Martha Muckleroy retires after 26 years with Texas A&M

Martha Muckleroy, director of Camp Adventure and instructional professor in the Physical Education Activity Program, retired after 26 years at Texas A&M on Aug. 31. She hopes to leave behind a legacy of cultivated relationships and instilling a love for lifetime fitness among her students and campers.

“I am very passionate about community building and creating an environment where students and children feel comfortable being who they are,” Muckleroy said.

Muckleroy began her career as an educator and coach at Dulles High School in Sugarland, Texas. Then she took a position at Seguin High School where she was a varsity volleyball coach and taught outdoor education.

She decided to further her education, attending Texas A&M to earn her master’s degree in physical education in 1994. Muckleroy was asked to remain at Texas A&M to teach full time in PEAP, which was called PF or the activity program at the time.

Muckleroy skiing on a Texas A&M study abroad to New Zealand.

Camp Adventure

Her passion for outdoor education grew and she eventually she became the director of Camp Adventure, an outdoor camp for children sponsored by the Department of Health and Kinesiology. She held the position for 25 years.

Camp Adventure was founded in 1982 by Camille Bunting. The camp employs health and kinesiology students as counselors and helps them gain outdoor activity certifications, like Wilderness First Aid and Swift Water Rescue. Muckleroy said she and Bunting shared a common passion and mission for the program.

“The main mission is to share the skills and talents of Texas A&M students, as well as our incredible facilities with the community, serving as community outreach,” Muckleroy said. “Our second purpose was to give our health and kinesiology students, primarily teacher certification students, experience working with children.”

Muckleroy said her favorite part of directing Camp Adventure was creating and nurturing relationships. She said she enjoyed watching counselors grow into educators over the summers that they worked for her.

“I am still friends with a lot of them, and now they are in the public school system and they attribute so much of their success to their training they got at Camp Adventure,” Muckleroy said.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Camp Adventure canceled its summer 2020 programming. Muckleroy said she is optimistic that when it is safe to do so, the camp will be back, and better than ever.

“I got as much as I gave to Camp Adventure,” Muckleroy said. “It was a perfect fit of my skillset to be able to run it, so my hope is that it continues to grow.”

Multifaceted faculty

Faculty in the Physical Education Activity Program are tasked with teaching a wide variety of courses. Over the years Muckleroy has taught classes such as Mountain Biking, Fundamentals of Coaching, Ultimate Frisbee, Introduction to Adventure Programming, Group Processing for sport conditioning majors, and she even created and taught Canoeing and Kayaking.

Muckleroy is passionate about activities that require learning specific skills that individuals can take with them throughout their entire lives. Although kinesiology activity courses are no longer required at Texas A&M, she hopes students will still be drawn to the classes for the health benefits and new friendships they can provide.

Muckleroy kayaking on a field trip with students.

“My hope is students would come back to skill development and become interested in developing a skill so they can have lifelong hobbies,” Muckleroy said.

Muckleroy also served on the Honor Council and was a Faculty Senate member for (insert years) during her time at Texas A&M.