Last, but certainly not least, in our Look Back series, is Sully Sherry. This will be Sully’s 8th year at Deerhorn, he is from Denver, Colorado, and he will be leading the 2024 Deerhorn Bobcats. Here’s what his parents have to say about his 8 years at Deerhorn.
While we love all that Colorado offers our family in terms of lifestyle, we have always felt like nothing beats a Midwest summer on the lake. We were born and raised outside of Milwaukee and Chicago, and when Sully was old enough to consider summer camp options, we jumped at the opportunity to attend a Deerhorn informational dinner at a friend and Deerhorn alum’s home in Denver (thank you, Mangats!). We were hooked in minutes, and soon Sully was off on his first Deerhorn adventure in 2016. Candidly, we had no idea how much that decision would impact Sully for years to come.
Dropping Sully off for his first summer session was filled with mixed emotions for us and his two little sisters. He’s an adventurous boy, but would he be comfortable spending ten days in a cabin with boys he mostly doesn’t know? And, could we live without his infectious boy energy around our house? We quickly learned the answers!
Every summer since then, Sully would return home with his cup full, lessons learned, friendships strengthened, and more confident in himself than the previous year (and also asking “can I go longer next summer?”). The Creed became something he referenced often – in the context of camp and life in general. Summers became true character building adventures for Sully.
But anyone who knows Sully knows he loves a good laugh, and he’ll never take himself TOO seriously. He is filled with hilarious stories from the Koogees, games played, mess hall shenanigans, and the occasional odd intimidation tactic.
In recent years, camp became as much about building a strong bond with others as it was about building confidence in himself. It is evident that Deerhorn brings out the best in Sully.
His stories are all about the amazing friendships, his relationships with counselors, leaders, the Broadbridges, and how much he enjoyed helping with the younger campers. These are clearly relationships he’ll have for the rest of his life.
On any given Saturday in the winter, we will run into Sully mid-day training with his Big Mountain team in Vail and alongside the team we will almost always see Des and Walker, who are not on ski team, just freeloading – getting tips from the coach and a place in the ski team lift line. It has become widely accepted that if Sully is on the team, so are his camp friends. No matter where these guys are, they will find each other which is true brotherhood.
Voyager was the peak for Sully as a camper – long awaited and it did not disappoint. One of his favorite experiences in life, truly. But, then the doorbell rang this past fall, and there stood Taylor and CJ with a big poster asking Sully if he would be a leader for summer 2024. He could not have been more excited!
We’re so proud of these four boys – Sully, Des, Navin and Walker. They will no doubt try to fill the enormous shoes of those amazing leaders before them and have a fantastic summer while doing so. We’ll miss our boy but know that this will be the best summer yet.
