Our summer camp culture is connected to timeless character-building traditions. We emphasize old school values that are reflected in the thoughts for the day that we share with campers such as learning to clean-up after ourselves, and treating everyone the same.
I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.' - Charles Swindell
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. - Jesus in the Book of St. Matthew
We can all be great; we can all serve. - Reverand Martin Luther King, Jr.
This is a wonderful educational environment for counselor candidates who would find it rewarding to teach old school thoughtfulness and mental toughness to campers. You can learn more about camp culture by reading GREATER EXPECTATIONS by Stanford professor William Damon, or OLD SCHOOL AMERICA by Peter Slovenski. A great role model for counselors can be seen by watching how Mary Poppins coaches children in the 1965 Disney movie starring Julie Andrews.
Applications will be accepted with rolling hiring starting January 10th. To apply, please click on the "apply" link in the top right of the window. If you do not hear from Coach or Rocky in two weeks, email coach@slovenskicamps.com to follow up.
Junior counselors are at least 16 years old by the first day of camp and have not yet graduated from high school. In addition to working with the campers, junior counselors will be on a cleaning crew helping with the daily work of residential life at a summer camp.
Counselors have graduated from high school. They will work with campers most periods of the day, but may also volunteer for cooking and food service work. All counselors will have a cleaning or organizational assignment that must be completed outside of instructional activity periods each day.
The office assistant must have strong recommendations showing an ability to complete academic type tasks quickly and with minimal supervision. This position will include work with campers but will also spend 3-6 hours each day on administrative tasks such as cabin list creation, purchasing supplies, and e-mail correspondence with camp families. The office assistant is expected to live in a camper cabin and have normal counselor duties, including bedtime duties. We will hire two office assistants, one for the morning and one for the afternoon. The rest of the time will be normal counselor duties. The office assistants may be either junior or senior counselors. Office workers usually make $50 or $100 per week more than positions that are focused primarily on activity supervision.
CITs are 15 years old on the first day of camp. They pay half price to attend camp because they will have a combination of camper opportunities and junior counselor responsibilities. CITs will help with activities, but will also be able to participate in most of the activity periods. CITs will join junior counselors on cleaning crews such as the dishwashing crew. CITs also have options to earn $12.50 per hour by doing additional work that is not part of their counselor training program. Hourly work options during the summer include raking, kitchen cleaning, re-connecting campers with lost & found clothing, laundry machine operation, and being beach monitors at Hawthorne Beach. CITs can do as little or as much hourly work as they want up to 20 hours per week. CITs are generally treated like campers, in that they follow camper rules and live in camper bunks without normal counselor priviledges like staying up later or using phones.
The waterfront director or assistant waterfront director must have excellent references showing maturity and attention to detail. The waterfront directors will be at the waterfront most of the day as a lifeguard and swimming instructor. Applicants must be 21 years old. Valid lifeguarding certification required.
The camp driver drives our camp vehicles for pick-up runs to the airport and bus station. This often involves early morning or late night trips. The driver often needs to run other errands for camp such as trips to the post office or walmart. Applicants must be 21 years old and have a clean driving record. The driver is a normal counselor when not on a trip, and lives in a camper cabin with normal duties.
Being a counselor at an overnight camp is a demanding job. Counselors will have very little time to themselves during the camp week, which runs from Saturday afternoon until the next Saturday morning. Counselors will be around campers. This is not a good match for candidates who do not enjoy being around kids. All counselors reside in a cabin with campers.
Counselors will take attendance for their cabin (8-12 campers) at every meal, cabin clean-up, rest hour, campfire, and bed time. You must get to know all the kids in your cabin by name within the first day of each week.
Counselors will sit with campers during meal times, spreading out in the dining hall to make sure that no group of campers is eating unsupervised. Counselors will leave the dining hall when the campers around them leave. Campers tend to eat quickly, so many counselors find their meals a little rushed compared to eating with adults.
Counselors will report to Tarzan, Coach, Rocky, or the head counselor for duty whenever they are unsure of what they should be doing. Most work will involve leading activities, coaching, or supervising free-time. Some of the work will be maintaining the camp grounds such as spreading anti-erosion mulch or picking up branches. Living and working at a summer camp has some nice similarities to living and working on a farm.
Counselors who are strong swimmers & comfortable with the responsibilities of lifeguarding will take our lifeguard certification course in June. Lifeguarding is so essential to the camp program that lifegaurds get paid more than other counselors. Lifeguards should bring their own polarized sunglasses and swim goggles with them to camp.
Counselors will be on bed-time duty 4 nights during the camp week. This means coaching the campers into bed, reading aloud for 15-20 minutes, and then remaining in the cabin until breakfast. Counselors not on night duty are still required to help with bed time in the cabin, but may leave once the on-duty counselors begins reading and the campers settle down. Counselors not on night duty must return to the cabin by midnight and sleep there, unless they are on time off and have left campus.
Counselors will receive 36 hours off during a normal work week. The time will depend on the camp and schedule, and may not be the same every week.
During a normal day, there is little free time. When counselors do not have specific duties, they are still expected to be out and about with campers or checking with administrators for what is next.
The camp curfew is midnight. This provides the minimum of 8 hours of sleep before the next camp day starts at 8am. Counselors on time off still must go to bed at midnight if they choose to stay on campus. The security counselor will lock the gate on the road at midnight. A few administators and head counselors may be up past midnight to enforce the curfew or lock up.
Senior Counselors all have residential life special assignments that they work on somewhat independently. Administrators notice when these tasks are done well, and they notice when they are not done. They will not micromanage the performance of the special assignments; rather, administrators will evaluate you on your initiative. Many of the special assignments are decided in the first week of camp based on your skills & interests and the needs of the camp. A few assignments we always need are listed below:
Special assignments are performed at varying times based on the job
Senior Counselors also have an area of camp for which they are in charge of cleaning and organizing on a regular basis. Each counselor is assigned to an area. Most of the zones are listed below:
Counselors are expected to not only clean their areas regularly, but to advise other counselors who use the area how to put equipment back. This task will not be micromanaged, but the administrators will take note of the cleanliness of the areas throughout the summer.
Senior Counselors have a curfew of midnight. Counselors may not be out and about campus after midnight. The camp gate closes at midnight. All off duty counselors must be in their cabins by 12:30, which gives 30 minutes from the end of hangout time to brush teeth, shower, and settle down to sleep. The camp day starts at 8:00am, so going to bed past midnight does not allow for adequate sleep. Sleeping through breakfast is not allowed, since we need counselors eating with the kids, and it is considered part of the work day to be at meals sitting with campers.