Being a camp counselor isn’t all it’s cracked up to be

The last week of summer was when disaster struck. My camper pooped the bed. No amount of training had prepared me to wake up at 5.30am to my cabin spelling like poop and my co-counselor standing over me, a horrified look on her face. “Please don’t make me clean it.”

The summer had gone relatively smoothly up until that moment. Well, “smooth” in the way that I’d only had two campers throw up, two bed wetters and one pooper. At least the end was in sight.

I grew up going to camp every summer. The camp I attended was and is my favorite place on earth. That’s why last summer I decided to become a camp counselor, romanticizing it in my head, excited to change lives. Although I may have made a life or two better, my summer was made a lot worse.

Staff training

The week before the summer started was Staff Training Week. I made some friends quickly, but mostly with day camp counselors, who I would rarely see since I was an overnight camp counselor. A little discouraged but determined to have a fun time, I talked myself into liking staff training.

After training, I took a week off to volunteer at another camp. When I came back, I was placed in a cabin with two counselors who only had one week of experience. They were both incredibly condescending, going so far as to yell at me in front of our campers. By the second day, I wanted to quit.

The actual job

The rest of the summer was a whirlwind of difficult experiences, terrible coworkers and only glimmers of the experience that I had once had as a camper. My co-workers, especially the ones who had worked at camp before, spent their weekends drinking and hooking up with each other.

I was exhausted at the end of each week and tired of avoiding my coworkers’ pressure to find a “camp boyfriend.” The unprofessionalism astounded me and made work exhausting.

The perks

Although the environment I was working in was a toxic one, my campers kept me going. I want to be a teacher for the same reasons I wanted to be a camp counselor: I want to inspire others and to help them be their best selves.

Camp helped me do that. In helping others, I was able to learn so much about myself, too. I met campers from all over the world and had the amazing opportunity to learn from some incredible young men and women. My campers were inspiring and, frankly, the only reason I didn’t quit.

I had campers who stayed multiple weeks and would come visit me even after camp was over. All of the love from my campers made it a wonderful experience, even if the long hours and unpleasant coworkers made it less than the perfect job.

Though I won’t be working at that camp again, I will always remember my wonderful campers who kept me going that summer.