As a general counselor, you are more directly involved with your group of campers than anyone else. You sleep in the same area, eat at the same table and go everywhere together. What you do and say, the way you act and how you care for your campers will have a huge impact on their summer.
Remember that your campers will not have parents or teachers to serve as role models during their time at camp. Instead, they will look to you to act as a teacher, parent and role model. As a result, you will have a deep and lasting effect on the lives of your campers.
Since you become the role model for your campers, you need to recognize that they will start to behave like you do. If you are not enthusiastic about an activity, your campers probably will not be either. Therefore, it is very important that you have a lot of energy and a good attitude for everything you do at camp, from arts and crafts to the food to waking up early in the morning.
As an activities camp counselor, it is your responsibility to plan, organize and teach one or more specific activity area. The camp administrators will look to you to teach this skill to a large number of children. Usually, you will spend most of your time at your specialty area, teaching different children from various age groups. These activities will last approximately one hour per group and you will have several groups coming to your activity each day.
In some summer camps, you may work only as an activities camp counselor. In others, you will have general camp counselor responsibilities part of the time and activity responsibilities the rest of the time. Be flexible!
Types of Activities Camp Counselors:
Every camp relies on a dedicated team of Lifeguards to handle the manic scenes when a hundred kids jump into the lake or swimming pool! At more relaxed times during the day, you'll have the chance to get involved in a variety of exciting Watersports!
Many of the camps we work with have a picturesque lake or swimming pool which truly is an amazing way to spend your summer.
To be a Lifeguard you'll need to hold a current Lifeguard qualification (American Red Cross or NPLQ) and ideally have previous experience in working as a Lifeguard. We also offer our own ARC training courses if you would like to complete this qualification before taking on this role at camp. Any experience or qualifications in instructing any Watersports will also be very beneficial to work in those areas. For example a BCU Level 2 (or above) coaching award in Canoeing or Kayaking or an ASA Level 1 or 2 if you'd like to specialise in teaching Swimming.
As a Creative & Performing Arts specialist, it'll be your role to encourage campers to discover their creative side in Arts & Crafts, Performing Arts or Music!
The list of creative activities offered at camp is endless! There's Ceramics, Circus Skills, Digital Arts, Drama, Dance, Piano, Stage Production, Video Editing plus many more! So whether your speciality is Arts & Crafts, Performing Arts or Music, there’s many opportunities to share your talents with the campers. It'll be your role to lead sessions in these areas and help the children showcase their creativity.
Previous experience in any of these areas will look great as part of your application. You’ll need to be able to demonstrate that you can lead and teach whichever area you’d like to specialise in at camp. For example, if you have studied Drama/Acting or previously taught children in this area make sure you tell us plenty about it. We also recommend that you add a video to your application to demonstrate your skills!
Are you the kind of person that loves to make people laugh? Even if it means making a fool of yourself? Then this could be the role for you!
Camps are constantly on the look out for counsellors who have something different to bring to camp - like a stand out personality and the ability to create memorable experiences for the kids. So even though you may not be an expert Rock Climber, your outgoing and individual personality could be your ticket to camp!
If you're fun loving, entertaining and love making people smile, then this is more than enough to take part in the programme! It's likely you'll be hired as a General Counsellor and along with this role you'll no doubt be asked to help keep the campers and staff entertained and make the daily activites even more fun!
Use your summer to make a difference to the lives of others and give yourself a rewarding experience!
The role of Special Needs Counsellors is to help campers enjoy summer camp in a safe and fun environment. These camps cater for campers from the age of 8-80, so you may be looking after adults too! Your time will be dedicated to a small group of campers, often between two and six, and in some cases you may provide one-on-one care for a camper. This means you'll be part of a big team of Counsellors on camp, so team work is a must!
No previous experience is required for this role. Camp Directors are looking for applicants who are caring, hard-working and willing to learn. Training will be provided when you arrive on camp and you'll be offered continuous support throughout. If you have experience in this field then you'll no doubt be in demand - so make sure you put it on your application.
Campower staff are the people that keep camp running! So we need flexible, hardworking people!
Life in the kitchen & dining hall on camp is great fun and there is never a dull moment. Typically you'll start your working day earlier than everyone else but this means you get to finish before everyone else! You'll be responsible for controlling everyone's hunger and be running one of the most exciting places on camp. A lot of things will go on at meal times such as songs, chants, random food games and you'll be there to experience it all!
One of the most interesting and busy jobs on camp, no one day in the office is the same! The camp office is the hub of where everything happens, so you get a great view of everything. Parents will be calling you to check on their children, you'll be responding to emails and you'll organise the mammoth amounts of mail that gets delivered to camp and get to be the ones to deliver it to the campers and see their face light up!
As Maintenance or Grounds Keeping staff your job is to make sure that camp looks great and everything is in working order! You'll work on a shift pattern but whenever you're on camp you'll be on-call, so if something needs fixing then you'll have to be on the other end of the radio ready to go! With so much happening on camp, things will often need mending or replacing to make sure activities can always run and the cabins are in good condition to live in.
You're role will generally be split between two main areas which are, keeping the cabins and sleeping areas clean for the campers and staff as well as washing the clothes for everyone on camp...including yourself! A lot of camps generally run some form of clean up system to teach the campers responsibility and teamwork, so when they're out at activities you'll be in their cabins just touching up on bits they've missed and making sure they're all in a healthy environment.
Remember - you must be a student currently in full time education to apply for the Campower program.
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