Behind the Scenes: Meet our Director of Programs & Marketing

Stacie Hoppman is the Director of Programs & Marketing at Camp Wyoming. She can often be found making references to the TV show “The Office” and holding a camera in her hand. Stacie’s arrival at Camp Wyoming almost seemed like a fluke. She grew up in Dubuque but moved to the state of Washington for her freshman year of college. After that year in the Pacific Northwest, Stacie decided to transfer to Chicago to finish her education, but she wanted to return to Iowa for the summer. A friend from high school recommended that she apply to work at Camp Wyoming as a counselor, and Stacie took her up on the offer. The rest is history.

Stacie spent three years on summer staff. The first year she was a counselor, but the following two summers, she began to use her skills in photography and video to help the camp develop materials like the infamous “end of the week videos” and several campaign videos. Even though she didn’t grow up at Camp Wyoming, it was starting to feel like a second home, and she joined the full-time staff in January of 2013 as the Marketing & Communications Coordinator.

Over the years, Stacie helped introduce important changes to the camp’s marketing and communication efforts. She helped the camp re-brand in 2013 with its current logo and was instrumental in the design and launch of the website the following year. She put together promo videos, designed flyers and brochures, and increased the camp’s presence on social media.

However, Stacie’s passions included a lot more than just multimedia. She had grown up going to summer camp as a kid, was actively involved in Scouts, and frequently went on camping and adventure trips. In 2015, Stacie combined her passion for camping with her love of media and became the Director of Programs & Marketing at Camp Wyoming. This past summer was her 10th summer at camp.

Since her arrival in 2010, Stacie has created so many memories at camp. She is known for her creativity, and she helped the camp introduce new program activities like paint wars, rocket launching, bubble soccer, sling shots, and human foosball. Stacie won the first ever GaGa Ball game played at Camp Wyoming and now refuses to play again so as not to lose her streak.

Stacie’s days are often a mix of hiring and supervising summer staff, planning new programs and activities, taking pictures, drumming up Facebook posts, visiting churches, and designing flyers, newsletters, and brochures. She always likes to say, “There’s never a boring day at camp.”

Why does Stacie choose to do what she does? She believes that camp ministry has the power to move kids from the ordinary to the extraordinary. Outside of their normal comforts and routines, surrounded by God’s creation, kids are opened up to exploring the love of God in new and amazing ways. Some of her favorite moments are listening to the summer staff share their “God encounters” at the end of the week, remembering stories of life change and transformation that were inspired by one special week at summer camp.

We are very glad that Stacie shares her gifts and talents with us here at Camp Wyoming. Make sure you say hello to her the next time you’re here!