Year-round team

Alfred Thompson - Owner/Director

Alfred Thompson is the Director and owns Camp Carolina with his wife Ec. Alfred grew up at Camp Carolina while his father managed and Directed Camp Carolina and Camp Rockbrook for the McConnell family. In 1982 the Thompson family bought the camp and moved it one valley deeper into the backcountry to border the Pisgah National Forest. Alfred has spent a total of 42 summers working at The Best Place on Earth!

He has been working year-round at camp since 1993 and has worn many hats during his summers-from being the Head of mucking out stables and building trails at the ages of 10, 11, and 12 to being a counselor, Head of Mountaineering, Head of Whitewater, Head of Team sports, Head Counselor, Head of the Kitchen, Head of Maintenance, Program Director to the Director! Alfred graduated from UNC Wilmington with a Math and Computer Science Degree and a master's degree of Computer Engineering at NC State University. Alfred spends his free time playing tennis and surfing and as he says "trying to play sports that he still can do!" and loves traveling to places where the waves are good! Alfred's favorite thing about working at Camp Carolina is being able to provide a place for young people to grow, make lifelong friends and work to become better people each summer.

Mary Eccles Thompson - Office Manager

Mary Eccles Thompson or "Ec" as she is known has been working at Camp Carolina since 1993 for a total of 27 summers. Ec and her husband Alfred live on-site and are the Owners of Camp Carolina and are the parents of Alfred Jnr and Bren. Ec graduated from Meredith College with a Studio Arts Major which led her to a perfect role in Arts n Crafts when she first started working at camp. Since then Ec has worked in a variety of roles at camp- from bookkeeping to the kitchen to her current role as the Office Manager where she keeps everyone and everything at camp organized!

When not working at camp you can find Ec playing tennis, painting, working out, finding great new restaurants, surfing, golfing, and traveling. She loves all the people that make Camp Carolina-the parents, the campers, and the staff and is grateful to be working in an industry where the opportunity to positively change children's lives is part of the daily!

Alfred Thompson, JR. - Director

Alfred Jr. grew up at Camp Carolina. From the age of 5-16, he enjoyed summers as a camper creating lifelong friendships. Alfred has worked in a variety of roles at camp. He has been an activity instructor on tennis, the head of our skateboarding and mountaineering department, and a Head Counselor for the Newts tribe. Most recently he has led the Maintenance team year-round for the past 2 years. In 2021, we are excited to have him join our Director Team!

Alfred holds a degree in Recreation Management with a concentration in Outdoor Experiential Education from Appalachian State University. He spends his free time climbing, skating, snowboarding, surfing, mountain biking, playing tennis, and working in his ceramic studio. He lives on-site with his wife Emily and dog Little Bear. Every summer he looks forward to building relationships with our campers, helping them gain new experiences, and helping the campers grow and discover a lifelong passion in the outdoors.

Alex Hogan - Director

Alex grew up on the coast of Western Australia in the town of East Fremantle. After completing his Bachelor in Elementary Education from the University of Notre Dame Fremantle, he applied and worked as the Head of the Newts at Camp Carolina in 2018. Since then Alex has been the Head of the Counselor Assistants and head of maintenance at camp. He is now one of our year around Directors. Every summer he looks forward to seeing all the campers growing, laughing, and creating lifelong memories.

Since moving to Brevard in 2020 Alex has been enjoying life at Camp Carolina and spends his time snowboarding, traveling, and learning new skills. Herewith his wife Bren, daughter Sally, dog Caldonia, and cat Bowie he has made Camp Carolina his home. We are so excited to have him on the team! 

Bren Thompson Hogan - Registrar

Born and raised at Camp Carolina, a love for CCB runs through her blood. Bren has been working at Camp Carolina on and off for the past 11 years. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from Appalachian State University. At 15 years old Bren started off working as a Vita Pup girl, since then she has taught Arts and crafts, been in charge of Earthworks, ran the Kitchen and the Evening/Weekends Director. Bren is a certified Red Cross Lifeguard, Raftguide, and Backcountry Institute Outdoor Instructor. 

She loves to go on adventures whether it's backpacking the Art Loeb Trail, going for a run to end the day, snowboarding out west, mountain biking with her friends in Dupont, wakeboarding on the beautiful Lake Jocassee, or traveling to a new country. Bren looks forward to welcoming new and old campers and staff to CCB every year. Bren lives at camp with her husband Alex, daughter Sally, dog Caldonia and cat Bowie. Their family is happy to call Camp Carolina home! 

Emily Thompson - Accounting/Bookkeeping Wizard 

 Emily was born and raised in Upstate NY. After graduating from SUNY Oswego in 2016 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Emily worked her 1st summer in Camp Carolina’s office and began to consider the mountains of WNC home. She loves any opportunity to use her creative skills at camp–she has painted our bouldering wall and a mural for the office and designs Camp merch and marketing materials! Emily has also spent two epic summers in the CCB Kitchen focusing on Vegan/Veggie/GF meals and kitchen management. In the off-season she works part time as the Camp Bookkeeping Wizard.

Emily started a part-time screen printing business in 2020 through which she hand prints apparel for Camp Carolina and other local businesses. She lives on site with her husband Alfred Jr. and their Border Collie, Little Bear. Alfred Jr. and Emily are expecting a little camper of their own in August 2023! In her free time, you can find Emily hiking, reading, traveling, practicing yoga, perusing a local thrift shop, or working on a DIY project. She absolutely loves the summer months when the valley is full and the tight-knit Camp Carolina community is flourishing.

Camden Anderson - Assistant director 

Camden Anderson was born in Tarpon Springs, Florida, and raised overseas in Japan and Turkey. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Flagler College. At the age of four, Camden started spending her summers at Camp Carolina with her family. Camden then became a counselor working as a Vita Pup girl, office assistant, and was head of Earthworks. Most recently, she has joined the year-round team at Camp Carolina! Camden is certified as Red Cross Lifeguard and Wilderness First Aid. 

She spends her free time exploring Pisgah National forest, playing tennis, reading Harry Potter, and playing fetch with her best pals, Caldonia and Little Bear. She has a love of adventure and travel. Camden looks forward to meeting new campers and staff, seeing old faces, and watching campers turn into true gentlemen. Camden has a deep love for camp, a place she now calls home.

ROSSER KENDALL – SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER

Rosser grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina. She spent every childhood summer coming up to Brevard to spend time with her family at Camp Carolina, and for many years to attend a girls camp in our area. As soon as she was old enough to work at Camp Carolina, she started helping in the office and Vita Pup stand, and then packing lunches for out-of-camp-trips in the kitchen. She then held a variety of positions over the next several summers – Yoga Instructor, Trip Leader for Mountaineering and Earthworks, Head of Wakeboarding, Assistant Tripping Director, Event Coordinator for Alumni and fundraising events – and is now our Social Media Manager.

Rosser has a bachelor's degree in Romance Languages, specializing in Spanish, that she received from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is married and has a son, Nath, and daughter, Finn, who she cannot wait to send to camp! They live in Costa Rica, where she works remotely, spending their time surfing and homesteading. She loves being able to continue being part of the Camp Carolina team from afar. And she is so stoked to share the best place on earth with the world through social media.