If you want a poor paying summer job that will send you home exhausted, sweaty, and smelling like chlorine, summer camp counselor is the job for you. For seven hours a day, five days a week, for eight weeks, your life will consist of chasing campers, doing bathroom runs, cleaning up messes, and trying to get them to change just a little bit faster in the hopes of getting to your next activity on time. However, tons of teenagers and young adults apply each year to camps across the east coast to try and be counselors. The reason is not the pay, or the great work experience, but the kids. Working with kids provides you a summer of memories, laughs, and a camp family.
When your campers want to hold your hand, sit next to you at lunch, and finally get to know your name it makes you feel like you're doing it right. When campers in other groups want to get to know you too, it makes it even better. Having kids run from their counselors to make sure they can give you a hug before they move on makes you feel special. Working as a camp counselor is sometimes an ego boost, because it reminds you that little children look up to you and think you are an all around awesome person, but it also teaches you important values.
Being a camp counselor makes you put your campers first and forces you to become more selfless. Whether it is giving piggy back rides on really hot days, or walking the extra distance to fill up water bottles, your biggest concern becomes keeping them healthy and happy. This includes, but is not limited to, making sure everyone has food before you can get yours, putting cream cheese on bagels while wishing you could take just one bite of your own food, making lots of lanyard, dropping everything at inconvenient times to take kids to the bathroom, trying to remember to always carry band-aids in your backpack, countless counting to make sure no campers got lost in the process and helping them put on and take off wet clothes before and after water activities.
I won't lie and say there aren't downsides to working at a camp because I know first hand that there are plenty, but the relationship that forms between campers and counselors makes it all worthwhile.
