The Best Darn Job You’ll Ever Have
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by Karla A. Henderson, Ph.D.

My sister was in the job market. She had held her previous job for seventeen years so she didn’t have much experience with job interviews. She was tired of endless interview questions, which seemed more like interrogations to her. In one interview where she thought she had no possibility of getting the job, she was asked, "What has been your favorite job?" She blurted out without really thinking about the consequences, "being a camp counselor." The interview continued, but as she left the company she thought that she had probably blown the interview.

I asked my sister why being a camp counselor was her favorite all-time job. The first thing that came to her mind was "a sense of belonging." She loved the kids she worked with in this outdoor environment where so few other distractions existed. She found great support from the other counselors. As the hand-arts leader, she also was able to help the campers appreciate art not with expensive kits but with found objects. They made worry jars, pots from clay found at camp and fired in a home-made kiln, and tree sculptures. Most of all, she said she loved being outdoors. She learned camping and hiking skills (and how to avoid poison ivy) that remain with her today.

Two thoughts resonated with me as a result of the conversation with my sister. The first relates to the power of a camp experience for staff. Working at a camp was probably my favorite all-time job, too, but I didn’t think of it that way. Camp counseling may not feel like a "real" job just because it is so magical for many young people.

Several years ago my colleagues and I conducted research on behalf of the Association of Independent Camps. We set out to understand counselors’ perceptions of their camp experiences as expressed in their own words. We conducted focus groups on several college campuses with fifty-two young people (ages eighteen to twenty-seven) who had worked as camp staff members for at least one season from a variety of camps from all over the U.S.

The staff told us about the importance of the relationships and friendships they formed at camp as well as what they learned about teamwork, personal growth, and leadership. Participants talked about the potential "carry over" from what they had learned at camp to their futures, including interpersonal skills, decision-making, and organizational skills. It was evident to many of the staff that these summer experiences were important even though they were young and unlike my sister, had not had years to think about the value of their experiences.

A second thought that came to me after the conversation with my sister. Camp staff are "youth" themselves and should be nurtured in ways leading to positive youth development just like the young campers. Some youth development specialists have suggested that adolescence extends to age twenty-five. Most summer camp staff are in the latter stages of adolescence themselves and their involvement in camp promotes their personal "youth" development.

Although I believe the American Camp Association should continue to focus on the value of camp experiences for campers, I wonder if we should give more credence to how young staff members are developing. We are interested in how staff training is undertaken to prepare staff to focus on the outcomes desired for campers, but maybe we should also be doing more purposeful training and guidance related to the personal development of staff.

Personal and professional growth doesn’t just happen for staff because they come to camp. We expect them to be mature and self-reflexive, and yet many are trying to figure out who they are. Staff development should focus on how counselors can be effective with youth, but perhaps a focus on individual staff growth would also be an important intentional purpose of camp programs.

My sister got the job, which she really wanted. Maybe the interviewer didn’t care how she responded to that question. On the other hand, maybe that person had been a camper or a staff member. Maybe he had known other successful employees who had been camp counselors. We don’t know if or why my sister’s response made a difference in getting the job, but those of us in the camp field recognize how seasonal camp employment just might be the best darn job a young person could ever have.

Karla A. Henderson, Ph.D., is a professor at North Carolina State University and has been associated with the American Camp Association (ACA) for almost thirty years. She has conducted research on camping as well as served on var ious boards including Education and Research. She is currently serving on the ACA Board of Directors. E-mail: karla_henderson@ncsu.edu.

Originally published in the 2008 July/August issue of Camping Magazine.