I have worked for four years at an incredible YMCA stayaway camp in my native Pennsylvania. This past summer, having one year of Greek life under my belt, I realized that there are some uncanny similarities between fraternity and sorority members and camp counselors, and that being in a Greek life organization prepares you in ways you wouldn't expect to be a top-tier counselor.
Here are a few reasons Greeks are meant to work at camp with some help from Summer camp cult classic "Wet Hot American Summer":
1. Drunk college kids and 8-year-olds are the same thing.
2. Intramural sports keep you in game-time shape, in case a camper needs to be humbled.
3. Free t-shirts.
4. Functioning at a high level with no sleep is a familiar concept.
5. Your sorority has 30 cheers, so campfire songs are second nature.
6. That higher-than-average GPA means you are willing to work hard.
7. Your campers will be impressed when you challenge them to a water-chugging contest and empty your Nalgene in under seven seconds.
8. Your immune system is so strong from living in the chapter house that it doesn’t matter how many times you get coughed on or share your water bottle.
9. Staff parties.
10. You have likely played “mom” or “dad” on a few nights out, so the nurturing gene is there.
11. If you can organize a $30,000 5K race for pancreatic cancer research, you can devise a way to get campers to efficiently clean the table after meals.
12. Instead of having one Little, you get a whole cabin of them.
13. Counselors-in-training and pledges are virtually the same thing.
14. Both fraternities and summer camps rely on a flawless foundation of risk management.
15. Working with kids is like constantly being on stage. Camp is just like your local Airbands or Greek Sing, except the Dean of Students isn’t there to deduct points for leaving your props backstage.
16. Putting up with that brother you wouldn't have given a bid makes you great at putting up with the camper whose paperwork you wouldn’t have accepted.
17. If you can pump out a handful of decorative paddles and formal coolers every year, dreamcatchers and popsicle stick log cabins should be no sweat.
18. Sorority girls love arts and crafts time, so why not get paid for it?
19. Are you the member that goes all-out for mixer themes? Just transfer your creative energy from Rugged Loggers and Sexy Joggers to Superhero Week, and the kids will love you.
20. Whether you are Greek or a camp counselor, your kind is portrayed as irresponsible and party animals in movies and TV shows.
21. All that gym time translates perfectly when the campers want to be tossed around in the pool.
22. You have volumes of funny stories to regale the kids with, providing you clean it up and leave a few specific details out.
23. At the very core, they are both about human interaction and self-actualization.
