Jeremy “Jem” Sollinger
Jem started as a camper at Laurel in 1980, went on to be a counselor, Campus Leader and now serves as Managing Partner and Director with his wife, Debbie. Jem is a graduate of Union College where he was a four-year varsity soccer player and captain of the Alpine ski team. He is actively involved with the American Camp Association, a member of the Maine Youth Camp Association, and a former member of the Tri-State Camping Conference Steering Committee and the Board of Maine Summer Camps. Jem is also a member of Temple B’nai Chaim in Georgetown, Connecticut. A native of Westport, Connecticut, Jem assumed the directorship of a soccer camp in Fairfield County when he was 19 and found his calling. He currently serves as the board President of Top of the Hill Club, the alumni backbone of the Staples High School soccer program. Jem lives in Weston, Connecticut with Debbie, daughter Tess (a Laurel Camper) and golden retriever Thea. Their middle daughter Madeline (a Laurel counselor) attends Tulane and their oldest, Anabel, graduated Union College and returns to camp as the Acadian Campus Leader.
Debbie Sollinger
Debbie has spent every summer since 1998 (the year she met Jem) in Maine, becoming a Director of Camp Laurel in 2007. She works closely with the Head Counselors, Campus Leaders, Staff and Campers focusing on camper and staff relations, while also overseeing the Laurel Health Center. Debbie is from Baltimore, Maryland, where she attended the Park School and was on the varsity lacrosse and field hockey teams. As a graduate of the University of Texas and Yeshiva University’s Wurzweiler School of Social Work, she is a certified Social Worker and has also trained as a family therapist at the Ackerman Institute in New York City. Debbie previously served on the board of the Foundation for Jewish Camp. While consumed by camp 24/7 during the summer, in the “off-season” she balances her role as Managing Partner/Director and mother to daughters Anabel, Madeline and Tess and golden retriever Thea.