So You Wanna Work at Camp?

I’ve been doing this since I was twelve years old. Now well into my twenties, I’ve still had no two days alike. Each new day at camp throws a new challenge at me.

Lightning struck the empty sky near the airplane I was on as it careened through the air. Suddenly I heard a “splat, splat, splat” on the metal exterior, indicating a heavy rain. My seatmate motioned me towards his spot by the window. “You’ve gotta look down below!” he said. I peered out the window and saw a farm where only the house stood above the flood of water. This was my very first glimpse at the state of Nebraska.

Once we safely landed in Omaha, I disembarked into an area marked “tornado shelter”. Seeing a shelter like this for the first time instilled some fear in me, but I shook it off as I looked for my luggage. I then stepped out to the airport pick-up zone, but jumped at the sound of the loudest thunder I’ve ever heard.

I hadn’t met the coworker who was picking me up, but we called each other on the phone and soon I was in her car and headed off to my new job. Although I had never even set foot in the state of Nebraska before, I accepted a camp job there, sight unseen. The one-year internship seemed like a good next step in my camp work involvement. Naturally, I did a bunch of research, but the unfamiliar place still made me a bit nervous. Despite the storm and new-job jitters, I was able to keep my fear under control. That is, until we were heading out the airport and what looked like a softball hit the windshield right in front of my face.

The softball was actually the first of a gargantuan-sized hailstorm. My coworker pulled off to the side of the road with another car. When a tree fell on the other car, we instead found shelter in a parking garage that was supposed to only be used by a rental company. And just to point out that I’m not kidding about the size of the hail, my coworker’s car ended up getting so dented from the storm that it was later declared totaled. When the hail finally transitioned to a mere heavy rain, we headed on the road to camp.

Arriving in the midst of the worst storm of my life might not have been the best way to start off at a camp job. The job itself turned out to be a complete one-eighty from my first night there, full of incredible and life-building experiences. But it goes to show that camp work can be full of the unexpected.

Sometimes your cabin’s proven sleep-guaranteed bedtime routine suddenly stops working. Sometimes campers are resistant to the mission that the camp is trying to live out. Sometimes you lose your cool. Sometimes you need to bring in another leader because you’ve run out of ideas. Sometimes, you’re stressed to the point that you just don’t know what to do other than sneaking into the camp kitchen and busting out the secret chocolate stash. But it's always worth it.

Camp will hardly ever work out the way you expect. It doesn’t matter how much you know. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been doing this. Sometimes hiding out with chocolate seems like the best solution. It’s stressful. It’s difficult.

But if you’re brave enough, working at camp can create the best memories of your life.

Nothing compares to the wind blowing on your face and the adrenaline pulsing through your body as you soar through the air, doing unmatchable acrobatics on a zipline to the cheers of adoring campers below. Nothing can make you beam like seeing a child get that “aha” moment that will change their life. Nothing is as reflective and entertaining as the flames of a campfire, no matter how many nights you stare at it. Camp is not just a job. It’s a life.

Whether you’ve been working at a camp job for years, or are still trying to decide if this kind of thing is for you, welcome. Together, we’ll learn to survive the craziest work you’ll ever do.

Adapted from The Ultimate Survival Guide to Working at Camp, available on Amazon.