Hey, Facebookers!

If you’re like nearly 60% of the U.S. population, then you likely have an account on Facebook. Y’know—Facebook, as in Facebook.com—the popular online social networking website that allows users with accounts to create profiles for themselves (as an online identity), upload pictures and videos, send messages to ‘friends’, and keep in touch relatives and colleagues whom you have ‘friended’ through the site.

Today’s Celebrity at Summer Camp Blog post focuses on someone we all know, but he isn’t the star of any movies, the member of any band, the athlete on any sports team, nor is he an artist, writer, or comic. Mark Zuckerberg is the creator of Facebook. He’s been coined an Internet Entrepreneur thanks to his wild success with Facebook. And wouldn’t you know it—he went to summer camp too!

Island Lake Camp is located in the beautiful Pocono Mountains in northeastern Pennsylvania. This picturesque camp is set on 550 acres that includes two large lakes where their many water sports are played. They have lots of trails too for their Equestrian, Mountain Biking, and Pioneering programs.

Interested in computers from a young age, his father taught him basic programming when he was in middle school. His advanced understanding got him some attention in his high school days. Jose Vargas, a writer who interviewed the young Mark Zuckerberg noted, “Some kids played computer games. Mark created them.”

With the help of roommates and friends during his time at Harvard University, Mark launched Facebook. At the time Facebook was only setup to network among Harvard’s dormitories. But its popularity quickly spread to surrounding campuses and soon stretched nationwide. As of three years ago, the number of Facebook users worldwide reached 1 billion. Mark became a billionaire by the age of 23.

Summer camp, no doubt, helped Mark somewhere along the way. How will summer camp help you?

- John

Hey, Summer Campers!

Like so many other Hollywood stars, athletes, musicians, and other artists, guess who else among our Hollywood favorites attended summer camp when he was around your age! One of my personal favorites too—Jake Gyllenhaal! He went to the same summer camp as his equally famous, older sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal, at Camp Walt Whitman in New Hampshire.

Camp Walt Whitman met Jake as it did his sister as a warm and inviting summer camp community that strives year after year to give kids a wonderful summer experience, introducing them to close friends and a picture of their own self-worth. This camp was obviously nothing but a positive influence for the Gyllenhaal kids.

Born in New York City, Jake is the son of Stephen Gyllenhaal—a film director—and Naomi Gyllenhaal—a film producer and screenwriter. At an early age his family moved to Los Angeles, California. By age 11, Jake was already making his movie debut in the film ‘City Slickers’ and not too long after that, he played major roles in movies like ‘October Sky’ and the lead, title role in ‘Donnie Darko’ which really solidified the future of his acting career.

Following in his sister’s footsteps, Jake attended Harvard-Westlake prep school and graduated in 1998. He then went to Columbia University while his sister was a senior there—also the school his mother graduated from. He took a couple years there, but eventually decided to concentrate on acting alone. But even with his wild success, he’s shown interest in returning to school to complete his degree.

Since then, Jake has taken on roles that have skyrocketed him to superstardom like ‘Proof’, and thrillers like ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ and ‘Source Code’. Summer camp clearly did Jake some good as it did for his sister. It was a great influence on him and Maggie, what will it do for you? As always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey there, Campers!

It’s not surprising to find that a plethora of famous folks were once summer campers just like yourself. Among the long list of the many whom I’ve Blogged about, joining their ranks today is Mr. Jonathan Tucker who too is a former summer camper like all of you will be some day.

Born and raised in Massachusetts, when Jonathan was closer to your age, he and his parents loaded up the family car with all his gear and took him on a four-hour drive to Camp Chingachgook (say that five times fast!) in Kattskill Bay, New York. Located at the foot of Buck Mountain, on the eastern shore of Lake George, Camp Chingachgook presents gorgeous American land.

Thomas Jefferson has said the following about the same land that Camp Chingachgook is built on:

It was around this time that Jonathan started to show an increasing interest in acting. For five consecutive years, starting when he was eight years old, he acted in the Boston Ballet’s production of ‘The Nutcracker’, playing Fritz.

