Former intern returns to Erskine as chapel speaker

The Rev. Cam Smith, who spoke at an Erskine chapel service Oct. 24 in the Due West ARP Church, is not an Erskine graduate, but his connection to Erskine began when he was a student at Penn State University and continued through his participation in a spring break ministry project at Erskine, a two-year internship on the Erskine campus, and marriage to an Erskine graduate.

Cam Smith “stumbled into a campus ministry through some friends” at Penn State, Erskine Chaplain Paul Patrick said. Led by RUF campus minister Chad Brewer, a friend of Patrick, students from Penn State, including Smith, traveled to South Carolina during their spring break to participate in a Widow’s Ministry project with Erskine students.

“Cam loved his time here, having grown up in a town similar to Due West, called Wyalusing, in Pennsylvania,” Patrick said.

From 2008 to 2010, he served as RUF intern at Erskine, and later married Erskine alumna Kaela Brown, a member of the Class of 2011, in a wedding ceremony at the Barn, the gathering place for Erskine’s RUF located on the Patricks’ property. The Smiths are now the parents of two children.

Smith currently serves as RUF campus minister at Carson Newman University in Tennessee, and 2017 Erskine graduate Abigail Butler is his intern there.