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What is Summer Camp USA?

summer-camp-lifeguardsSummer Camp is an American cultural tradition

Every year millions of North American children aged between 6 and 16 go to Camp each summer for 1 to 8 weeks. They go to learn new skills, have a good time and make friends. Summer camp in the USA is a fun place where children develop life skills such as responsibility, communication, tolerance and how to live with others.

Working as a Camp Counsellor is a uniquely rewarding experience

Working as a Camp Counsellor your primary job is to care for kids and teach a variety of summer camp activities. But you will quickly find that there is much more to it! You will be a friend, parent and role model – so it’s no surprise that it’s an essential requirement that you have a genuine love for working with children!
 
Counsellors generally live in a cabin of about 3-8 children and share responsibility for them with the other Counsellors. The Camp Director will expect you to set a good example, ensuring that the children keep themselves and the cabin clean and that they eat their food and follow the camp routine.
 
Your counsel to the children may include dealing with homesickness and personal problems and you’ll need to be a mature friend and impartial adviser. Earning the children’s respect can be difficult, especially if you show signs of weakness or indecisiveness. It is vital you are confident about the qualities and strengths of your own personality before applying to the program.

Types of Summer Camps in America

As a US Camp Counsellor you become be part of an American tradition at one of about 12,000 camps across the USA, and every camp is different.

Depending on your skills and experience, Summer Camp USA counsellors are placed at all of the types of camp listed below:

Independent camps

These camps are independently owned and attract children from middle to high end income families. All camps are different in their approach, some have very rigid structures, were others have a more relaxed structure.

Many of these camps are base near the waterfront and are highly sport orientated from water sports to rock climbing. These summer camps recruit activity specialists from the Australia to teach these sports to children on all abilities, as well as being responsible for a group of students as a general counsellor. You can usually find these camps nestled in a rustic area with log cabins ready for counsellors and children.

Religious camps

As you may have guessed these are church-based camps with strong religious values, from Christian camps to Jewish camps.

These camps are perfect for people who believe strongly in their faith who can guide campers spiritually along with completing the normal activities of camp counsellors. These types of camps also recruit Australia participants to be camp counsellors at camp every year

non-profit-summer-camp

Non-profit camps

These camps are slightly different to the traditional private summer camps as many rely on donations and fund raising in order to run summer camp programmes. They are similar to that of private summer camps as they are located in beautiful settings around the USA, although the accommodation and equipment may be dated.

This doesn’t affect the amazing and rewarding time that you will have working with the children, teaching them various activities and enriching their lives  

Girl Scout camps

At Girl Scout camps there is a major focus on outdoor living and usually outdoor activities are the focus at these camps. These types of camps are made up of canvas tent-like style accommodation that usually house up to 8 people.

At these camps you can re-connect with the great outdoors as many do go ‘back to basics’ so lanterns may become an essential part of your kit as a camp counsellor. You’ll enjoy a good camp fire session with everyone at the camp and have an opportunity for a sing-song and some activities.

Special Needs camps

For a truly rewarding experience there is nothing better than working at a special needs summer camp in the USA. Special needs camps cater to a range of different needs from learning to emotional and camp counsellors tend to look after 2 to 6 campers.

If you have experience working with special needs children or would like to work at one of these camps, you will definitely have a rewarding time and create life-long memories!

 

A typical camp day

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7:15 Reveille. Short optional dip or jog
7:45 Flag raising and personal inspection 
8:00 Breakfast, followed by clean up of cabin or tent
9:30 1st activity period 
10:30 2nd activity period
11:45 Optional general swim
12:30 Lunch 
13:00 Rest hour supervision   
14:30 1st afternoon activity period
15:30 2nd afternoon activity period 
16:30 Free time supervision
18:00 Dinner
19:00 Flag lowering followed by special events 
21:00 First bell, lights out for the younger children
22:30 Lights out for the seniors

 

We aim to give you all the information you’ll need before deciding to embark on the summer of a lifetime, but the facilities, aims and traditions of camp vary greatly so the information provided on these pages should be taken as a guide only.