Cabin Living
Each cabin counselor and specialist is assigned (with two or three co-counselors) to live with a specific bunk. A typical bunk consists of 7 – 9 campers of the same grade level and gender identity. This is a fundamental component of the job, as cabin life is central to campers’ experience at Akeela. The cabin group becomes their family for the summer, which means that counselors are filling the roles of “parents”, along with being big siblings, role models, social coaches, cheerleaders, limit-setters, growth agents, and so much more. The campers in each bunk are often asked to work together as a team, requiring their counselors and specialists to facilitate this team building, teach & model respect, and generate group spirit.
Teaching & Facilitating Program Activities
Specialists teach in their assigned program areas four periods per day. Each activity period is 50 minutes long. Cabin counselors spend two periods per day with their campers, at a pre-assigned rotation of activities. For two periods a day, cabin counselors lead or help facilitate program activities. These are our “Specialties” – activities that campers select individually as electives. You will have a lot of guidance in planning your activities and ongoing support from experienced senior staff throughout the summer. Counselors and specialists find activity time to be extremely rewarding, and a great opportunity to gain experience teaching different age groups and genders.
Community Time
Adults in a residential camp have 24 hour a day responsibility for the physical and emotional wellbeing of the campers in our care. In addition to your cabin responsibilities, you can expect to develop meaningful mentorship relationships with campers throughout the larger camp community. All staff members are “on duty” at mealtimes, evening activities, campers’ free time, and at various other points during the day. Of course, all staff members have time off every day, as well as approximately half of the late evenings and one full day per week.
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