When Tennessee Technological University volleyball student-athlete Anne Morrow applied to be a counselor at one of the YMCA’s summer day camps, she was just looking for a part-time job to make a few extra bucks.

What the Golden Eagles senior outside hitter found was a calling.

Between her freshman and sophomore seasons, Morrow was placed with Camp Journey, an eight-week day camp that assists children ages 6 to 14 with a range of mental and physical disabilities such as autism, Down’s syndrome, cerebral palsy and blindness.

Before taking the job, Morrow had little experience with children beyond babysitting, let alone experience with and knowledge of how to handle children with special needs. In fact, she had never worked in a camp setting.

“I went in not knowing what to expect,” said Morrow. “The different degrees of abilities we had was really shocking. We had some kids who were completely immobile and others who would run all over. You’d have some kids who were very high functioning and others with whom it was tough to interact. Some kids were nonverbal and used sign language or made up their own sign language.”

If Morrow went in blind, her eyes were opened on the first day of her Camp Journey experience. That summer, she was assigned to a nonverbal autistic child who used sign language, some of which was made up, and the most sign language Morrow knew was the alphabet.

“It became a learning experience for both of us that summer — me trying to figure out how to communicate with her and her trying to let me know what she meant,” said Morrow. “It took me aback that she was capable of doing that. I didn’t know how high functioning she was. It showed

me that just because people have  disabilities as severe as autism, they are still extremely intelligent people. They just have this wall inside them they can’t get through. It was remarkable to me.”

Morrow describes Camp Journey as “not huge, but real personal.” Although the handful of counselors staffing the camp are charged with watching over the entire group of campers, each is specifically assigned one or two children. A typical day at the camp begins with time for play and crafts, followed by lunch. Campers swim four days per week and take field trips on Wednesdays. The destinations vary, but in the past, campers have visited the public swimming pool, the county fair and the children’s museum.

Since that first day of that first summer, Morrow has found her rhythm. She has returned to work at Camp Journey for the past three summers and plans to make special-needs children her life’s work.

“The biggest factor is seeing a segment of the population that sometimes gets neglected,” she said. “The fact that we get out into the community gives the kids an opportunity to do things all other kids get to do, and the community gets to see that these kids are just like other kids who want to go and play and get attention.”

After earning a bachelor’s degree in biology in May, Morrow will pursue a doctorate in physical therapy at the University of Indianapolis. She ultimately hopes to build a career as a licensed physical therapist for special-needs children.