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One of the members of the CSS Board of Directors (shout-out to Sarah Glass) sent me a very interesting article from a Canadian e-newspaper defending the work experience of Justin Trudeau (a candidate for Prime Minister), specifically his time working at summer camp. Apparently, some lawmakers have been poking fun at his camp counseling experience, judging it as not relevant to a position of great leadership responsibility. The author of the article is fighting back, emphasizing the responsibility and leadership training a counselor job requires: “More than four million parents in Canada are getting ready to send their children to summer camp, where they will place them in the hands of counsellors for weeks. Many of these kids will be in the remote wilderness where outside help is inaccessible. Ask those parents if being a camp counsellor is an important and high-skill job.”
I couldn’t agree more! The first job I ever held was as a Senior Counselor at Schechter, and I can honestly say that almost every leadership or professional skill I possess came from my summers working at Camp. Being a staff member at Camp, you gain incredible competencies, skills and experience, including:
Leadership
Crisis Management
Management and Supervision
Project Management
Mentoring, Coaching and Counseling
Program Development
Event Planning and Production
Conflict Resolution
Situational Decision Making
Team Building
Problem Solving
Flexibility, Adaptability and Creativity
So if you are thinking about whether to work at Camp (or whether to let your child work at Camp), do it! Camp is an amazing formative experience; for the campers for sure, but in my book, even more so for the staff!
David Furman
Assistant Director, Camp Solomon Schechter
To see the article mentioned in this post click here!
