Working For A Living | Casey Scully has a heart for children

Casey Scully, 19, will return to Winthrop University in the fall as a junior, in pursuit of her undergrad degree in family and consumer sciences with a concentration on early childhood studies.

“My intention is to get a master’s in early intervention and work with kids with disabilities between the ages of 1 and 5 – doing therapy before they go into the public school system,” she said.

Scully, who has been a Myrtle Beach resident since her family moved here when she was 14, said she was originally a special education major and did a handful of internships with that goal in mind – but decided that she didn’t want to be a teacher in the traditional sense – primarily because of the inherent stringent guidelines and regulations attached to the profession.

“I think every kid is really different and shouldn’t be taught the same way,” she said. “I figured I would get them a little earlier and kind of send them on the right track for when they actually end up going into the school system.”

This summer, Scully scored a multifaceted job as activities director at the Apache Family Campground & Pier [www.apachefamilycampground.com], having just been promoted from assistant activities director.

“I run the nightly entertainment and I am also in charge of our rental spaces, so anybody that wants to rent out the pavilion or the activity room or under the pier – like for their wedding or private party – that all goes through me,” she said.

She also runs all of the day-to-day campground activities like pool parties or children’s crafts and much, much more, including facilitating the process for outside vendors like Chick-fil-A or visits from a local magician every week – or the guy who comes in to play movies at the pool.

“The guy who does [the movies] has a huge inflatable projector screen that he puts at the far end of the pool. He sets up his projector and the kids can swim around. We hand out free popcorn and they can watch a movie from the pool.”

The popcorn machine is heavy.

“I was in charge of that yesterday, and I think I spilled a full cup of butter in total. But I got pretty lucky because I work with a great team of maintenance guys who will do just about anything I ask, which is just so incredibly sweet of them – whether it’s in their job realm or not.”

Walkie-talkies are constantly squawking around the property.

“We are definitely a very connected campground,” she said.

Scully’s job doesn’t require her to be on site until around noon – but she hits the ground running when she arrives.

She handles the social media pages for the campground and sends out proposals for the aforementioned rental spaces, utilizing leads she receives from a third-party site.

And of course, there are different activities every day of the week, like tie-die T-shirts or glitter tattoos. And when everybody is at dinner, she heads back to the office and updates the website or prints out the weekly bulletin. After that, it’s the nightly entertainment – and she’s usually done by 11 p.m.

A self-proclaimed sushi geek, Scully enjoys King Kong Sushi at Broadway at the Beach and CO Sushi at The Market Common. But Indian food is a favorite too, and she might be spotted at Masala Zone in Myrtle Beach.

Being outdoors so much on the job is a great fit for Scully.

“I spend a lot of time outside at work, but I really, really like the outside,” she said, adding that she and her dog go exploring frequently – usually at spots like Huntington Beach State Park.

“We go to the beach all of the time. I hike and kayak and I take him with me just about everywhere I go.”

Her dog’s name is Winston, a rescue she named after Winston Churchill – one of her heroes.

Scully had already been to Nicaragua, Belize and Ecuador – and future plans include working in a children’s home.

“I plan to move out of the country – probably to Central America – and I would like to run my own clinic specifically for kids with disabilities.”

While in Nicaragua, she met a little boy who was on the autism spectrum.

“The nurses that were working at the children’s home there didn’t understand that he was on the autism spectrum because there is so little awareness about it in underdeveloped countries. I think that’s what I am supposed to do – to bring awareness so it’s not so much of a stigma. They are just kids who need a little extra oomph – a little extra love and care and support that they are not getting because their disability is being overlooked.”

This story was originally published July 9, 2015 at 12:51 PM with the headline "Working For A Living | Casey Scully has a heart for children."