A group of 14 students have a new leadership role on campus that includes travel, small-group conversations and the Horned Frogs that are not yet on campus.

Frog Camp is a nationally-recognized program that is offered to first-year students as an extended orientation. As part of the program, students apply and are selected to be a part of the director board to lead others affiliated with Frog Camp.

The members of the new director board are:

• Kate Spitters, executive director
• Hunter Vaccaro, executive director
• Seth Baldock, training and staff development director
• Madelyn Carter, logistics and supplies director
• Calvin Dutcher, community service director
• Lauren Hunsicker, relationship manager director
• Frank Jackson, training and staff development director
• Mackenzie Koss, transportation and check-in director
• Danielle LaSor, faculty and staff liaison
• Faith Lawrence, faculty and staff liaison
• Holly McDonnell, transportation and check-in director
• Makenna Morris, logistics and supplies director
• Kally Nord, community service director
• Chris Pozzi, marketing and technology director

Trung Nguyen, the assistant director of the first-year experience, said he chose the members of the Frog Camp director board with the help of StrengthsQuest, an assessment that helps students understand their talents and where their skillset is most needed.

“Regardless of your major, Frog Camp is going to use that strength to help make Frog Camp successful,” Nguyen said.

Co-executive director and junior marketing major Kate Spitters said everyone on the board expects the mindset of “servant leadership” from one another.

“Everyone’s on the same page when it comes to being willing to put in the time and work it takes to help others,” Spitters said. “We all expect from one another a mindset of, ‘This isn’t for us. This is for first-year students.’”

Nguyen said the board is a great way to make an impact on the TCU community.

Emphasizing the servant’s role in the position, Mackenzie Koss, the transportation and check-in director for Frog Camp and a junior neuroscience major, said Frog Camp helps the first-year community better themselves.

Hunter Vaccaro, the other co-executive director and a junior entrepreneurial management major, said he was looking forward to making an impact on the first-year community.

“You literally get to see a large majority of the freshman class and you shape and mold their first-year experience. That mold is the foundation of their TCU experience. The snowball effect goes on from there,” Vaccaro said.

Some of the director board members said they decided to apply for the position because of their own experience with Frog Camp.

Frank Jackson, the training and staff development director and sophomore film, TV and digital media major, said, “Frog Camp showed me before I even stepped on campus that this is the community I want to be a part of, the community I want to grow with, the community I want to make better.”

Koss said as a transfer student, Frog Camp was the community she needed during her transition.

“There’s another side of TCU that is so caring and compassionate and wants to know you for who you are and accept you for who you are without having to put on a facade or impress anyone. It eases a lot of your apprehension of coming into a new place for the first time,” Koss said.

Frog Camp has been a staple of the TCU community since 1994. There are currently 12 camps that first-year students can choose from, with more camps being added soon.