Also in regular attendance of the Boston Ballet, Jonathan has said about his classes, “Ballet is one of the more difficult rigors that I’ve ever done. The Ballet instructors are some of the most intimidating people I’ve met.”

Plugging away, Jonathan Tucker has been pursuing an acting career since his school days. He’s made a number of appearances on episodes of popular TV shows like ‘Law & Order’, ‘CSI’, and ‘Royal Pains’.

He has since found a niche in horror/thriller movies such as ‘The Next Three Days,’ ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,’ and worked with Bruce Willis in ‘Hostage’ from 2005. With determination and focus, the same kind of success could find you, summer campers! Enjoy your summer camp experience and, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

With over 11 million people going to summer camp every year, it’s certainly no surprise to discover the loads upon loads of famous folks who were once summer campers just like you. Among many other musicians, athletes, and actors, actor Ben Feldman joins the crowd of famous folks mentioned on this Blog for their attendance of summer camp when they were young.

That’s right. Long before he ever did anything on Broadway or appeared as Michael Ginsberg on AMC’s ‘Mad Men’, he was a summer camper at Camp Manitou for Boys, located among in a quiet area of Maine around the beautiful Belgrade Lakes.

With a very standard upbringing, Ben and all you campers probably have more in common than you might imagine. He was born in Washington, D.C.  and got involved in the summer camp life as well as the theater program at school at the very young age of just six! Ben loved his summer camp experiences at Camp Manitou so much, that he just kept going back!

Even in his high school years at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, Maryland, he worked the summers as a camp counselor. He also taught a videography class for a few summers in Bethesda, Maryland where he went over some of the basics in the art of filmmaking.

After receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts for acting, he went straight to work with fire in his belly. He moved to New York City and ended up performing on Broadway as an understudy for Jason Biggs. Eventually, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film and television.

For a long time, he took bit parts and remained the nameless character in lots of TV shows, but now he’s finally hit it big in his role as Michael Ginsberg on the hit show ‘Mad Men’ on AMC. See what a mixture of summer camp fun, passion, and determination did for Ben? Make the same happen for yourself! And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Summer Camp Fans!

I started this Blog back in 2013 and, posting about celebrities who attended camp or have had a significant involvement in the summer camp community, I’ve covered almost 50 celebrities. Some celebrities boast more involvement with summer camps than others. Backtracking a bit, it seems a good idea to review some of the big names who have a stronger connection to summer camp than others.

A couple weeks ago, I posted a second post about Lisa Loeb—arguably the queen of summer camp celebs.

As previously stated a couple years ago on this Blog, funnyman Seth Rogen was also a fan of summer camp—especially when he was 13. In fact, if it wasn’t for summer camp and Seth’s stay at Camp Miriam, the world may have never heard of this now incredibly famous superstar. In fact, he honed his stand-up comedy skills at camp and even used his camp counselors is his routines at times. Everybody say, “Thanks, Camp Miriam!”

Settled in the ubiquitous forests of Gabriola, Canada, Jewish camp, Camp Miriam features a fun atmosphere with a climbing wall, swimming pool, sport fields, a vegetable garden, and much more. What was so special about Camp Miriam for Seth? I think it’s safe to say it was the atmosphere of the community there.

Bringing the ‘funny’ to this fun setting, Seth quickly fell in love with his ability to make his peers laugh. At just 16, Rogen came in second place in the 1998 Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest. “As soon as I realized you could be funny as a job, that was the job I wanted,” Seth once said.

Pursuing a career in comedy—and nothing else—you might say Seth became rather successful, very quickly. A talented voice actor, you can hear Seth in such animated films as ‘Horton Hears a Who!’, ‘Kung Fu Panda’, and ‘Monsters vs. Aliens’. He’s even voiced for some episodes of ‘The Simpsons’!

Check him out in the video below for Camp Miriam and, as always, thanks reading!

- John