Summer brings so many amazing things. Beaches, pools, warm, sunny weather, BBQs and lots of time to spend with friends and family! Another thing the summer also brings is camp! Depending on your age camp can mean a lot of different things! For kids usually between the ages of 4 and 12, camp means having the best summer of your life and getting to spend time doing so many cool things with all of you friends! For parents, camp is usually a place to send your children where you know they will have fun and be safe and have a lot of things to do while you’re at work. But for teens in their high school and college years, camp usually means work. Being a camp counselor has always been one of the biggest summer jobs for teens. Having gone to camp myself when I was younger and always loving my counselors, I decided I wanted to become a camp counselor this year. Looking back on my first week, I’ve learned a lot! Here are some of the things I’ve learned my first week as a camp counselor.

1. To your campers, camp is better than Disney World

For young campers, the idea of having a place where you go five days a week for eight hours a day where you do nothing but play games and have fun, is one of the greatest things to ever happen to them. They are in a safe and amazing environment where they can all be themselves and not have to worry about a thing! Camp becomes one of their favorite places to be and being able to be apart of it makes the job even better!

2. Spirit is the absolute key!

Whether it be participating in dress up days, cheering super loud while walking through camp, or always having a smile on your face, showing your camp pride and spirit is one of the most important parts of your day and is something you learn very, very quickly.

3. You’ll have no voice by the end of the day!

Well with all the cheering and chanting you do around camp it’s very easy to lose your voice. Having a raspy voice all day, every day becomes normal to you and you actually start to look forward to seeing how much of your voice you can lose each day!

4. Playing in the rain is way too much fun!

Unfortunately, not everyday can be sunny and cloud free. You’re going to have some rainy days, but after the first one you’ll start to realize how great these days can be! I have never been the kind of person who liked the rain, but after having two rainy days at camp in our first week and seeing the smiles on my campers faces when they got to play soccer in the rain, I quickly realized how much fun the rain can be!

5. Count, count, count

Whether you’re walking to a new activity, eating lunch, swimming in the pool, or playing on the playground, you have to always be counting your campers. Walking around a great big camp when your still a little kid can be very intimidating and can make it easy to get lost, especially if there are a lot of people around. To make sure this doesn’t happen it is important to always be counting your campers and keeping track of where everyone is.

6. Going to sleep at 9 pm is considered a “late” night.

Walking around camp and playing games all day can certainly take a lot out of you! I am guilty of falling asleep at around 8 o’clock every night this past week! The thought of staying up until 9 is actually mind blowing during a camp week.

7. Anything can happen!

Surprise dance parties, injuries, weather changes, tears, changes in schedule…trust me anything and everything can happen at camp! So it is important to always stay on your toes and be prepared!

8. For your campers, you are their biggest support system

Whether it’s going underwater in the pool for the first time, or going on the zip line, or just needing someone to hold their hand and trust, your campers look up to you in every single way. You are their biggest fan, their friend, and most importantly someone they know they can trust!

9. It truly is the best summer job out there!

Despite long exhausting days and the summer heat, you learn that there really is nothing better than being a camp counselor. Being able to bring some magic to your campers daily lives and seeing their smiling faces is one of the most rewarding things in the world and makes me never want to have a different summer job.