We Are Currently Hiring for 2021 Girls Residential Staff
Our girls residential team consists of godly women who are passionately committed to serving troubled or struggling teen girls in crisis. The Shepherd’s Hill Academy girls residential team provides safe around-the-clock care for your daughter’s daily needs, including her academic, emotional, physical and spiritual development.
Every Shepherd’s Hill Academy team member must meet all the employment requirements, including a thorough background and criminal history check as set forth by the state of Georgia. All residential staff members are required to be trained in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), First Aid, and Emergency Safety Intervention (ESI).
In addition, each member undergoes an intense 30-day training period. Assuring the greatest degree of care and attention in the industry, Shepherd’s Hill Academy uncompromisingly upholds a maximum 5:1 student to staff ratio. This means your teen daughter is not out of sight of a girls residential team member at any point during her stay in the Therapeutic Outdoor Program.
Haley Walker
Girls Wilderness Program Manager
Haley is currently enrolled at Toccoa Falls College in Toccoa Falls, GA, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Counseling Psychology. She has always had a passion for learning and applying new knowledge to every aspect of her life.
Haley coached a kid’s soccer team for two years, where she combined her love for children and her love of soccer. She really enjoyed forming relationships with the players, teaching them about the sport while instilling confidence, and having the chance to lead short weekly devotionals after practice. Haley was also a live-in nanny and the sole caregiver for three young girls whose dad worked as a contractor overseas. She has always loved children, so nannying comes very natural to her.
Haley is thrilled at the opportunity to work with the students at Shepherd’s Hill Academy because she remembers, appreciates, and loves the adolescent years. She respects that each student will enter our program with their own experiences, strengths, challenges, and personality, and is excited to help them learn how to use all of these things to live out the plan God has for their lives. She is also looking forward to guiding them as they learn and develop wonderful, new skills that they can apply to their lives outside of Shepherd’s Hill.
Haley lives in Toccoa, GA with her husband, Garrett, and their wonderful pets. She loves cooking, gardening, reading, sports, and frequenting farmer’s markets and antique stores with her husband and family.
Britney Lamey
Britney attends Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, GA where she is pursuing an associate’s degree in Biology. She is doing well academically. Her first year in college she was on the Dean’s list and holds a 3.6 GPA.
Britney was a youth coordinator for two years at her home church, Beulah Missionary Baptist Church, in Miami, FL. Her mother died when she was six-years-old. She grew up in the church with her father and 11 siblings.
Today, she lives with her father and a few of her siblings. Britney says: “All my life, my heart lies with helping young individuals grow. I never had that while growing up. So, I want to make sure I am able to serve the youth of today and lead them down the right path and ensure they get the care that I didn’t when I was growing up. I have always been eager to share the love of God through my actions and that is something I genuinely want others to experience.”
In her spare time, Britney enjoys reading books that teach her life lessons. She loves singing, dancing and doing sports. She has a love for science and likes doing the research that goes with it.
Elda Mbemba
Elda is a student at Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, GA. She is studying Communications.
She has worked with youth for three years in Zambia at the Church of Christ.
Elda wants to lead today’s youth during their teen years to teach them about the Bible. It’s her desire that the students of Shepherd’s Hill Academy live their teen lives as per God’s commandments.
Fun Fact: Elda searches for meaning and purpose even in the small things. She enjoys volunteering, community services and charity work. She also enjoys outdoor activities and likes to travel.
Elvira Arévalo
Elvira is currently working towards a bachelor’s degree in Math Education at Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, GA. For two years she studied in the psychology department at Emmanuel. She is also pursuing an English Second Language (ESL) teaching certification to teach students whose first language is not English.
Elvira was a leader and a teacher at a young age. While in middle school and as a freshman in high school, she was in the girl’s group at her home church in Mexico where she would help teach Sunday school and Bible stories to the children and find fun activities for them to do. Every weekend after that until her junior year in high school, she attended the church her family owned where she and her uncle led the worship group.
In her junior year of high school, she joined the wrestling team where travel was required on the weekends. This lead to starting summer wrestling camps for the children at local middle schools to introduce them to the sport of wrestling. Some of the kids struggled with staying out of trouble; therefore, introducing them to wrestling was a way to help them stay off the streets. This experience allowed Elvira to become a part of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) which lets her continue to help run FCA camps for younger girl wrestlers in GA at Emmanuel College.
From Elvira, “I want to serve teens because I was in their place at some point. I needed guidance and when I got it I was able to not only find out who I was and who I wanted to become, but I also found the Lord. I want to help guide these teens so that they can find out who they are and who they can be. I also want to be a teacher in the future, so I want to show these kids how much they can achieve not only in the classroom but also in life. I believe these teens have so much potential, they just have to learn how to use it and I want to be one of the people to teach them how to do so.”
Because of her grandparent’s influence, Elvira grew up in a Catholic household, but that changed as she got older and as her parents started growing deeper into their faith. She grew up with her parents, grandparents, and four siblings. In 2010 her family migrated to the United States from Mexico. Her family is very close, so everything she does, she does to make them proud.
