Child Development Specialist Paid Internship
Living and working for Camp Augusta for a summer is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to work with children in the future, and do so in a way that is rooted in a humanistic approach that is genuine, empathic, and empowering. Camp Augusta is not your average summer camp. We are seeking experienced, hardworking, enthusiastic, and passionate counselors for our small summer community to create an epic and life-changing experience for campers.
An summer job or internship with us includes:
300+ Hours of Experiential Training in topics such as:
- rational-emotive behavior therapy
- nonviolent communication
- emotional intelligence
- experiential education
- child development
- understanding of group dynamics
- wake-to-sleep hygiene and care
- group facilitation
- CPR and 1st aid
- lifeguarding
- emergency preparedness
- Our 150+ activities
- and more!
9 Weeks of Summer Practicing: Being responsible for cabins of 5 campers at a time, and applying all the skills above to camp activities and discussions.
A Skilled & Dedicated Supervisor/Scaffolder: With no more than a 1:8 ratio, this person emphasizes your growth and works with you to develop your skills working with kids
Fully Paid & Inclusive: In addition to a summer salary of $4,000, counselors also have all of their housing, utilities, and organic food provided for during their entire stay, as well as receiving other perks and benefits!
This is the place for you if you…
- Are overjoyed to build close relationships between and facilitate a meaningful overall experience for 5 campers, and especially if you have had and plan to continue to work with children throughout your life
- Have the depth of emotional and physical stamina to joyfully engage with a community of 95 campers and 60 staff members for 9 weeks in the summer, working from 7:00 AM - 10:00 PM six days a week.
- Love to play and are eager to explore the creation of magical worlds with enthusiastic character roles
- Are dedicated to guiding/counseling children utilizing emotionally intelligent, thoughtful counseling techniques (to be learned/practiced in detail throughout pre-camp and staff training)
- Love community, and the idea of supporting the growth, interests, and emotional well-being of the other counselors and staff within your village, as well as the camp-wide community, is exciting to you
Minimum requirements:
- Must be at least 19 years of age by June 1st, 2023
- Must be available during our summer dates: from May 16th to August 12th 2023
Must have two of the following:
- at least one summer of experience at a residential summer camp
- over 100 hours of direct mentorship work with youth
- A major or background directly related to working with youth
- Ability to commit to 5-10 hours of pre-camp onboarding work a week from when you are hired to when you arrive, and maintain open and prompt communication about that work
Preferred qualifications:
- A history of ‘meaningful’ work and a variety of experiences with youth
- A plethora of interesting hobbies, passions, and life experiences that you’re excited to share with us
- A GPA of 3.0+ with a true excitement for learning and writing
The training, mentorship, practice, and experience you will get working at Augusta (outlined below) far surpasses that of most (if not all) camps in the nation. We seek high quality candidates for our roles, and promise a high caliber experience.
Notably, our staff training and camp programs were developed by our director who has multiple doctorates in psychology, and our training has been offered as multiple accredited courses at Prescott University.
At the end of the summer, your resume could read:
Child Development Specialist - Camp Augusta Summer 2023
After 300+ hours of dedicated training within a closely-knit 150 person community, I acted as a primary caretaker for 5 campers with 24-hour responsibilities including behavior management and child development. This role included significant training and practice in skills including facilitation and debriefing, Non-Violent Communication, success counseling, 1st aid / emergency preparedness, and teaching various activity areas.
Internships?
Yup, we do that. We can co-design your internship based on the skills and development you seek, and the specific requirements of your school!
About Being a Counselor:
After the training and preparation, the campers arrive for either 1 or 2-week sessions in our 9-week summer. Discover the wish, wonder, and surprise of living with and supporting five campers in a cabin in the woods, and learn more than you ever thought you could about relating to children in a manner that empowers their growth and independence. In a single day at camp, you'll:
- Create magical, intentional special wake ups and evening connection-building activities for your cabin on a daily basis
- Facilitate camper ideas for a daily creative cabin activity
- Teach four activity blocks per day from the 150 clinics that you chose to learn in training
- Run a unique, themed daily activity that draws upon your personal creativity and skills; “sell” these activities through playful skits
- Play in epic Evening Programs, from full-camp capture the flag to immersive night time events. Be a character in our games and bring other-worldly magic to life.
- Create and offer two gifts from the heart per camper, per session: a special wood cookie honoring and a thoughtful Parent Letter
Counselors are the heartbeat of camp, and the words we use are critical to bringing our hearts to theirs. Most counselors spend a session or two outside of the cabin as well, contributing to programming or other areas of interest. See our page on counselor life for more information on the role and how it differs from most other camps.
Imagining what it all looks like? Here’s a video of our summer shenanigans!
If you want to be one of those flag-running, costume wearing, oatmeal throwing, woodchip-loving Augustans… take the next step to meet us here. :)
Next Steps
Either apply through handshake and connect in messaging, or skip ahead and take 5 minutes to fill out our interest form so someone from our hiring team can reach out to you.