Staff

The majority of TGC staff is comprised of volunteer senior adults selected for their desire to connect with youth and to give back a measure of their successes to the community. Some have skills and specialties to share, but all enjoy participating alongside the campers in the week's activities. Contact us if you're interested in becoming a volunteer mentor.

Core Mentors

Joel Daunic

Founder and head of TGC, Joel is a Financial Representative with The Guardian Life Insurance Company and has been in the financial services industry for over 27 years. He was also a college athletic director and women's basketball coach and has maintained a lifelong interest in sports. He organized, helped coach, and played on the world masters basketball championship team (55+) in 1998 and continues to play basketball and tennis.

Sue Johnson

Sue is a retired elementary school art teacher who served the Gainesville school system for over 30 years. She is an accomplished painter and is active in many local community organizations, including the Harn Museum and the En Plein Air painting. Sue has helped with the planning, organization, and day-to-day operation of TGC since its inception.

Malcolm Sanford

A retired Professor of Apiculture (the study of bees) at the University of Florida, Malcolm is the quintessential Renaissance Man. Playing the lead in local theater productions, running in road races, dancing the tango in Argentina, keeping up his fluency in several languages, and being the #1 TGC camper/mentor for the last three years are only a few examples of Malcolm's endless energy and expertise.

Ann Daunic

A faculty member in the Department of Special Education at UF, Ann directs a funded research project concerned with preventing aggression and problem behaviors and has also worked as a school administrator and college counselor and tennis coach. She has been a regular TGC participant and helps Joel with camp organization and planning.

Neil Johnson

Neil is a retired engineer whose current passion is making furniture. Like his wife Sue, he is also active in local community affairs. This will be Neil's second year as a TGC participant and mentor par excellence.

Wes Corbett

A professor emeritus of the UF College of Education, Wes continues to supervise student teachers. He aso jogs, bikes and swims and has loved traveling to Europe and California the past several summers. He drives a van for TGC and you can always find him at the deepest part of whichever North Florida fresh water spring the campers may have on the week's agenda.

John Ward

Hazel Jones

An Associate Professor in the Special Education Department at UF, Hazel's specialties are in early childhood and speech and language pathology. She is a leader in the College of Education but somehow finds time to be a super mentor to the younger members of her family, who also happen to be TGC regulars.

Other Staff

Joe DeStefano, Head Counselor

"Joey D" is back for his second year as head counselor of TGC, after having a huge impact on the camp's energy last summer. Joe has taught high school English since 1997 in Missouri, North Carolina and Colorado, and has worked in a variety of summer camps since he was a high school student. He has a Masters degree in Instruction and Curriculum, and taught English in Busan, South Korea for the 2005-2006 school year before returning to Heritage HS in Littleton, Colorado.

Rhys Daunic, Video Production

Rhys of The Media Spot (TMS) has run video production at TGC since 2003. He has been promoting media literacy through multimedia production since 1999 as an educational consultant helping teachers integrate technology into various learning environments throughout New York City and in Atlanta, GA. Rhys has a Masters degree in Media Studies from The New School University, and produces videos and designs websites for Dtek Digital Media as well.

Andy Hieb, Video Production

Andy co-founded The Media Spot and Dtek Digital Media with Rhys Daunic. He's a seasoned web developer and digital media producer, and maintains TGC's web site. Andy physically took part in TGC for the first time in 2006, doing video production and playing soccer with the kids.