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working in a summer camp? |
 Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 12:57 pm |
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| Hi everyone, just wanted some info about summer camps n that if anyone has done it what they thought etc?
i been looking to do camp america but also looked on bunac too. i was just wondering after you have made the first payment and arrange an interview, what is the interview like and do they say for sure yes or no to your application?? i dont want to pay a few 100 pound then find out i been rejected. also i have to plan travel to interview and flights of iom r rediculous!! any help b ace! Mike  |
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| Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 1:12 pm |
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| hey Mike.
I did camp in the summer 2008 and it was amazing!! one of the best things i've ever done - so much fun and so rewarding and you meet the most amazing people ever. I went with a company called ccusa and they were extremly helpful and really good with sorting everythingout with visa's and everything, and looking after you 
The interview is fine don't worry about it at all - it's just asking some questions to make sure you are right for the programme - since comign back i worked part time for ccusa whilst i was at uni, interview potential aplicants for the programme. As long as you are enthusiastic and have good people skills, have some experience with kids and are out going then you're perfect. Camp will do trainnig week with you anyway so yourl be fine :P I mean camp is hard work so yourl have to be prepaired for that but the rewards outstand the work by far. I had the best summer ever!!! They won't say at the interview yes or no but you will hear back within a week. I think - although 100% not sure - if ccusa reject you for the programme they refund your money back to you - you only loose the money if you pull out of the application yourself. don't quote me on that tho. Also with flights i don't know about the other companys but ccusa arrange for and pay for your flights to and from the states for you so you don't need to worry about that. Let me know if you want any more info on camp or the interviewing process or anything else
but i would def recomend it
good luck. Michelle xxx |
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| Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 1:27 pm |
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| cheers for the reply michelle. will look into ccusa too.
im up for doing a bit of work tho its all part of it, and am good with kids as i used to coach a young football team on my own for 7 years!! did you go travelling after youd been working in the summer camp and where were u based?  |
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| Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 8:50 pm |
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ahh that's fine then  Is that what yourl be teaching at camp aswel? You can specialise in one area such as football, but also you might find once you're there you can help out and teach other activities even if you have no experience in them; as they teach you the skills to be able to etc.
I specialised in drama and dance and I was the project head for both with people working with me, however i also got the chance to learn other skills and once i was good enough i taught these aswel. whilst i was at camp i did water skiing, sailing, canoeing, rock climbing, art and crafts etc etc - loads of stuff
It's great fun hehe... as long as the kids are having the time of there life's you're doign your job hehe...
there are lots of camp traditions too which are crazy and very entertaining... they chant at every meal and they have these crazy colour war festivals once a session which are mental!!! lol... it's lots of fun!! I was based in wisconsin which is right at the top - near lake superior. it's really lovely there - lots of wildeness. we saw bears at camp!! haha... love it!! you get days/nights off and normally you go to local towns/city/shoppgin malls with fellow staff which is ncie as you get to explore the surrounding area - the americans are really lovely with takign all the internationals out and showing them around the place - yourl find a lot of the staff with have been campers too and they have been there for years
Yea a lot of ppl travel afterward - i had limited time so i only did a few weeks - went to miami and to new york was a lot of fun - i went with two girls from my camp. I arranged it before camp as ccusa put me in contact with other ppl that were goign to the same camp as me, HOWEVER i would personally recomend NOT making plans before you get there, as when you get to camp and get to know everyone etc ALOT of ppl plan trips/travel afterwards that you will want to be involved with. also a lot of the other american staff will gladly have you drive back acros sthe states with them and show you their hometown etc - so this is ideal!! but it's up to you :P
Ummm what else?!?! Let me know ANY questions you have on camp? I can gladly talk about it for hours - i love the place hehe... and I'm deferently returning to my camp when i get the chance too do you want to knwo roughly day structures or anything?? cabin accomodation? type of group your responsible for? anything? lol..
hoep this is helpful and not just me blabbering on... lol. loves xxx |
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| Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 7:55 am |
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| haha sounds awesome, yeah tell me more! lol
yeah i would be looking to do the football but i can put me hand at pretty much anything and am also a keen extreme sports man! haha! just wanna have 9 weeks of sun and fun then travel after n meet new people! more info the better ta Mikes x |
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| Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 9:38 pm |
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| ok well typically you will be staying a cabin with the campers, however most of the time your section of the cabin is seperate to the actual campers so you get a lil bit of privacy. You will be living with 1-2 other counselors and between 8 - 12 kids. however with my cabin for example it was the elsest cabin group at camp - which means we stay in the big cabins which hold ALOT of campers - i was in charge/living with 32 campers ages 14 - 15!!! (and still only 3 of us counselors) crazy times. lol. but a lot of fun!! i wouldn;t have changed it for the world!!
