From trail mix to bug repellent, camp counselors share their experiences

The smell of smores drifted through the campground as the counselor sat around the fire with his group of campers. There were 12 children ranging in age from 8 to 11, and all eyes were on him as he told his scary story. He was exhausted from a day of swimming and hiking through the trails, but the look of contentment on the campers faces told him that it was all worth it. At the end of the day, he felt this was a great summer job to have.

Even if one thinks that camp counseling is the best summer job, there appears to be certain characteristics that are necessary to have before becoming one. Some attributes include an ability to work with children of all age ranges and interests, a willingness to try new things and be challenged, a willingness to be positive at all times and a respect for all races, cultures, religions and abilities, according to the American Camping Association Web site, www.acacamps.com.

"Patience and creativity are the two most important characteristics for a counselor to have," said freshman Nancy Vidarte, who has been a counselor at Camp Silver Beach, a YMCA residence camp in Jamesville, for the past two years. "Patience is important because you're working with children. Creativity is important because you have to come up with new ideas and fun stuff for them to do. You have to keep the activities interesting or else the kids get bored."

Sophomore Elizabeth Barron, who was a counselor at Camp Hanover in Mechanicsville agreed. "There was one week in particular that was so incredibly hot, and all of my campers were 10 years old. They were crying themselves to sleep every night, and they all wanted to go home. So I got a children's Bible, and I just read to them for about two hours until they all fell asleep. I would wake up in the morning with no voice. It's a lot harder than some people might think."

Sophomore Kevin Cotter was a counselor at Camp Tekakwitha, a Catholic Youth camp in Williamsburg, Kan. "Camp is a great way to teach kids about their faith and who Jesus is," Cotter said. "That's why I work at camp. Not just for the kids to have fun, or for me to have fun, but to hopefully change lives. The kids' and mine."

From Catholic youth camps and academic camps to sports and theatre arts camps, there appears to be a camp for everyone to choose. Freshman Alaina Cox counseled at One Stop Fun Inc. Gymnastics center in Westford, Mass. Cox described the camp as "a little kid Mecca. We had a gymnastics center, a dance center, a Discovery-Zone-like playground and a pool."

Although becoming a camp counselor may be a tough decision for some to make based on the work that it implies, both Vidarte and Cotter plan to be counselors again this coming summer. Freshman Beth Rudolph also plans on becoming a counselor. "I want to be a counselor because of the joy of working with children and having the positive impact on their lives," Rudolph said.

Vidarte said, "This is going to be my eighth resident-camp-affiliated summer. I was a camper for four years, a counselor in training for one and have been a counselor for the last two. When I was a camper, my counselors had such an impact on me that I really wanted to try to give that back and help children have as good of an experience as I had at camp."

Counselors also have the opportunity to have fun. Some of the perks of being a counselor, according to Cotter, include being able to play pranks on neighboring groups and developing friendships with other counselors. "We used to get ice-cold water and toss it over the shower curtains on the guys below in the mornings," Cotter said. "One time our camp director even came in and threw water on someone."

Along with the friendly pranks and the involvement with children comes an opportunity to meet new and exciting people. "The most fun part of camp is meeting new people," Vidarte said. "My camp has a lot of international staff and staff from all over the United States, so I've made some very close friends from different parts of the world and the country."

According to Cotter, the best part of counseling is "when kids learn something or take something from camp that you know really changed their life and something they won't forget."

For future counselors, Cox had some advice to offer. "Be a kid again. There is only so long that you have enough energy to run around. The summer is a time where you're not obligated to do school stuff so just have as much fun as you can, while you can," she said. "Don't look at being a counselor from a counselor's perspective. Look at it from a kid's perspective. Remember the days when Red Rover was the thing to do."

For those looking for more information about camp counseling, there are many Web sites from which to choose. The American Camping Association's Web site, www.acacamps.org, contains information on ways to find a job as a camp counselor and a directory to help find a particular camp. Another helpful Web site is www.campjobs.com, which has a listing of available camp jobs. Information on church camps is available at the Association of Christian Camps and Conferences Web site, www.cci.gospelcom.net.