"It’s Not a Real Job!"

How Camp Counselling Prepares you for the Real World

 

By Julie Hartley

Director of Centauri Summer Arts Camp

 

Twenty summers ago, as I was preparing for my own first season as a camp counsellor, I had dinner with a family friend. He was in his fifties, with a glowing professional career behind him. When I told him what I was planning to do with my summer, I braced myself for the response I had heard several times from people of his generation: "Why don’t you get a real job? How will working on a camp help you with your future?" Instead, he leaned forward thoughtfully, and said: "I’ve been a lawyer for nearly thirty years. I’ve run businesses, travelled, taught at universities. Yet I can honestly say I’ve never had a greater impact on the lives of other people than the summer I worked as a camp counsellor."

 

Parents are often reluctant to send their grown kids off to camp. Perhaps they see it as no more than an extension of what they did for years as kids. Perhaps they recognise more money can be earned working at a factory, or as a server. Recently, one of our camp counsellors reported that his mom no longer wanted him to work with us, because he hoped to be a police officer after graduation, and she couldn’t figure out how camp work would be useful. This prompted us to think: what exactly is the value of working at a camp? How should counsellors and their parents respond, if others argue that camp work is not a "real job"?

Let’s consider, first of all, what the job of a camp counsellor actually is. I’m focussing on overnight camps here, because that’s what I know best. Counsellors live in with their cabin group. They get them up in the mornings, see they complete their camp chores and walk with them to breakfast. They sit with them at meals, make sure each child eats well and still find time to cheer, dance and sing with them. They organise fun and creative activities, helping to foster a sense of ‘camp family’. Depending on the camp, they may plan and teach activities of their own, or assist program directors. Throughout the day they can be found cheering, laughing, encouraging, supporting, cajoling, hugging and consoling. They tackle homesickness and group conflicts, encourage the forming of healthy friendships, integrate kids with special needs, promote positive self-image among their campers and chat with them about situations they face back home. Occasionally, they have to meet even more extreme challenges: eating disorders, disclosures of abuse, and more. They plan and lead evening activities, inspiring their campers and encouraging participation. And they end each child’s day on a reflective, positive note - perhaps by singing, reading stories or holding group discussions - before leading the kids off to bed.

 

Most adults who have worked as counsellors will tell you that joining a camp staff is like a rite of passage to the adult world. No longer is someone else taking care of you. Besides looking after yourself, you suddenly have a cabin of kids who turn to you for their every need. Within days, you quickly discover that there are times when you need to put yourself last. You’re tired after a long day, but a child in your cabin has nightmares... guess who gets to be the one to sit with them at 2am, when all you really want to do is sleep? The camp is planning an high energy activity. As a camper, you can be forgiven for dragging your feet. But as a counsellor, you need to force a smile to your face and help your kids to have a great time... because their needs come first. New counsellors at our camp often arrive still seeing themselves as children; they may not yet know the true extent of their personal skills. They always leave empowered to take their place in the adult world.

 

"Everyone should have to be a camp counsellor at some time," one of our staff once said. "It’s the best preparation for being a parent, one day." Counsellors tackle every curve ball a child can throw. They deal with fragile egos, cliques and bullying. They mediate in disputes and teach conflict resolution. They learn the profound effect of positive encouragement and praise. They discover how to nurture, love and inspire. Statistically, most young people will be parents themselves, one day - though this fact may be tough for their own parents to fact! Schools do not always teach young people how to do that job well. Being a camp counsellor does.

 

Corporations spend a fortune on leadership training, team building and assertiveness workshops, when camp counselling effectively offers young people all of these skills. Where else can an eighteen year old organise a day-long festival for two hundred people, inspiring all of them to participate, and ensuring everyone’s involvement, all of the time? Most camps run like mini worlds, with counsellors as the leaders - meaning that the level of responsibility they get to take on can far outweigh anything they will experience in the ‘real world’ for years to come. Furthermore, this aspect of camp teaches social responsibility. In helping to create the little world that is their camp, counsellors call into question every aspect of the wider world we all live in. They ask themselves, again and again, why conflict resolution so often breaks down around the world. Why young people in our societies must face the pressures they do - pressure to conform, to dress a certain way, to be thin, to fit in, to take drugs. Camp empowers young people to create a healthy world for their campers, and in doing so, teaches them the social responsibility they need to empower themselves in their home communities.

 

Perhaps the most quantifiable benefits of summer camp on a young staff member are the skills they develop. In most camps, young people discover how to teach. This is a valuable asset, regardless of whether they ever want to become qualified teachers, because the ability to teach, guide and lead others within formal and informal situations is essential within so many careers. Our camp focusses on the arts, and most of the young people who work with us hope to be arts professionals one day. With the ability to teach their art form, they may have to wait on a few less tables as they focus on building their artistic reputation. With more traditional camps, skills gained can also be valuable to careers in the recreational or fitness industries. Finally, for young people who may choose teaching as a career path, the chance to teach at a summer camp may be invaluable, since teachers’ colleges in many provinces require applicants to prove they have already had a certain number of hours of practical teaching experience.

 

Perhaps more than anything else, camp counselling is about learning to be a great person. "Thank you not only for another fun and laughter-filled summer," writes Jeanette, after completing her second summer as a counsellor with us, "but also for providing a place for all of us to learn. Above all things, I have discovered the joy and greatness of giving completely to others, and how much love and inspiration you get in return." I challenge all parents to make a list of the qualities they would like to see in their grown children, as they join the adult world. Integrity, empathy, respect for others, truthfulness, responsibility, compassion, self respect... working as a camp counsellor requires a young person to cultivate all of these personal qualities, and more.

 

By Julie Hartley

Julie Hartley is one of the directors of Centauri Summer Arts Camp (www.centauriartscamp.com). Centauri is an overnight camp in the Niagara Region of Ontario, offering intensive arts training in 40 different arts specialties for youth aged 9-18. For permission to use this article in part or whole, please contact Julie at julie@centauriartscamp.com

www.centauriartscamp.com

January 2009