Tag: camp staff

A First Time Counselor Reflects on Her Summer Camp Experience

October 5th, 2011

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.

Alley S.

Summer 2011 Staff

Another Summer has Come to a Close…

September 6th, 2011

Here we are in September and another summer has come to a close.  We can’t believe how fast it flew by!  It truly is a privilege for us to be able to host so many campers each summer.  We’re sad that the Summer of 2011 is already over, but excited to begin planning for the Summer of 2012.  For us, our greatest challenge is to make each summer better than the previous.  That’s a hard thing to live up to when this summer was so amazing!  Collectively, we really couldn’t have asked for a better group of parents, campers, or staff members.  We know that all of you are what makes Camp Weequahic one of America’s finest summer camps!  We can’t wait to meet those who will be joining us for the first time in 2012 and to welcome back all of our friends!  To everyone, here’s to living 10 for 2…until our next 2!

A Look Behind the Scenes

August 20th, 2011

Every day, we rely on a several teams of individuals to make camp happen.  Everyone knows about camp counselors, the people on the front lines, but not everyone is aware of the people who work behind the scenes to make sure everything runs smoothly.  Running a summer camp really is more than showing up in June ready to welcome campers and have fun.  There are a myriad of staff members who perform the often thankless job of working “behind the scenes” at camp.  They are a very diverse group of individuals.  Some of them answer the phone when you call the camp.   Others schedule daily activities, arrange transportation, or cook the food.   Still, others take care of your children when they’re not feeling well, or look into your concerns about their daily lives at camp.

The fact of the matter is that summer camps require individuals of many interests and talents to operate successfully, and the measure of a good summer relies on the abilities and passions of these individuals.  They often work long hours, from sunrise until the wee hours of the morning simply because they love camp.  If you ask any one of them, they’ll tell you that they do what they do because, in the end, it contributes to a successful summer for campers and their parents.  They also might be a little coy in admitting that it’s just plain fun for them.

Furthermore, these people are so good at their jobs that we don’t even adequately know how to thank them.  They work with wpassion and without regard to anything but making sure our campers and their parents have the best possible experience at our camps.  It truly is a thankless job , in many ways, to work behind the scenes at an American summer camp.  But we are thankful!