Fresh Air Fund

Camp Counselor

June - August 2019 • Fishkill, NY

What I liked

I liked the community that was present. I worked at the all-girls camp and for the most part, many of the counselors, supervisors, and admin team were friendly and cooperative.

What I wish was different

I definitely wished that something was done about counselors who were disrespectful, unwilling to compromise and work in a group setting. That part for me was frustrating, especially since counselors spend every day together (day in, day out) with only a two-day break in-between sessions.

Advice

I say bring a journal and find that one person who you can share your thoughts, feelings, and frustrations with. The work gets heavy sometimes, especially when you are trying to paint a happy, friendly and fun environment for the children you work with.

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Camp Counselor

June - July 2018 • Fishkill, NY

What I liked

Their mission statement. They are focused to helping under represented children.

What I wish was different

I wish they were more honest about the roles the job came with. I was promised more of a teaching job than a camp babysitter job.

Advice

This is a camping job you have to love camping and working from 7am to 11 pm every day. You are allowed 1 full day break and 1 half day break per 2 weeks.

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General Counselor

June - August 2018 • Fishkill, NY

What I liked

I enjoyed being able to work with middle-school children, and get a good idea what it would be like to work with students of that age in education

What I wish was different

Management could have been better. Lots of problems arose during the summer, including understaffing, problematic staff members, and personal crises, could have been handled much faster than they were. Several serious problems were simply turned to with a blind eye, which came off as insulting as a general staff member

Advice

When they ask you to bag up all your clothes to be brought for "heat treatment", make sure no one leaves aerosol cans in their bags. They might just cause everyone's clothes to explode, and management isn't going to bother to check

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