Ava “Pogo”: Helping Girls Discover What They’re Capable Of

September 08, 2026

When Ava, known around camp as Pogo, started working at Camp Catron in 2019, she was a challenge course facilitator, archery instructor, and lifeguard. Seven years, countless trainings, and adventures across the country later, she’s now our Challenge Course Manager where she oversees challenge courses, archery, and pool activities across our camps.

She’s learned how to build and maintain courses, manage risk, respond to the unexpected, train staff, and keep girls safe while they push themselves outside their comfort zones. She’s traveled to Vermont, Colorado, Texas and beyond to continue learning from other camp and challenge course professionals.

But the part of the job she loves most isn't the equipment, the certifications or even the adventure.

It’s watching girls discover what they’re capable of.

Ava sees many of the same Girl Scouts year after year. She watches them arrive at a climbing wall or challenge course unsure of themselves and then watches them take that first step, try something new, and reach the top of something they never thought they could.

Through adaptive climbing equipment, she’s also gotten to watch girls with different abilities experience the incredible feeling of reaching the top of the wall — sometimes after not expecting they could do it at all.

Those moments stay with her.

And then there are the adventures beyond the campgrounds, like a 2025 whitewater rafting trip to Colorado with five Girl Scouts. There’s always another challenge, another new experience, and another opportunity to be brave.

Ava says she has the most fun job in the council. We think she might be right.

Because sometimes the most important thing a Girl Scout learns at camp isn't how to climb higher, shoot an arrow, or cross a challenge course.

It’s that she is capable of more than she thought she was. And Ava gets a front-row seat to that realization every day.

100 years. Countless stories. One lasting legacy.