The Legacy of Sorcerers Safari - part 9

Recap (click to show | hide)

From Part 1 of the series:

In lieu of a physical reunion bringing together past campers and staff, Canada’s Magic is hosting a virtual reunion of sorts.  We’ve reached out to the Sorcerers Safari community with a dozen or so questions to help bring us up to date on what everyone has been up to since our magic camp days.

If you completed our survey, keep your eyes peeled for your segment!  

If you would like to participate but haven’t filled out the survey, there’s still time.  The survey can be found here:  https://forms.gle/umg77yj9QxUzfpm76

Thank you to all that contributed!

 

Mike, Jen, Sorcerers Safari staff, and alumni, this series is for you.

 

<< part 8  |  part 10 >>

 

Part 9 features:  Marc Hache, Jeff Hinchliffe, Bill Wells, and Lauren Proctor. 

 

  Marc Hache  

Retired.

Attended camp from 2003 to 2010 as staff.

In his own words:

• Favourite Sorcerers Safari memory?  
• Camper show every year. Those kids were amazing!
  
  
• Biggest take-away from Sorcerers Safari?
• The lifelong friendships I made especially with Jen and Mike.
  

 

 

  Jeff Hinchliffe  

Professional magician.

Attended camp in 2003 as staff, and from 2004 to 2011 as a counsellor.

Since his time at camp Jeff has:

• Continued the tradition of passing along knowledge.

In his own words:

• Sorcerers Safari helped cultivate a culture of sharing and growing together.
  
  
  
• Favourite Sorcerers Safari memory?  
• Every year was the "best year ever!"
  
  
• Biggest take-away from Sorcerers Safari?
• The friendships

 

I will never have another experience in magic that was like Sorcerers Safari!

 

 

  Bill Wells  

Retired.

Attended camp in 2014 as a guest.

In his own words:

• Favourite Sorcerers Safari memory?  
• The kids!!!
  
  
• Biggest take-away from Sorcerers Safari?
• Seeing what a great network existed between staff and campers.
  

 

 

  Lauren Proctor 

Director of Customer Service & Art.

Attended camp from 1999 to 2008 as camper and CIT (counsellor in training).

Lauren has this to say about her time after Sorcerers Safari:

• While I don't think anything I've accomplished is "significant" in the sense of contributing to the world or the profession as a whole, my accomplishments are significant to my life.  
• I'm very proud of the life I've built for myself; it is not a life that just happened, but one I have worked hard to obtain.  
• I've met the love of my life who I've started a family with and moved to Colorado.  
• I've built a network of wonderful humans who I consider my family.  
• I've found a career that is exciting, stimulating and allows me to be creative every day.
• These are all such simple things, but I'm incredibly grateful for them.

In her own words:

• I think many of my accomplishments in my career can be credited to my time at Sorcerers Safari.  
• Performance Workshop was a fantastic opportunity to learn how to give and receive constructive criticism.  
• Performing directly influenced my creativity and gave me confidence when public speaking.  
• Spending time in a male dominated industry as a youth gave me confidence and taught me how to speak up in the male dominated industry I've landed in. 
• Most importantly, Sorcerers Safari taught me the value of relationships and how to navigate long distance ones.  The good ones are certainly worth time spent apart.  
  
  
  
• Favourite Sorcerers Safari memory?  
• Gosh, there are so many.  I don't think I can pinpoint one specific memory as the best.  More, it's the feeling I get when I reminisce on my time there.  It was a time of youthful innocence coupled with newly found independence.  It was a time of mystery and illusion.  I spent almost a decade of my life looking forward to a single week of camp, reconnecting with friends from years past, showcasing new skills and nerding out over our common interest.  [emphasis added]
• There are a handful of camp friends that I grew up with; we spent that week, summer after summer together (for me at least) finally feeling at home.  
• If I had to pick one memory, I would say our girls' cabin rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody is high on the list.  What on earth were we thinking?!
  
  
  
• Biggest take-away from Sorcerers Safari?
• I am grateful for all of my takeaways from Sorcerers Safari, but my biggest gift is one of my favourite humans.  I gained a best friend at magic camp, someone who has been in it with me now for over 20 years.  She was the Maid of Honour at my wedding, someone who has known the ins and outs of my life for over two decades.  This kind of a friend doesn't just grow on trees.  Thank you Sorcerers Safari for giving me RR.

 

 

Thank you Marc, Jeff, Bill, and Lauren for sharing your memories!

Check back throughout the month to read updates from other Sorcerers Safari alumni and staff!

 

 Previously featured 

• Alex Zander - part 7 
• Ben Train - part 1
• Brad Bond - part 2  
• Brett Chrest - part 3
  
• Byron Berry - part 1
• Cameron Dunlop - part 2
• Chris Pilsworth - part 6 
• Dan McLean Jr - part 8
  
• Dennis Gorya - part 5
• Dick Joiner - part 3 
• James Carey Lauder - part 2
• Jennifer Antonio - part 6 
• Jesse Arndt - part 8
  
• Jonah Babins - part 6
• Jonathan Santiago - part 7 
• Keith Brown - part 4
• Loran - part 5
  
• Mark Clearview - part 5
• Matt DiSero - part 3 
• Rosemary Reid - part 8 
• Sam Pearce - part 1
• Shawn Farquhar - part 7 

 

Learn more about Sorcerers Safari.

part 1 | part 2  | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8 | part 9 | part 10 | part 11 | part 12

<< part 8  |  part 10 >>