Camp Starfish

Star Village Administrator

May - August 2022 • Rindge, NH

What I liked

Camp Starfish is an amazing. For many of the campers, it is their favorite place on Earth, and the only place where they feel like they fit in and feel accepted. There is so much thought put behind everything we do, and as a result we are able to serve children and teens with a wide range of challenges. It's truly a rewarding experience to get to help make camp a safe and fun place for our campers, and to get to see the campers learn and grow throughout the session. It's also a great experience - especially if you want to go into Psychology or another similar field - but even if you don't. I'm a math major, but I gained tons of soft skills such as leadership, resilience, and thinking under pressure which have helped me land other jobs. The counselors and admins are in general super interesting people, and I made a lot of really good friendships with my coworkers.

What I wish was different

Although it's on par for other camps, overall the pay is quite low. Most days we are working from 7 am - 10 pm, and even longer on nights where we are on duty, and you would definitely be able to earn just as much working only 35 hours per week at an hourly job. It would've been nice to earn more, but at the same time, the camp is a non-profit, there just isn't more money to put towards salaries without taking away from the campers' experience. Everybody has a lot on their plates and is super busy - the counselors, the admin, and the directors. But this means that a lot of the time, there isn't follow through on requests made to supervisors. I'm an admin, so for me this was always the directors saying they would do something and then not doing it despite repeated requests, but I'm sure as admin we were also sometimes guilty of this when counselors needed stuff. Things can get done (I know as an admin, if someone let me know something was important to them, I would try any way I could to make it happen), but you need to be prepared to advocate for yourself and for people to not always do things the first time you ask.

Advice

Build a support network and advocate for yourself. Working at camp is really tough and it takes a toll emotionally. Make sure that during training, you get to know other counselors (if you are a counselor) so that you have people to help you when you are struggling. Also let admin or directors know when you are having a hard time. Even amazing counselors are sometimes get worn out when they are with with a camper who's having a hard time, but too often they don't say anything. It's okay to ask for help. If you need to step away or are having a hard day, people more than happy to get you a break or someone to talk with or whatever else.

1 One person found this helpful

Camp Counselor

June - August 2022 • Rindge, NH

What I liked

Fun activities, great co-workers, supportive management, great experience

What I wish was different

low pay, long hours, highly stressful

Advice

Self-care is very important

1 One person found this helpful

Activate Specialist/Counselor

June - August 2022 • Rindge, NH

What I liked

I loved that I was able to experience working with children with emotional, behavioral, and learning challenges. Also that I was receiving feedback from co-workers while working.

What I wish was different

I do not wish for anything different to have happened during my experience. I had such an amazing time.

Advice

My advice would be to go into this experience with an open mind and be able to receive criticism from others.

2 ${count} people found this helpful

Program Administrator

May - August 2019 • Rindge, NH

What I liked

Working with the campers is amazing. The work is difficult, but very rewarding. It is truly "the hardest job you'll ever love," as the directors tell you during training. It helped me to gain professional and personal confidence, get extensive training in how to work with this population of children, and make valuable professional connections. Plus the camp culture and activities are very fun to lead and participate in!

What I wish was different

Very long hours, so very tiring.

Advice

Utilize your time off from camp for self care in order to not burn out.

3 ${count} people found this helpful

Camp Counselor

June - August 2019 • Rindge, NH

What I liked

What I wish was different

Advice

I would recommend branching out and going and doing a new experience to everyone! Despite being 7 hours away from home in a place I knew no one, it turned out to be the best summer of my life and super helpful in my career development!

5 ${count} people found this helpful

Camp Counselor Intern

June - August 2018 • Rindge, NH

What I liked

The way that we were able to be one on one with the kids we worked with and how we could see immediate reflection of our work through the kids.

What I wish was different

I wish they treated their employees a little better and paid a little more. We were only allowed one break for a 16 or sometimes more hour days and only allowed one day off a week. For the 3 week session, since there was only technically 19 days instead of 21 (to make it a full 3 weeks) we were only allowed 2 days off for a 19 day session. There were a lot of good times and I loved the counselors that I worked with but the administration team and the authority could use work on how to understand their employees and make it the best experience possible rather than brushing the complaints off.

Advice

Patience is definitely a virtue. These children are special and I did have a blast with them, but sometimes it was hard knowing that your authority was not there to back you up when you needed it.

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