5 Things to Look Forward to About Working at a Summer Camp in 2018

By Tamiera Vandegrift on December 27, 2017

After a long year of classes and internships, working at a summer camp is the best escape possible. For a few months, you get to ditch the dull world of lecture halls and office spaces and enjoy the view of the beautiful wilderness and immerse yourself in the coziness of log cabins and campfires. Working at a summer camp isn’t just a 9-to-5 where you punch in and punch out; it’s an experience of making new friends and having adventures of all sorts – plus you get paid! With summer quickly approaching, this excitement is closer than you might think. If you’re apprehensive about starting your job at a summer camp, don’t be. There’s a lot of fun things waiting for you. Keep reading for just a few of the things to look forward to working at a summer camp this summer!

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The Adventure

If you’re easily bored by the monotony of office space and cookie-cutter schedules, working at a summer camp will provide you with a healthy, much-needed dose of adventure and new experiences. Instead of crunching numbers and writing press releases, you’ll be hiking gorgeous trails and teaching children how to kayak. Instead of studying for a summer class or reading a boring text for tomorrow’s lecture, you’ll be reading books aloud to kids or paging through a manual on how to tie certain knots. Depending on the summer camp you apply to, you can be doing a wide variety of things. Some are more traditional with campfire songs and roasting marshmallows. Others are more extreme with horseback riding and white-water rafting. Some have evolved with the times and revolve around awesome technological changes of 2018, such as learning coding and robotics. Every summer camp offers a new experience and a new adventure so it’s up to you to find it!

The Development

While you’re having fun with the wide variety of activities at summer camp, you will also find yourself growing and developing as a person. You will learn leadership skills from working with children and guiding them through day-to-day activities and lessons. You will learn about team-building and collaboration from working with the other camp counselors to maintain order among the kids and structure daily activities and lesson plans. You will learn how to adapt to different situations because, after all, anything can happen at a summer camp. You will learn ultimate problem-solving skills and conflict resolution since not all summer camp kids are going to get along. You’ll learn excellent communication skills from updating the summer camp’s social media and keeping in touch with parents regularly. Finally, you will learn dedication, discipline, and how to challenge yourself every day. By the time August rolls around, you will find yourself as a stronger, better person ready to tackle the world.

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The Friendships

One of the main purposes of summer camp is to establish life-lasting friendships and connections through adventure and experiences. After working at a summer camp, you will find that this isn’t just true for the campers. You will be waking up at the crack of dawn and sometimes burning the midnight oil with a group of like-minded camp counselors. By the end of the summer, they will become your family. Through working with kids creating arts and crafts and relaxing outdoors with a delicious hot lunch, your summer camp family will always be there for you through the ups and downs. It would be a lie to say that summer camp is all fun and games for counselors. Working with children can be frustrating. Sometimes things will not always go as planned. However, it will all be okay because you have the best support team beside you to make the summer the best it can be.

The Impact

At the end of the day, you might not realize how much of an impact summer camp will have on a child. After spending a summer at camp, a child will grow and develop just as you have. An insecure, shy child can blossom into a confident child after a few months of coaching and activities. Summer camp really does help children to become the best they can be. Doubtful? Look up testimonies of children and young adults who went to summer camp and find that they have become a much better version of themselves. By being a summer camp counselor, you’ll be a hero to the children you work with and they will aspire to be like you. Even though the job can be stressful at times, the payoff of changing a child’s life is just too sweet for words.

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The Views

At summer camp, you’ll be ditching the straining LED light of a computer screen and the discomfort of lecture hall chairs. Instead, you’ll be trading it all for the beauty of nature, something we don’t really have time to admire in school or at our internships. At summer camp this upcoming summer, take a moment to breathe in the fresh air and appreciate the beauty and simplicity around you.

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