Sewie Spotlight On: Seth Lampert

Many lottery winners reward themselves with a trip to Disney World. When Sewataro’s own Seth Lampert “won” the Tufts Medical School lottery (for four consecutive weeks off this upcoming summer), he had only one place in mind. “I called Monica and said, ‘I know my coming back every year is probably getting old by now, but is there any way I could work the month of July?’” Seriously. You can’t make this stuff up. With more returns out of retirement than Brett Favre, Seth is thrilled to be back for his 20th season (ten as a camper, ten on staff).

His Sewataro career began in the Ponca tribe at the tender age of four, and to this day Seth remains close with some of his fellow tribe mates from that first summer. “This is where I’ve grown up,” he says. “I’ve met some of my best friends here, and nowhere else do you get to work with over a hundred of the coolest, nicest people. They really are summer family.”

OK, but surely he might like some time off after a demanding second year of med school, and prior to the start of his clinical rotations? Nope. “I spend the school year in intellectual places where I constantly am expected to act older and smarter than I am. When I go to work at camp I get to be crazy and have fun, and act like a kid. The more I can relate to them, the better I am at my job.”

According to our sources (and confirmed by Seth himself), he didn’t start out as a rock star counselor. “When I first started working [at camp] I was an incredibly shy fifteen year-old. I probably would have cried if I’d had to go up and do anything in front of the whole camp. Over the years I’ve really come out of my shell in general, and I credit most of that to my experiences at camp.”

The opportunity to witness campers coming out of their own shells is perhaps the most rewarding part of Seth’s job. “At Open House parents are worried because their child is nervous and possibly crying about going to camp for the first time, and eight weeks later they tell me their child is crying because he doesn’t want to leave camp. It always amazes me how much impact we have on these kids’ lives.”

Seth claims (yet again) that this will be his “swan song” Sewataro summer, though who knows?! In the meantime, we’re delighted to have Seth with us for July, as camp wouldn’t be the same without him.