Working at Camp Weequahic was an experience of a life time. Who would have known that being on the opposite side of the country from my family would have been so easy?
I left my house at 6am on a Saturday morning, got on a plane, and had no idea of what to expect. Of course, I knew the details – I was going to be a bunk counselor and part of the waterfront staff. However, I didn’t know who I was going to work with, what my kids would be like or even the age of the children that would be in my bunk. Even though the Weequahic staff helped get me organized and ready, I was very nervous when I boarded the bus from Laguardia Airport to Weequahic.
During orientation I became familiar with the people who I was going to be working with for the next 10 weeks. I never imagined that these people from all over the world would so quickly become my family and more – my 2nd family, my best friends, and my co-workers all in one.
Little did I know my life was very quickly going to get even better when the kids arrived!
During orientation, I couldn’t really imagine the camp with kids. Once my kids got to camp, though, I could no longer imagine Camp Weequahic without them. Bunk 25 – what a wonderful place this was to live this past summer! Working with my girls was the most impactful memory for me; I will never forget the experience of working with my very first campers.
My 8 and 9 year old girls helped me grow up very quickly; they helped me become more independent, more mature, and much more understanding of what parents go through on a day-to-day basis. Bunk 25 will always hold a special place in my heart.
Camp Weequahic isn’t an ordinary place to work. It’s a home, it’s a lifestyle, and it’s a place where you mean the world to so many kids. Camp Weequahic is more than a job, it’s a family.
Every summer you pack your children up and entrust them to the care of others for the summer. Have you ever wondered what sort of training is provided for your child’s summer camp staff? For summer camp staff members, the season begins at least one week before the campers arrive with Orientation.
What is Camp Counselor Orientation? Orientation is a week for camp counselors and other staff members to…
Become familiar with the camp’s expectations. Summer camp staff members participate in workshops relating to teamwork, camp policies, and child development. During this time, counselors are also familiarized with ACA standards and the importance of maintaining and exceeding these standards. It’s during this training that counselors are able to grasp that their new summer job, though fun, carries a lot of responsibility and 24/7 focus.
Familiarize themselves with their surroundings. Your camp wants counselors to understand the campus prior to your camper arriving. During Orientation, staff members are given every opportunity to familiarize themselves with their new surroundings, as well as which areas require special supervision.
Make new friends. Why is this important to you? Happy counselors make better counselors. As you well know as parents, having a proper support system in place is essential to the success of any parent. Those looking after your children this summer are no exception. Orientation is a time for summer camp staff members to become comfortable with their new co-workers and begin to get to know each other.
Attain necessary certification. Those staff members working in areas such as waterfront and outdoor adventure must have training and certification prior to supervising your children. For some staff members, this entails arriving at camp well before the camper arrival date in order to be fully prepared from the day the first camper sets foot on campus. Outside experts such as the Red Cross are often brought in to conduct lifeguard training. Outdoor Adventure and Waterfront areas also frequently utilize external professionals to train their staff.
Understand what it’s like to be a camper. Many camp orientation programs follow mock daily camp schedules and encourage staff members to participate in many of the same activities that their campers will throughout the summer. Most staff members live and function as members of groups during this period. The role play isn’t merely designed to give staff members an idea of what’s in store. It gives them the opportunity to embrace the camp’s traditions so that they can share in the enthusiasm with campers.
Receive very valuable and essential education to understanding and working with children. Summer camps take the well being of their campers very seriously and spare no expense in this area of Orientation. Big name speakers are brought in for lectures and workshops that educate staff members with the latest, most up-to-date childcare information and relevant laws. Counselors and other camp staff are left with no doubt or misunderstanding that the campers and their safety are the reason that they are there and, as such, come first.
Mentally prepare themselves for the arrival of campers. Even the most seasoned childcare professionals and educators can feel a bit overwhelmed when suddenly surrounded by hundreds of enthusiastic children who’ve waited ten months to see their camp friends again. By taking place on campus before the campers arrive, Orientation serves as a sort of segue from the camp counselors’ lives back home into their new summer lives by giving them some time to adjust to their new home and surroundings before the chaos that is summer camp ensues.
Finally, Orientation is an opportunity for Camp Directors and Senior Staff to assess how their staff interacts and identify individual strengths and weaknesses. This helps them assign camp counselors to cabins and bunks and age groups in which they’re likely to provide the best leadership.
So when you put your campers on the bus in June, you can bet that a very excited and well trained camp staff is waiting on the other end to meet your children and give them the best summer ever.
Finally, we close our trilogy of camp counselor tips with one last blog dedicated to you, future camp counselors…
Get ready to build your resume! Working as a camp counselor at a summer camp will provide you with some invaluable experience that will serve you well far beyond this summer. Many HR Managers in lots of different fields find summer camp experience very impressive because of the level of dedication and commitment required. Summer Camp also demonstrates that you can adapt well to new cultures, which is essential for success in many corporate environments. In fact, many corporate executives were once campers and/or camp counselors themselves. If you’re an education major, it goes without saying that experience working directly with children is a huge plus on a new teacher’s resume.
One final warning: As a summer camp counselor, you will act goofy, dress funny, and find yourself doing all sorts of crazy things you’d probably never ordinarily do…and you’ll have a blast while doing them. It’s what summer camp is all about. But what other job can you get where being an expert in painting faces, making signs, inventing outrageous costumes, and acting silly are all just part of your typical workday?
So there you have it! A few suggestions for preparing yourself for a great and successful summer. Have fun!
