Our Camp Owner, Meghan Gardner (whose own daughters attend Wizards & Warriors camps), is trained by the American Camping Association as a Camp Director, and has more than 12 years of experience in running youth programs and 6 years running camps. Meghan has also taught (literally) thousands of kids and teens important Assault and Abduction Prevention skills through Guard Up, Inc., and has coached Junior Olympic Volleyball for the Gators Volleyball Club out of Bedford, MA. Meghan is the founder of Guard Up! Family Swordsmanship out of Burlington, MA.

Our Day Camp Director and Director of our After School Program, Adam Rodgers, is a seven-year veteran of camp and after school programs. He comes to Guard Up from the YMCA of Greater Boston, where he ran after school programs and worked in all facets of their camp programs. He holds a myriad of certifications, including EEC Qualified Site Director and American Camping Association Camp Director. Adam has a degree in Archaeology and is an avid history buff. He loves working with kids because every day holds the possibility to see them grow.

Plot Director and part Owner, Jeff Wegman (also a parent of three boys), is certified as a Camp Director by the American Camping Association, and has been writing and running plots and storylines for groups for 15+ years. Jeff has been an instructor and educator through his local church for 6th through 9th graders for more than 15 years. He has also served as a personal mentor, sharing and exploring key virtues and ethics for youth.

Christopher Wiley, also certified as an ACA Camp Director, and holds a position as our Counselor Director, is originally from Alabama, and has made Boston his home for the past three years. He has spent much of his life working around younger kids; as a big brother, a daycare volunteer, an assistant scout leader, and teaching children’s theater classes/camps. He is a double major in English and Theater, and an active performer. On days not spent at Guard Up, Chris works closely with the Burlington-based theater company “Atlantis Playmakers”, where he performs in stage plays and stage combat presentations, and teaches both to kids.

Our Prop, Make Up & Costume Director is Corey Philips, who has been fascinated with world mythology for as long as he can recall. As a teenager, he would lead friends and neighborhood children on adventures through the woods and yards of his neighborhood, replacing cops and robbers with elves and orcs, knights and monsters. While in High School, he got involved in his school’s drama club. He then attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where he studied stage combat and melee combat interpretation. While at the university, he also learned theatrical and special effects makeup techniques. His dual interests in teaching and makeup led him, at one point, to working in a daycare center by day and a haunted house by night.

Christine Yablonski, our Assistant Camp Director and Parent Liaison, has more than 20 years experience working with children and families, both professionally & as a volunteer. Before and after obtaining her Masters degree in Counseling Psychology, she worked as a counseling therapist and child specialist at several residential treatment programs as well as within public schools. As a stay-at-home-mom, she has always been active in multiple organizations within her communities in New York City and Massachusetts. Christine’s two children first began taking classes at Guard Up in 2005, and have attended both day and overnight camps, not to mention countless classes and Buddy & Adventure Nights. Christine has worked at the overnight camp since its beginning. Since then, Christine has been certified by the American Camp Association as a Camp Director. She looks forward to all of the new adventures that await the Heroes this year and is eager to see all of the returning Heroes from summers past.

Guard Up also has a full time Health Supervisor on staff during the camp season; our camp is fully licensed. All counselors are trained in CPR, First Aid, and Special Needs. All staff have passed an intensive Criminal Offender and work history background check.