waterfront Assistant while her grandson participated in his first summer at camp. Foote is also a renowned NCAA Division III women’s lacrosse coach, serving at Middlebury College from 1978 through 2015. She is one of the winningest college women’s lacrosse coaches in history.
“Missy has such a genuine commitment to sailing and to the whole Merrowvista waterfront,” Collier said. “Missy is down here every single morning helping us. When it was storming, she was down here the whole day fixing boats for us.”
Both women keep returning to Merrowvista for the sense of community and connection.
“Merrowvista is the first place I ever realized the people I’m around could help me feel at home,” Collier said. “You feel like you can grow, and you also feel so supported by the people who are here. This is a place that creates the most intentional, kind and genuinely great people.”
Collier and Foote didn’t realize their own Merrowvista connection was so strong until they arrived at camp just a few weeks ago.
About a month before staff training, Foote was nervous because no one had been hired as the Sailing Specialist. Upon her arrival, she was overjoyed to find her former camper in the role. Collier said she didn’t immediately recognize Foote, but something about her felt familiar.
During some down time, Collier was scrolling through some old camp photos when she came across a picture of her as young camper learning to sail with a particular instructor: Foote.
{From left, Foote and Collier in the mid-2010s}
For Collier, the woman in the picture was the person who first introduced her to sailing and encouraged her to take charge and be brave. For Foote, the little girl in the picture was a student who was eager and willing to learn, a student who was now back to teach sailing to the next group of young campers.
“Sarah is an amazing learner,” Foote said. “She is a sponge. She doesn’t forget a thing. She’s got a lovely teaching style that’s so genuine that more nervous campers want to go in her boat.”
Collier said she feels so honored to be able to learn from Foote. “She knows so much, but she’s so patient. The way she teaches makes it so easy to learn by doing,” she said. “And it really it means so much to me to learn all her knowledge.”
Their dedication to the sailing program ensures it will continue at Merrowvista for the next generation. It also shows how just one person’s influence can affect a camper for years to come.
“Missy is the kind of person I want to be in 50 years,” Collier said.