Since moving to Auburn from Fenton, Mo. in late February, Joseph Murphy has noticed differences in the way people communicate. People in New York pronounce vowel sounds differently. They also honk their horns more often.

But Murphy, the Auburn YMCA-WEIU's new camp and Y-Pals director, feels children speak the same lovably weird language no matter the geography.

“Kids have an amazing amount of energy and creativity, and they don't even know it,” Murphy said. “It doesn't even occur to them that singing a goofy song is weird in the least.”

In his new position, Murphy, a former Eagle Scout, hopes to continue cultivating that youthful energy through camp and other programs. For six years, he worked at YMCA Camp Lakewood in Potosi, Mo., a town about a tenth of Auburn's size. When Murphy spent his first summer at the camp, he was a theater major earning teaching certification at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo., where he also ran on the cross-country team and achieved a 4.0 grade point average.

Murphy's early enthusiasm for camp stemmed from activities like canoeing. He can measure the progress of his campers by the gradual straightening of their paddled routes through the water over the course of the first week. When children tip their canoes to practice rescues in shallow and deep water, their faces tell the story of a fun learning experience.

“If you explain how to do it safely, they'll give it a shot and push their comfort zone,” he said. “Then they do it and the look on their face is like, ‘Wow, I'm OK and that was really fun.'”

Camp staples like hiking, campfire songs and games endeared the experience to Murphy. He particularly enjoys Giants, Wizards and Elves, a more physically involved version of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Two teams line up facing each other and simultaneously reveal their fantasy race - each trumps one other - through gestures. The winning team must then tag all members of the losing team before they reach a safe zone.

Murphy hoped to add a recreation major to his studies after working at Lakewood, but he was too far into his college education to adjust its course for his newly discovered interest. After graduating, he continued spending summers and eventually all seasons at Lakewood while substitute-teaching.

A year of teaching teenagers debate, drama and speech full-time in Houston, Mo. led Murphy to realize that the indoor setting of a classroom was not his calling.

“The whole time, the thing I thought about whenever I wasn't engaged with teaching was being outside or at camp,” he said.

Murphy went back to Lakewood the following year to train counselors and take a job as assistant program director of outdoor education. When the national YMCA Web site listed an opening for camp director in Auburn, Murphy leapt at the opportunity.

The combination of the camp and Y-Pals director positions presented Murphy with “a sweet deal,” he said.

Kurt Kramer, executive director of the Auburn YMCA, felt Murphy was an equally promising package given his Eagle Scout background and athletic and academic success.

“He has integrity; he's honest, and he's passionate about camping,” Kramer said. “Joe has the right values to be a camp director and a leader for young people.”

Murphy's perspective as an outsider also positioned him as an ideal candidate to Kramer, who expects Murphy to “preserve the best traditions of camp Y-Owasco but bring new ideas and programs to make it more fun and exciting than it already is.”

New programs tailored to teenagers are another project Murphy plans to engineer at the Auburn YMCA. He feels teens experience the same youthful energy as children, but they face pressure to suppress it in favor of acting adult-like.

“They have the ability to really do something with their energy,” Murphy said. “Young adults can apply all their knowledge they've learned over the years to really do phenomenal things.”