Choosing Service to Camp

By Jennifer Tyler, Development Events Coordinator

Fifth grade was a pivotal year for Dr. Jennifer (Stout) Schirding. It was the year that she learned about veterinary medicine in school, and started to think it was a career path for her. It was also the year that Father Brian Barker visited her school to promote Camp Ondessonk. With parents as former campers, Jennifer was already familiar with Camp. She grew up in Mounds, Ill., and attended Catholic school throughout her life. So, when Father Brian made his presentation, Jennifer was excited and ready to become a camper.

Jennifer attended Catholic grade school at Saint Joseph in Cairo, Ill., and graduated from Notre Dame Regional High School in Cape Girardeau, Mo. She has a BS in Animal Science and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is now a mixed animal veterinarian at Petersburg Veterinary Clinic in Petersburg, Ill., where she treats small, large, and exotic animals.

Jennifer attended Camp as a traditional camper for five years. She then worked in the barn as a CIT, Rotator, Wrangler, and Manager, with an occasional assignment as a Lifeguard. Her experience as Camp staff in the barn solidified her comfort and interest with horses and large animals in general and contributed to her choice of profession.

The staff community was also a factor in Jennifer’s desire to return to Camp as a volunteer. Once her daughter became a mini camper, she was excited for the opportunity to work with her friends again. After considering her options and where she would be most useful, it was determined that spending her week doing dental work would be the most beneficial to the program.

She contacted other former barn staff members who are also now veterinarians to get their help with equipment. They purchased a dental float and equipment that Jennifer uses specifically for the horses at Camp. She spends her week as a volunteer performing routine dental maintenance and care for the herd of more than 60 horses.

While Jennifer’s primary motivation to return each year as a volunteer is to help Camp, she also looks forward to reconnecting with the friends she has had since her days as a staff member.

“It’s always fun to spend the week with my friends,” she said. “That’s really a big part of it, being a grown up now and being responsible for work and kids all the time and being busy – it’s just a nice break to be at Camp, to be at that place that really shaped me as a teenager, helped shape who I am.”

Jennifer now lives with her husband and four children in Menard County, Ill., where her husband’s family has been farming for more than 100 years. She supports her church and school communities, but enjoys her work at Camp as a time that she can share with her family.

“Saying yes to Camp for a week out of the summer is good for Camp, hopefully, and it’s good for me as a recharge, and to feel that I’m being helpful and productive with my skill set, but also it’s kind of ‘me’ time at the same time,” she said. “[Other organizations] are constantly asking for help or volunteers or whatever for different school activities and you just do it because you can’t say no, but I feel like Camp is something I’m choosing to spend my time doing.”

Click here to learn more about volunteering at Camp Ondessonk.