Meet Our camp family

Leadership team

  • Michele is a Washington native, but over the course of 25 years, she has called many places “home.” For her, Camp Burton is an answer to many years of prayer and she considers it a blessing to be able to live and serve with her family and friends. Michele can often be found singing camp songs and playing guitar. Her joy can be heard across the campsite, which is why she is lovingly called “Megaphone”.

michele rutschow | Executive Director

  • Joe Locke grew up in Monterey County, California. He has worked in food service, casinos, and financial services. Joe likes to eat burritos, drink monsters, spend time in nature, and eat burritos in nature while drinking a monster. His camp name is “Goat”, partially because of his amazing beard, but also because the team all agrees he truly is the “Greatest of All Time.”

joe locke | Conference Manager

clara carter | program Director

  • Being raised on Vashon inspired Clara’s deep love for and commitment to serving her community, which led her to the work she does across multiple non-profit organizations. While Clara loves all things “camp”, she is particularly obsessed with s’mores. Overly organized and always working on ten projects at once, she was given the camp name “Exe” for being able to execute the team’s ideas quickly and efficiently.

  • As a military kid, Jeff has lived all over the US and in Europe. Over the past 25 years, he’s has been a youth pastor, stay-at-home dad and chef. He enjoys alone time, hiking, photography, reading, the art of Shou Sugi Ban, and watching football. Go Packers! His camp name, “Booker”, was given to him by a loved one many years ago.

jeff rutschow | food service Manager

  • Colin is a California boy, growing up in the San Jose and Santa Cruz area. He has adventured all over the world and held a variety of jobs. When he found Camp Burton, it was a perfect fit, even though an accident occurred on his first day that resulted in his camp nickname, “Slip”… Anyway, Colin enjoys metal detecting & fireworks, loves his family and loves being able to live the #CampLife.

colin laak | facilities Director

2025 Program Team

beren lord
Program Operations

  • Beren began as an archery instructor in 2021 and was promoted to the program team in 2023. In summer of 2024, he will serve as the program department’s operations coordinator. His favorite part of camp life is being surrounded by our site’s beautiful environment. Beren is extremely dedicated, proven by his success with body building (which he hopes to make a career one day). He was named “Bullseye” because he’s always aiming for the mark!

grace keely
Program logistics

  • Our resident Australian, Grace first came to Camp Burton in 2024 as a Camp America staffer. She worked as a cabin leader before becoming one of the program assistant directors. Next year, Grace will serve as the program logistics coordinator. Her camp name is "Vegemite" because she's a vegetarian and she is mighty! Grace loves Washington's beautiful environment and feels very grateful to be able to live and work here.