“I realized that if it were my last days, I'd want to be helping our campers.”— Alex Abramo
Alex Abramo was studying Human Services at Carson-Newman University when she went looking for a summer job. She wanted work that would help her prepare for a career serving people with disabilities. A Google search led her to Arrowhead Bible Camp.
The interest had begun in her own family. Alex grew up with an aunt who has Down syndrome, and later became involved in friendships, volunteer work, and Best Buddies programs. Serving people with disabilities was already part of her life before she began considering it as a profession.
At Arrowhead, she worked with adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The daily contact with campers helped her picture the work she wanted to keep doing. She stayed through the Leadership in Disabilities internship and continued her education through Anchor Christian University.
Her coursework gave her opportunities to develop materials the camp could use. She created Bible studies for staff and worked on explaining theological ideas through crafts and lessons for campers. An assignment required her to consider both the subject and the people who would receive it: what would they understand, and how could she help them engage with it?
Working on a small team also brought Alex into parts of nonprofit work she might not have encountered in a larger organization. Alongside serving campers, she gained exposure to programming, administration, operations, and the practical demands of supporting a ministry.
Those experiences connect to a particular ambition. Alex wants to open an art studio where adults with disabilities can create, display, and sell their work. Her time at Arrowhead has given her a closer look at both sides of that idea: serving participants well and understanding what it takes to run an organization.
When she talks to students weighing their next step, Alex encourages them to begin without expecting to have every later decision settled. She arrived looking for a summer job. Staying gave her time to test her interests through work, relationships, and study.
