Our Staff Make the Difference
How do you find your staff?
Many of our staff are "home grown". They were once campers and now it's their chance to give back to others.
Some staff are personally referred to us by a member of our extensive camp network of friends and alumni.
We also find staff by making direct contact with colleges. Finally, we use international placement agencies to hire staff from foreign countries.
Who are they?
Members of our staff include college students, teachers, experienced educators and camp professionals. Senior counselors are over 18 years of age and are typically university or college students. Junior counselors have completed their Junior or Senior year of high school. We usually have a group of international counselors that enriches our community.
What is your hiring process?
We select our staff carefully by conducting in-depth personal interviews, checking references and doing background checks.
What are your expectations?
We challenge our staff to give everything to this job. We expect them to know every camper’s name and take a real interest in them. We expect our counselors to be actively engaged with campers all the time. We expect staff to do their best to ensure your child's happiness and personal growth.
What other qualifications do you require?
Key staff members must be certified in CPR and basic first aid. All of our Lifeguards are certified by the American Red Cross or an equivalent organization.
Others who participate in specialized activities such as the boating, swimming, archery, mountain biking and our challenge course/climbing wall all receive additional training specific to their activity.
Training and Support
Staff Training
We train our staff carefully so that they can carry out our mission on the ground. Staff are required to attend a full week of training before campers arrive. Our goal is to prepare our staff so they are confident, competent and ready to take responsibility for the happiness and care of campers.
Staff Training Focus
Safety / Health and Wellness
Child development
Counseling Strategies
Camp Programming
Camp Policies and Procedures.
Creating a Positive Inclusive Community
On Going Support
In addition to our camp director, we have a group of mature administrators who supervise our senior and junior counselors and CIT’s. We guide, teach and support our staff on a daily basis. Once a week, we hold an in-depth staff meeting to focus on the most important issues at hand.
Sometimes, the best way to develop a counselor is to have them watch a successful counselor at work. Therefore, we carefully create cabin counseling teams with complementary skills and experiences.
Staff are evaluated several times a summer by our administrative team. Through these sessions, our staff have an opportunity to reflect, set goals and improve their performance.
A Counselor’s Duties
Cabin Responsibilities
Each staff member is assigned to a cabin group. A senior counselor, junior counselor and CIT make up a counseling team. This team supervises their own cabin group throughout the day at meals, rest period and at bedtime. During activity periods, counselors supervise diverse groups of kids, boys and girls of all ages.
A Teaching Specialty
Each staff member also has a specific area of focus such as tennis, swimming or farming. During staff training, counselors develop goals and daily teaching plans for their activities. They are taught to break concepts and skills into small parts. These plans are further developed and refined during the summer. During multi day activities, staff build on the skills campers master from day to day.