She enjoys being on the women’s college wrestling team. She loves to do canvas paintings, teaching her peers Spanish, and goes hiking when she has the chance. Fun Fact: Elvira is a Spanish tutor and makeup and hairstylist in her free time. She likes to help people feel confident and beautiful.
Grace Clayton
Grace is a student at Toccoa Falls College, in Toccoa Falls, GA. She is studying Secondary English Education.
Her experience with youth includes; volunteering with the Boys and Girls Club since 2018. Grace describes her desire to work with youth as recited in 1 Peter 4:10 “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
Grace says, “Since I was a child, the Lord has laid teaching on my heart, specifically to teenagers. In a world of sin and technology, our teenagers face a large quantity of temptations. It’s my aspiration to allow teens to see their own potential. I want to love, care, and teach them about having good attitudes, developing integrity, and most importantly, the love and abundant care we receive from Jesus Christ.”
Fun Fact: Grace serves on the Student Government as Administrative Specialist at Toccoa Falls College! She enjoys hiking, kayaking, reading and camping.
Heidi Stenlund
After high school, Heidi attended Ecola Bible College in Cannon Beach, Oregon where she studied the Bible and ministry during a two-year intensive program. Currently, she is pursuing an associate’s degree in Care Ministry from Crown College online.
Heidi worked with youth at a Christian summer camp for four summers. She also has experience helping out with the youth group at her church. She did an internship with the ministry Envision Atlanta in the summer of 2020 and worked with refugee kids and families from lower-income areas. Heidi says: “I loved experiencing so many different cultures and meeting so many incredible and strong people.”
Heidi shares: “I want to serve teens because when I was a teenager, I experienced the value and importance of older people serving and encouraging me. The wisdom and support I received from those older than me helped me grow so much and I want to do that for others. I was poured into spiritually and I want to encourage younger people in their walk with Jesus because that is the most important thing in this life. I have a desire to walk alongside people who are hurting to share their burdens, support them, and point them to Jesus.”
Heidi grew up in a loving, close-knit family. She has two siblings who are both married and have kids. Being an aunt is one of her greatest joys in life! She loves spending time in the mountains, whether that be hiking, just relaxing, or camping with friends. She also loves sports, being active, and music.
Hope Cooper
Hope is in the process of pursuing a Middle Grades Education degree and minoring in Outdoor Leadership Education at Toccoa Falls College, in Toccoa Falls, GA.
She has always had a heart for people and their needs. Hope desires to show the love of Christ and help teens recognize their potential and purpose. She wants teens to know that not all hope is lost though we may face challenging and dark times in this life.
Hope has had several opportunities to work with youth. She is currently a youth leader as well as a small group leader at her church, where she gets to help them grow as a person and in their relationship with Christ. She had an awesome experience working for WinShape Camps in the summer of 2019. She found that summer challenging and a huge blessing to positively impact so many young lives, making Christ’s love known.
Hope grew up in a family of five with a loving mother, father, older sister, and younger brother. Family is so important to her and she thanks God for the one He has given her. She enjoys anything outdoors, whether it is mountain biking, hiking, swimming, fishing, kayaking, etc. She enjoys spending time with people, trying new things, and traveling! She also plays the ukulele and loves participating in sports.
Janelle Thompson
Janelle graduated from Toccoa Falls College in Toccoa Falls, GA with a bachelor’s degree in Cross-Cultural Business Administration and a minor in Marketing.
While growing up, Janelle gained nearly 10 years of experience working with youth by volunteering in her church nursery and summer VBS programs. She also served as a summer camp counselor at a camp for underprivileged and impoverished children in Canada, as well as leading and organizing Sports’ Camps in communities in Calgary, Alberta, Canada for two summers. Her college business internship took her to Bandung, Indonesia where she spent almost four months working in a local coffee shop and volunteering at a faith-based orphanage.
After previously working with middle school-aged students and having loved it, Janelle is now very excited about the opportunity to work closely alongside an older group of girls. She believes that these years in a student’s life are pivotal and have a great impact on their current and future character development. Deep and meaningful relationships are also very important to Janelle as she firmly believes that good friends have profound effects on one’s social and spiritual life.
Janelle played several sports in high school, and she enjoys anything that involves either a ball or being outside. She also enjoys hiking in the mountains, spontaneous trips, and traveling.
Kayla Marano
Kayla currently is enrolled at Emmanual College in Franklin Springs, GA. Her major is in Psychology.
She has worked with youth at wrestling clinics and as a youth wrestling coach since 2014. It’s her desire to help today’s youth become the best version of themselves.
Kayla wants to serve teens because they have so much potential. She believes not only will she serve them, but they will help teach her more life lessons.
Fun Fact: Kayla is on the wrestling team at Emmanual College. She enjoys hiking, reading, and wrestling.
