Most college students are always in desperate need to make extra cash over the summer, but the problem with a summer job is that we still want to enjoy our break and have a little fun during our down time. Slaving away rolling burritos for minimum wage hardly describes anyone’s ideal time.
There is one employment option that has been characteristic of college students for decades — summer camp. Growing up watching “Little Darlings” and “The Parent Trap” always made me want to be a sleep-away camp counselor.
I was going to live and work around a beautiful lake, meet new people, travel to a new place and get paid a nice lump sum. Little did I know, the camp experience can actually be tough work and it is something that stays with you long after summer ends.
Many sleep-away camps are up to 8 weeks long, and that can take a toll on you because being away from anything familiar can be a challenge at first just like the first new months of college. You live and breathe summer camp, memorizing camp songs, participating in old-age camp traditions and being surrounded by people constantly. Time for yourself does not exist at summer camp, so if you enjoy being alone I suggest taking out a kayak on the lake one in a while to reflect on life.
You learn so many lessons from being a counselor that you never expect to. Being a camp counselor pushes you to be responsible, become a leader and put yourself out there. It really isn’t all fun and games.
“I think it's a great learning experience," said Leah Warwick, former summer camp counselor at Camp Mataponi. "It may not be an internship, but working at a summer camp really displays a lot of patience and internal strength. It's hard, but it was worth all of the effort because in the end I discovered that I was pretty much afraid of nothing else now that I accomplished raising nine children for the summer.”
If you want an experience that will allow you to seek personal growth, have a blast and get paid for it all, then a summer camp counselor position is one of the best things a college student can do. Just keep in mind that the job is not for the faint hearted.
