Hello and welcome to Summer Camp Secrets!
I’m Roo and this is a site that I’ve created to help people in their search for Summer Camp joy, with advice and stories from real summer camps in the USA.
If you’ve clicked ‘Start Here’ then I’m guessing you’re new to the site – have a browse of this page to get you started on your summer camp journey. And once you’re done here, head over to the ‘About‘ page to find out a little more about me, who I am, and how this site came to be.
This site is, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, all about Summer Camp and what it’s like to work at a summer camp in the USA.
So what is Summer Camp?
Every summer, thousands of American kids leave their homes and families and head off into the woods or lakeside locations to spend the next 2-8 weeks having the time of their lives living with their friends in cabins or tents, doing all sorts of awesome activities, making s’mores over the camp fire, singing songs and generally being a little bit silly.
Summer Camp is a glorious place where everyone is free to be themselves, without judgement or ridicule. It is a place kids go to make new friends, learn new skills and to have a break from their everyday home life.
But of course, there need to be some adults to keep these unruly children in check. And that’s where YOU come in. Every year, summer camps from the USA and Canada look across the globe for staff members who can teach a variety of skills, from basketball to swimming, from horse-riding to skateboarding, from photography to sailing and many more. The list of activities you could teach is pretty endless.
To be a summer camp counselor you need to be someone who LOVES spending time with kids (you’d be surprised at how many people realise they don’t actually like children once they get to camp!), have a particular skill you could teach (some camps hire ‘general counselors’ too, so this isn’t a massive necessity if you’re suddenly thinking you don’t do anything well enough to teach it), and be willing to work 24 hours a day, for 6 days a week, for a minimum of 9 weeks.
But if you’re willing and able to spend those 9 weeks of your summer surrounded by beautiful scenery and amazing people, having fun, dressing up, singing a lot, and making some of the best friends you’ll ever have, then keep reading for more info on how to get yourself to Summer Camp and have the best summer of your life. Oh and you get to travel the USA for 30 days after you leave camp too.
It is honestly the best job you’ll ever have.
But I’m assuming you want a little bit more information than that, especially if you’ve found this site while researching working at summer camp and whether or not it might be a good option for you this summer.
So I’m here to help. Have a look around, click the links or photos below for more information or posts on each section and let me know if you have any other questions that I can help you with.
This section is full of information and helpful suggestions for before, during and after camp. Here you’ll find tips for how to go about getting a job at camp, what to do once you’ve been hired, how to get your visa sorted, what to pack, how to teach excellent lessons, fun things to do with your kids, how to stay healthy at camp, and even some tips for travelling after camp and how to cope with the post-camp blues.
Try reading: ‘A Day In The Life of a Summer Camp Counselor‘, ‘Top Summer Camp Skills‘, ‘Top 10 Reasons Why Being A Summer Camp Counselor is the Best Job in the World‘ or ‘What Do I Take To My Embassy Appointment?‘.
There are a multitude of summer camp agencies across the world who spend all year recruiting new staff to send to summer camp. Some have 100% placement guaranteed, some charge less and offer more. In this section you’ll find handy tips and information about each of the leading agencies and what they offer, as well as some great Q&A interviews with the agencies themselves!
Try reading: ‘Summer Camp Agency Comparison‘ or ‘Summer Camp Recruitment Fairs‘
Here you will find blogs and posts full of fun and ridiculous stories from summer camp, some lists of great things counselors will understand and lots of general musings about all the things that go on at summer camp. This is also where you’ll find the ‘Camp Counselor of the Week‘ interviews, with real answers from real-life counselors about what it’s like working at summer camp.
Try reading: ‘This One Time, At Summer Camp…‘, ‘What Happens On Day Off, Stays On Day Off‘ or ‘A Love Letter To Summer Camp‘.
This is the section where you will find my own diary from summer camp. No day at camp is the same, so expect some strange and wonderful things to crop up here.
Try reading: ‘May 28th ’14. Day 3: Jetlag, Fishing, Make-Believe Storms and Hilarious Pranks‘ or ‘Summer 2016 In Photos‘.
And finally. I wrote a book. A book all about being a summer camp counselor. It’s full of stories from my time at camp, as well as heaps of tips, advice and info about how to be the very best counselor you can be. Head over to Amazon to take a peek.
Ok, so you’ve made it all the way through this page. Congrats, I commend your commitment. Now it’s time to go and explore the site a little more and get started with your application to work at summer camp and begin the best journey of your life!
Be sure to follow along with all the updates in the busiest camp hiring season of the year by ‘liking’ us on Facebook, following on Twitter @SummrCmpSecrets and on Instagram @SummrCmpSecrets.
*Oh, and if you’re a summer camp aficionado and you have lots of stories about camp that you’d like to share, head over to the ‘Write For Us‘ page and see how you can get involved.
Summer Camp Secrets 
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