Blog  5 Reasons Why Camp is the Better Job

5 Reasons Why Camp is the Better Job

Abbey Lewis with her first campers

There are a number of things I could spend my summer doing. I could take summer classes, get an internship, travel, or even bum around and do nothing at all. Despite these options, some more enticing than others, I choose every year to come back to camp. For seven years I have returned to Morrison Road and every year around January I wonder if I should return to camp or take one of the other options, and my decision always lands on camp. Here are just five reasons why:

 

  • Camp Looks Better on a Resume.

Professionals see summer camp counselor, and know that you are most likely a responsible, hard worker. Camp can teach you a great deal of skills that you would not learn elsewhere. Camp teaches you how to be responsible, how to care for someone else’s most precious gift—their child. Camp teaches you how to communicate effectively when working in close quarters with your peers. You learn how to interact with diverse groups of people. You know how to always be three steps ahead. But most of all, you know how to put your customers (in this case campers) before yourself. It is very obvious that camp is the reason that our staff grow up to be successful. Camp is a place that instills a sense of kindness, generosity and diligence that remains with you for the rest of your life.

  • Camp Fosters Great Connections.

For me, camp has always been a place that allowed me to meet new people. Camp has provided me with a diverse group of connections with both friends and supervisors. In addition, each year I find myself talking to a parent or faculty member about my future and these people offer suggestions or recommendations about what I should do and who I should talk to. That’s the great thing about camp. We get to meet so many new people and make new connections that we would not make otherwise. The network camp provides has no limit for how much impact it could make on our futures.

  • Camp Truly Makes a Difference.

Every job provides the opportunity to make a difference, but camp vastly extends that opportunity. We get to change people’s lives. When I started this job, people always told me that I would make a difference, but I just disregarded what they said. Now I know, those people were right. In the past five years, I have learned so much from campers. There is no better feeling that receiving your five-year jacket and campers reminding you that they were in your very first cabin. Campers love Jacobs because of its magic. As Jacobs Magicians, we make a difference in the lives of our kids. We bring magic to life each and every summer.

  • Camp is FUN!

Camp is the ideal place to work because it is fun.. Camp is a place where you can be yourself at all times. I always came to camp with the goal of doing something new, trying a new activity—challenging what I had known before. Camp taught me to love things that I wouldn’t have felt comfortable trying in any other place. At camp being on staff does not feel like work. It is a different experience every day for not only the kids but us as well. We get to wake up every day knowing that we are going to have fun. I do not know of ANY other work place that ensures that.

  • Camp is Our Home.

This is the reason I come back to camp every year. Camp was my very first job. It is a place I feel comfortable making mistakes, and a place I know I will be praised for my biggest successes. Camp never gave up on me and it never will. Jacobs gave me a place that I could truly be myself and be respected for being that person. Camp is a place that shaped the future of our lives. It has given us an opportunity to learn new skills and make new friends while having a great summer. Five years later and I am eternally grateful that I have a place, like camp, to call my home.

 

Abbey Lewis

Program Coordinator