Summer Camp Jobs
Summer Camps are supervised activities for children which take place during the school summer holidays. We do not have a strong tradition of summer camps for children in the UK, though they do exist. Camps are popular in several countries other countries such as Finland and Canada, but the traditional home of the summer camp is the USA. Typically located a in rural setting, children stay in temporary accommodation such as bunk houses, log cabins, or under canvas, and undertake a series of activities and adventures. Some camps are themed, such as religious camps, science camps, or anyone who saw the film American Pie will probably be familiar with band camp. But the traditional camp will involve sports and leisure activities.
Last month, China Daily reported that American summer camps are becoming increasingly popular with Chinese parents looking to improve the prospects for their children, with 60,000 children expected to fly to an American camp this year alone.
While the American Camp Association estimates that 10 million American school children attend one of 12,000 summer camps each year. It perhaps comes as no surprise then that the companies who run them need to employ staff to help run the camps. Lots of staff. And that is where you come in.
Employer: Wild Packs
Country: USA
An American summer camp job need not cost the earth to apply and participate in. We offer some of the most competitive summer camp salaries available, and the major benefit of applying through the Wild Packs program is that there is no cost to simply apply. Details: Read more...
Want to work at a summer camp?
Perhaps the best part about working at a summer camp (assuming you are not working at an English summer camp) is that you get to live, work and experience another country for an extended period of time. As well as enhancing your CV, it will be a great life experience and give you lots of confidence.
The type of work you will have to undertake will vary from one camp to the next, but the consensus is that the work is hard but fun. Generally you will be there to look after the children, to make sure they are safe, enjoying their experience and getting the most from their time at summer camp.
Practically, if you have worked at an activity centre before you may already have some qualities which will be attractive to would be employers, such as previous experience working with young children, or National Governing Body qualifications in one or more outdoor pursuits. But if you do not have any of these, there are still opportunities to work at a summer camp as they will need kitchen staff, cleaners, maintenance people, etc.
What is is really like?
By Sally Forth
I worked at an American Summer Camp near Lake Champlain in Vermont, in 2010. The location was beautiful with the main camp buildings in woodland setting. Coming from a city it was amazing how quiet the place was, even with all the kids running around.
A typical day is difficult to describe as no two ever seemed to be the same. They are big on singing the national anthem over there, so every morning we'd raise the flag and the kids would sing. They'd get three meals a day, which took up quite a lot of our time organizing, even though I wasn't working in the kitchen. Then we'd take them out for activities in the morning and afternoon. We worked in pairs on some activities, with a group of about twenty kids to supervise. We did climbing, archery, baseball, hiking, lots of stuff I had never done before. The training took place in the two weeks before the children arrived at the camp. We covered first aid and CPR, how the camp is run and all the emergency procedures. They were very good and well organised. We also did some team building.
The first couple of weeks was great for getting to know the other people you are going to be working with. I made a few great friends who I am sure I will keep in contact with for years to come. Quite a few were American but there were some Brits there too. There was more of a range of ages than I was expecting but we all seemed to have a similar outlook and we all got on well, I think the situation means you are all in the same boat and you just get on with it.
The money wasn't amazing, but we didn't get much time to go anywhere and there wasn't anything at camp to spend the money on, it turned out to be more than I imagined when camp was over. I had a couple of weeks before my flight home so I traveled around a bit and the pay certainly made that easy. It's not really about the money though, definitely the experience. I did learn a lot, stuff that will be great when I apply to work as an activity instructor later this year. If you are thinking about working at one, just do it, you won't regret it.
Summer Camp Opportunities Available
 Summer Camp StaffCountry: USA This summer how exciting would it be to work in a summer camp in America instead of the facing another rainy British summer? It’s free to apply and our salaries are the highest available so if the thought of working in a summer camp in America fills you with excitement then check us out...[more] |