By Erin Rebello

My name is Erin Rebello and I am currently a student in 11th grade from Toronto, Ontario. During this past summer, I worked as a camp counselor at a sports camp for boys and girls ranging in age from 5-13 years old. I worked with 3 other counsellors to facilitate the 6-week program through July and August.

Why I Did It

A lot of my friends had already landed their first jobs, and I felt as though summer would be the perfect time to start earning and saving! My parents are generally pretty strict about me getting a job, and didn’t want it to interfere with my education, so camp counselling during the summer was something that worked for my situation. It’s also a great place to start for a lot of people because it requires little to no work experience and looks great on resumes! Camp counselling also aligned with my interests, seeing as I love working with kids, and hope to pursue a career as a pediatrician, where I would be working with kids on a daily basis. Finally, I wanted to start saving for post-secondary and make a contribution to my RESP, and this job allowed me to do just that!

What I did

As a camp counsellor, you really have to be versatile! Every day we had a different schedule with different activities to do with the kids, from basketball drills to dodgeball to arts and crafts. Since this was a sports-based camp, we focused on exercise and physical fitness. It was important for counsellors to have some physical stamina because kids- especially kids in a sports camp- NEVER STOP! We had to run drills with them, take a quick break, then move on to the next activity almost immediately. Though this part was difficult at first, the three other counsellors and I were soon accustomed to it. Through our position, we learned a lot about leadership, especially in terms of taking care of children.

Pros and Cons

Like anything, there were pros and cons to spending my summer working as a camp counselor. One pro is that I gained a lot of work experience by doing something which I thought was a lot of fun. Another positive is that I met a lot of new people and had the opportunity to build lifelong connections with my fellow counsellors. This job also reaffirmed the belief that I want to work with kids in my future career. However, there were a few downsides. For one, I spent a large portion of my summer working as a counsellor, which left me less time to hang out with friends. As well, though the kids were usually well-behaved, at times they were not!

My Favourite Part

I’d have to say that my favourite thing about camp was the connections we made with the kids. Throughout my 6 weeks of working as a camp counsellor, I met so many kids with so many different goals and aspirations. One thing that I’ll cherish forever is how the older kids helped the younger kids, encouraging them to try their hardest and cheering them on when they managed to score a point. The whole experience was a lovely reminder of how wonderful children can be.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I loved working as a summer camp counsellor! This experience is unlike any other job because it really gives you the chance to have an impact on the lives of the kids you work with. This summer job boosted my confidence and improved my leadership skills, all while being a fun experience. Though I was able to save for my post-secondary education, I think that the greatest compensation was not the money, but the rewarding experience. I would definitely recommend this job to anyone interested in improving their skills and having fun at the same time!