Carol Beard, Health Care Specialist

Hello everyone – Carol Beard here!

I will be helping to look after Camp Seymour campers and staff this summer. My summers are usually spent at overnight camps. In past years, I have done a few summer camps with the Johns Hopkins CTY Program at Seattle University, and this coming summer will mark my 3rd year with Camp Seymour.

I am a UK-trained RN and have my master’s in nursing from the University of Glasgow, Scotland. I used to teach on the mental health courses at St. George’s School of Nursing, London. My family migrated to the US in 1996, and Bainbridge Island has been my home since then. The PNW is a wonderful environment (many of the features remind me of the beautiful mountains and lochs that surround Glasgow) and a great place to raise my 2 children – Alexander and Francesca. Once I was able to have some free-time, I decided to do the LSATs in hopes of going to Law School. The impetus for this was the disparate way in which my children were being treated at their schools, and so I wanted to be a lawyer with a focus on Special Education Law. Long story short, I found out that the LSATs was not my thing, and I opted instead to do the Paralegal Program at the University of Washington. This was more my speed and I learned tons about the law and justice system. But nursing is my first love, and I was encouraged to return to the field by a lovely school nurse 10 years ago - I quickly got into school nursing have not looked back since!

I enjoy many sports (as a spectator!), including soccer, football and F1 motor racing. I like to cook and bake, but lately I'm having a hard time with making healthier alternatives more palatable but using less sugar and butter in some of my recipes is not very appealing! Do let me know if you have any tips that you use/like or have healthy recipes to share. We will still be in session at Ordway Elementary School through June 21st, and I hope to travel to Camp Seymour after that.

Wishing you all safe and happy travels to Gig Harbor - See you soon :)