Board of Directors
Jason Cole - President
Jason was born and raised in Texas, and moved to Fort Worth after being stationed in Alaska in the US Air Force. He has worked as an occupational safety and risk management consultant for the last 15 years as a Certified Safety Professional. He has a B.S. in Biology, and is a Texas Master Naturalist.
Jason heard about Camp Quest Texas on a podcast in 2014, and signed his older son up to attend that day. The spirit of freethinking atmosphere of inclusivity made him want to help further the goals of the organization, so in 2015, he volunteered himself, working in the clinic. Jason acted as the Camp Quartermaster from 2016 to 2020, and as the Operations Director in 2021.
Phyllis Clark - Treasurer
Phyllis has worked for a major airline for the majority of her career - in Commercial Receivables Treasury department for the past decade, previously in Telecom Finance. She has been involved with the Houston Atheists as a member since 2005 and more recently was the leader from 2018 - 2022. She is the treasurer of HOPE (Homeless Outreach Providing Essentials ) for Houston, a secular group that distributes personal care items to the homeless once a month. She also served as President of the PBO for her daughter’s robotics team from 2019-2022.
Phyllis first became aware of Camp Quest during the Texas FreeThought Convention in 2011 when her daughter was age 7. Camp Quest had a room set up for kids and they later ended up onstage with Richard Dawkins when he was introducing his new book, The Magic of Reality. When her daughter was old enough, in 2013, she attended CQTX and has attended every one since (along with one summer at CQ Ohio and CQ CO - when she was on the waitlist for CQTX and wasn’t sure if she’d get in).
Her daughter found her space at CQTX and is now a volunteer. When the call went out for someone to fill the Treasurer position, Phyllis couldn’t think of a better fit.
Stephanie Mongiello
Stephanie Mongiello has been sending her kids to Camp Quest Texas since 2022. She believes it is important for all kids to have the opportunity to experience the joy of summer camp - enjoying the outdoors and building friendships in a fun, accepting environment. A lifelong outdoor enthusiast, she loves swimming, skiing, kayaking, hiking, and camping whenever she can. She is also a major dog lover and a dedicated home chef.
Stephanie is an Associate Professor of Accounting at the University of North Texas at Dallas, where she teaches graduate and undergraduate courses, including forensic accounting and fraud examination, federal income taxation, business ethics and corporate governance, and accounting systems. She is also a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE). Stephanie previously worked as a tax and white collar criminal defense attorney at a boutique law firm in Dallas, Texas and as an international trade consultant at a Big 4 accounting firm. She earned her JD/MBA with honors from Southern Methodist University and her BA in history and religious studies from Rice University.
Kyle Oyakawa
Kyle and his family have been active members of Camp Quest Texas since 2014. That first year, he and his wife volunteered and their three oldest children attended as campers. Now, the entire family will be at camp with a total of four adult volunteers and four campers.
Kyle has served as a cabin counselor and camp director as well as helping with the registration software and website management. He and his family are also active members of Fellowship of Freethought Dallas where he and his wife have served in various leadership roles.
Kelly Rhodes
Kelly first attended Camp Quest TX as a counselor in 2014 while her oldest of three attended as a nine-year-old camper. Kelly and her daughter returned to camp the next two years, and her two boys joined her daughter as campers in 2017 and 2018. Kelly is excited for the opportunity to volunteer with Camp Quest TX again!
As an avid camper, Kelly enjoys trips to state parks across Texas and visiting as many national parks as she can squeeze into her schedule. An RN by trade, she loves science and believes healthcare should be a right and not a privilege. Her passions are raising her kids, fighting for equal rights, and normalizing secularism.
Kelly lives in Houston where she is active in the secular community. She is the Houston area assistant state director for American Atheists, serves on the leadership council for Houston Atheists, organizes volunteer opportunities and Pride festival tabling with Houston Oasis, and is a co-organizer of SHORE: Secular Houston Organizing for the Right to Equality.
Kara Sweeney
Kara has been volunteering as a cabin counselor on and off since 2013. She first discovered CQTX from a news story describing a fundraising event for the organization. After her first summer as a volunteer, she went on to earn an AA in Deaf Studies as well as an AAS in American Sign Language Interpreting. She also volunteers with ASL Faires TX which supports Deaf and DeafBlind access at faires and festivals such as the Texas Renaissance Festival.
For nearly a decade she has worked in the residential new construction supply chain. When she’s not managing customer accounts, Kara is hiking, biking, weightlifting, experimenting in the kitchen, crafting, keeping exotic pets, road-tripping, traveling domestically and abroad, and volunteering for various causes.