Zak Caldwell
Guest Relations Director, Summer Staff Supervisor, Ropes Courses
From Walsh, Colorado, Zak is a long time alumni of Quaker Ridge Camp, having worked the dish pit for 4 years of summer camp while attending Barclay College in Kansas. It was at Barclay that he met and fell head over heels for his future wife, Katrina (from San Antonio, Texas). After graduating with his B.S. in Business Administration, an A.A. in General Studies and a minor in Bible Studies, Zak stayed in Kansas while Katrina finished her degree.
They were married right here at Quaker Ridge in 2006, but the responsibilities of school and marriage kept them in Kansas until the devastating tornadoes that swept through Greensburg in the spring of 2007 and basically wiped them out. When Katrina graduated with her B.S. in Psychology and Family Studies and an A.A. in Bible Studies, the two of them came to Quaker Ridge for the summer to run the ropes challenge courses and to get some breathing room and decide what the future held for them. The three months of that summer rekindled Zak’s love of Christian Camping and he began to feel God tugging his heart toward ministry. By that fall, he was a full time staff member.
During that time, Katrina also fell in love with the Christian camping ministry and began to feel a similar call on her life and became a full time staff member in January of 2008 while continuing to pursue her Masters in marriage and family counseling.
The winter of 2008 opened a new chapter in their lives together when they welcomed their first baby, Parker Grace Caldwell. The apple of Zak and Katrina’s eye, Parker is doted on heavily by the staff here at QRC.
Both Zak and Katrina were very involved with the sports teams at their school playing basketball, volleyball, soccer, tennis and baseball. In fact, at their wedding, Zak stated that he initially fell in love with Katrina because she was the first girl he ever met that could beat him in a game of HORSE. Katrina admitted that she figured she was in love with Zak when he became the first guy she’d ever known who she actually let win once in awhile!
One of Zak’s goals for the immediate future is to catch a fish big enough to put on a wall but is perfectly content in the mean time to collect comic books, read, watch movies with Katrina, fish, scuba dive, eat Slim Jims, hike and travel. Katrina enjoys tennis, reading, working out and watching movies with Zak. Zak’s favorite place on earth is “Islands of Adventure” at Universal Studios in Florida followed closely by any McDonalds anywhere, while Katrina loves Mexican food in its many varieties. Parker loves chocolate milk, snack time, all the camp cats, Snoopy and Charlie Brown, watching fish and playing with her blocks.
