Camp Counselor

It's official! This summer I will be in Maine working as a camp counelor. Yes, I said MAINE!!!

I am super excited about it! I have always wanted to be a camp counselor - not a camper, a counselor. I watched Meatballs and any other camp movie and would tell my parents, "When I grow up I want to be a camp counselor." Now, I finally will be. Only about 20+ years later.

How did this happen? Well, at Kids Club, I work with a guy who works at this camp in Maine. He told me about it and then suggested I apply, saying I'd be good at it. So I checked it out online (hiddenvalley.com) and it is amazing! So I applied. Immediately the woman emailed me to set up a phone interview. During the interview she said she just couldn't decide which position to put me in. The next day I got an email saying I was hired. Super fast and super exciting!

What exactly will I be doing? The camp is for kids 8-14 years old. However, they have a special thing they call Community Camp for kids 13-15. The idea is that those kids learn more about the community they live in and learn how be active within their community. I will be the counselor for that. Apparently, we will live just a bit outside of the main camp in a farmhouse. We will spend our days doing community activities - putting on activities for the larger camp, going into the nearby town and participating in things, trail clearing, etc. Lots of community based things. We are to tech them and show them how they are part of the community of campers, the community of our area of Maine and then a part of the larger community of Maine state and the US. Road trips, field trips and lots of volunteerism to be had. With my experience, the coordinator wants me to head up this portion of the camp. I will be spending everyday with the same kids, about 10-15 of them, and a few other counselors.

I was a bit nervous cause I didn't want to be removed from the larger camp, but the plan is that when my regular program ends on July 27th, I will move to the main camp and be a counselor there until I leave in August.

I will be gone June 10th - August 6th. It is a long time to be gone away and longer than I have been in any other place without moving there in about 10 years. I have all of the typical worries - will I make friends? Will I like the place? Plus the added fears related to the job - what if the kids don't like me? Can I do it? What if I get homesick but I'm supposed to be helping the kids with their being homesick?

Anyway, I will update with more info when I have it, but for now the details are still being flushed out. I think it would be fun to try and blog once a week at least while I'm there about the whole experience. I can't wait, it will be so much fun!