Our Counselors

An important aspect of the Happy Trails program is that we actively recruit former foster children as counselors and mentors.  Giving today’s foster youth an opportunity to interact with young adults who’ve shared the common background of being uprooted from family and thrived despite years ‘in the system’ provides a powerful example to our kids that any challenge can be overcome.  We also target counselors who have previous experience working with foster youth.  Three of our current counselors work at the Orange Woods Children Foundation in Santa Ana, California, and several others are part of organizations that serve kids in the foster care system.  But regardless of experience, we can always use dedicated people who want to be part of the Happy Trails family, so feel free to contact us to find out more! 

In the years to come, Happy Trails will actively develop counselors in training, junior counselors and staff members from within the ranks of our own campers as they reach the approprate age.

Meet Our Counselors

Bren Wallace

Bren Wallace is a psychology major at Cal State Fullerton and she plans to start a career as a child psychologist.  She is also a mentor at the Orange Woods Children Foundation in Santa Ana, California, where she uses her childhood experiences in foster care to help kids in the system.  Her boundless energy and lively dancing make her the life of the party at camp.

“Happy Trails is all about the kids, and they can build positive and lasting friendships from it.  The hardest thing about being in foster care is trusting people and building relationships, because people can be stripped from you at any moment.  To be uprooted from your confidantes and your pals, that’s hard to go through.  At Happy Trails, my kids could come to camp and be themselves.  Everything is working for them and they are in a non-judgmental world.  A lot of times foster kids are misunderstood, but they learned they didn’t have to put up a guard around me.  I’ve been in their shoes and they know that I am not looking down at them.  And I’m breaking the cycle of negative outcomes of foster care children and that’s something the campers can see and respect.  I learned from my campers to appreciate everything I have and where I’ve come from.  If I hadn’t been on that journey, I wouldn’t be where I am today and able to work with them.  I can’t wait until camp this summer!”

Onikah “Princess” Porter

Onikah “Princess” Porter is a full-time student in her junior year at Cal State Fullerton, yet she also finds the time to be part of several organizations that serve foster youth.  She works for the Orange County Department of Education in foster youth services, is a mentor at the Orange Woods Children Foundation, and is a staff member for the Y.O.U.T.H. Training Project, a youth development program which mostly employs a staff of former foster care youth.  Onikah’s experiences growing up in the system have equipped her to handle such important positions, and she plans to work with underprivileged families for the duration of her career.

“If I hadn’t experienced what our campers had, the connection between me and the kids wouldn’t have been as strong.  Out of the blue, kids will tell you things and open up when you’re least expecting it, so you have to have an open mind and a patient reaction.  Just being there for your campers is really important, and sometimes you don’t even have to say anything.  I hope my kids learned from me that they are all beautiful individuals.  I always told them they can do whatever the put their mind to and that they have a lot of strength.  I just reminded them of what they don’t hear very often.  At Happy Trails, we need to continue to fortify relationships throughout the year and have a committed core staff that comes back session after session.  This organization is important because it doesn’t just buy toys for Christmas – it turns donations into relationships and connections.  It’s making a change in our youth’s lives other than material aspects.”

Roee Shalev

Roee Shalev is a History and Political Science major at UCLA.  He eventually plans on becoming an appellate lawyer in constitutional or civil rights law.  Although Roee was never in foster care, his mom works with kids in the system, which sparked his interest in volunteering for Happy Trails Camp.  Roee was a counselor for the youngest group of boys at camp, and he had such an all-around amazing experience that he is currently interning for Happy Trails.

“I learned from my kids that no matter how much they have gone through, all of them are good kids - they just have built a shell around them.  Some of our kids have a hard time trusting anybody.  They have been betrayed before or treated poorly.  You have to understand their background and what they have gone through in life.  If you can penetrate that, you can really make a difference.  I think we can educate our kids on all sorts of things.  Often they don’t know how to properly interact with other kids or respond appropriately to situations, and camp is a safe environment for them to learn about those things.  They also see that there are people who care about them.  There should be more awareness about the problems that foster kids face, and hopefully we can communicate that to the public.  A lot of people don’t really understand the magnitude and seriousness of the problem.  I feel like foster kids deserve a better chance, because they haven’t done anything wrong.  Most of these kids end up continuing the cycle, because that’s all they know.  Hopefully, Happy Trails can break the cycle for our kids.”

Talitha James

Talitha James is majoring in Human Service at Cal State Fullerton.  She plans to attend graduate school in order to become a social worker.  Talitha is part of the esteemed Guardian Scholars program, which awards full undergraduate tuition to select former foster youth.  She also works as a researcher at the Orange Woods Children Foundation, where she helps kids in the system plan for their future.  Talitha was one of the camp counselors who had the enormous responsibility of supervising the oldest group of girls, and she was more than up for the challenge.

“I volunteered for Happy Trails because I wanted to get involved in something new.  My passion is to be an inspiration to kids in the system, so they are motivated to be successful.  I come from the same background, so I’m able to relate.  You are constantly trying to fit in and cover up the fact that you’re a foster kid.  Some of our kids had never been away from their group homes and some had never even seen the beach before they came to camp.  Many foster youth think there is no life after you turn 18.  The older girls are particularly a challenge.  Supervising them at camp, you have to be 100% dedicated and you’re working 24 hours around the clock.  But it was well worth my time.  One of my girls was forced to go to camp and didn’t really want to be there.  I took it as my mission to get her to open up and have fun.  By the end, she had friends and confided in me, and that was really rewarding.  With Happy Trails, you’re changing lives.  You’re giving kids the opportunity to experience life as a normal child would.”