For 50 years, Camp ASCCA has been a place where everyone belongs, memories are made, and love is woven into each day. Sometimes that love is friendship. Sometimes, it becomes something more. Camp has a special way of bringing people together, whether just for a season or for a lifetime. In our limited series, “Love, the ASCCA Way,” we’re sharing stories of couples whose journeys began here and continued far beyond our gates.
At Camp ASCCA, the most meaningful connections often start in ordinary moments that turn out to be anything but ordinary. A shared summer, a simple conversation, a week spent serving side by side can grow into something life-changing. That is exactly how it happened for Clay and Maddie.
Clay and Maddie met during the summer of 2021 while serving as counselors at Davis Lodge. Both grew up in Auburn, yet their paths never crossed until Camp ASCCA brought them together. They quickly became friends and soon found themselves spending much of their free time together. During Teen Week, they were placed in the same rotation group, and the rest is history.
At the end of the summer, they returned to Auburn and began dating in September 2021. Since that first summer, they have served Camp ASCCA in several different capacities and continue to return as often as possible.
On June 14, 2024, Clay told Maddie there was a birthday party at camp for some friends. There was no party. Instead, he surprised her by asking her to marry him overlooking the lake. It was a special, full-circle moment in the place where their story first began. They worked the entire summer that year, cherishing their time at camp as they prepared for the next chapter.
They were married on June 14, 2025, surrounded by many camp friends. Today, they live in the Birmingham area, where Clay works as an accountant, and Maddie serves as a special education teacher. Camp ASCCA means the world to them, and we are so grateful for the role we have played in their story and for the many ways they continue to be part of ours.
