Patrick returns, ready for uni

Umina resident Patrick McGrath, 22, has returned from a three-year break in the United States, where he acted as a program coordinator at Wisconsin Badger Camp, a non-profit organisation that serves children and adults with physical and developmental disabilities.

Mr McGrath has been involved with the Wisconsin Badger Camp for the three years where he has worked as a counsellor and male coordinator.

"This year was particularly cool for me because I really got to take a step back and see the whole of the camp and the impact that we have in south west Wisconsin," said Mr McGrath.

"I love seeing campers come for the first time and seeing them settle in throughout the week and gradually start to really enjoy themselves as they realise that Badger Camp is a place where they are accepted and they won't be made fun of," he said.

This year, Mr McGrath oversaw off-camp programs, assisted the camp director in overseeing the main camp, helped train and supervise around 60 staff and assisted in overseeing the care of over 800 campers.

Mr McGrath is now working toward a degree in psychology at Macquarie University.

"I would definitely recommend summer camps to people on the Coast and travel in general," said Mr McGrath.

"It was great for me because I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do.

"I had lots of friends that went straight to uni and loved it and are graduating now but I'm glad I took the path I did because it helped me to discover what I wanted to do and I got a level of experience I would never get here in Australia.

"There's no way that a 22-year-old with very little qualifications would get to oversee 60 staff and a hundred campers a week for 10 weeks here.

"Now I'm ready for uni, I might not recommend taking three years off but definitely taking some time off after high school to find out what your passionate about and discover a lot about yourself especially if you end up travelling by yourself like I did," said Mr McGrath.

Email, 1 Sep 2011 Patrick McGrath, Umina