The camp season is set into two sessions - and typically especially with the younger campers they only stay for one season (4 weeks) - however again with the elder groups the majority of them will stay on for the whole 8 weeks. I only had a switch round of about 7-8 of my kids, the rest of them stayed both sessions.
If you are a counselor for one of the elder groups you will remain that cabins counselor the whole camp season... however if you are a younger counselor when the switch over week happens you will also switch cabins and co-counselors so there is a huge swtich round on visiting weekend :P day structure typicially the wakeup bell is around 8.30 and breakfast starts at 9am.. you are responsible for getting all your kids up and out to breakfast on time. after breakfast cabin cleanup and inspection and then activities/projects start. you have 2 projects in the morning, then lunch, then rest hour where kids are encouraged to write home etc and then in the afternoon you will have prime time (a optional activity/project session- where it changes everyday and you will sometimes be resonsible for organising these - they vary from facepainting and waterfights, to reading clubs and camp play rehearsals etc. And then you will have one more activity session before dinner. after dinner you have evening activity at about 8 ish.. it's a jammed day and can be tirering but again a lot of crazy times and lots of fun. all this is obvs the structure for my particular camp but most of them run on a simular day structure to this. there are trips you can opt to go onto aswel at camp - you typically go with your cabin group but if your with one of the eldest groups then you won't because they go on their own. I did go on a younger cabins groups climbing trip to lake superior and we did absailing down the cliff faces and stayed in tents... was amazing - one of the best 3 days ever!! umm wednesday and sundays differed from the rest of the days at camp at my particular camp. wednesdays were cabin days so I spent the whole day together with my cabin (noraml days every campers scedule depends on what activites they chose to do so the campers are mixed up - but ovbs still in age groups for some of the activities for teaching levels etc) doing varied activities and have cabin meetings etc. so those nights instead of regular evenign activites you have village nights (the camp is set up into three different villages depending on age group and cabin) and then sundays we had lazy breakfast - followed by sunday services - which were based loosly on friendships/morals/values/accepting people for their differences etc etc - general feel good stuff. ummm ahh run out of what to say - sure there is lots more tho... haha... any questions hehe.... i feel like i'm lecturing you... lol... let me know i'll probably mumbel on for a bit longer soon if i think of anything. lol.
shel xxx |
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| Posted: Sun Nov 8, 2009 6:36 pm |
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| Hey Mike,
I just finished my second year at a Camp in Maryland, they have definitely been the two best summers of my life! You are making a great choice to go and I think you will definitely have a great chance seeing as I have read you have previous experience with children. The fact that you have coached football is great because camps are looking for counselors with specific skills and football is in high demand. Michelle has already told you loads about camp and I can definitely reinforce that all of the great stuff she is talking about sounds a lot like my experience and that of my friends who went to other camps. I went with BUNAC on the Summer Camp USA program (and I will be going with them again this summer). As you said you were thinking about applying to them I thought I would tell you a bit my experience with them: They have been great both years I went, they are always really friendly and happy to help. In fact, this year my sister got married halfway through the summer and they sorted it for me to fly back for the week to be there, which was fantastic. When I applied I considered a lot of different companies (sounds like you are doing this as well) and decided on BUNAC, I knew of a lot of people that had went with them before and they were all really pleased, also, I knew of people that had applied to other companies and either got placed on a camp they didn't like or didn't get placed at all. BUNAC is also one of the best established companies, and it is non-profit as it was started by students and is still run as a student club. This was a real deal breaker for me as it meant they are always looking out for you and not just wanting to make a quick buck. They also have the cheapest basic rate and when I looked into other companies it might have looked like they were cheaper but they had costs later on that they weren't so keen to tell you about. You also get really good pay from your camp through BUNAC, in my first year I got about $1000 and this year when I returned I got $2500, so it is well worth it. Anyway, as I said you have made a great decision and I hope you enjoy your summer. Hope this info I gave you on BUNAC helps. Robert |
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