I began working at Camps 'R' Us in the summer of 2015. I first worked as a junior counselor in which I was performing different duties such as setting up activities on the field/playground, blacktop, and even in the gym. I even helped to prepare lunches for our campers and made sure every area had a proper hydration station which included both water and Gatorade for the campers with drinking cups and trash bags to throw away all garbage. I would help and assist any of our group leaders if they needed another counselor to help watch their campers while they were at one of the larger areas on the campus such as the gym, blacktop, or the field/playground. This was a precautionary step taken to make sure no injuries or conflicts would occur. I performed the junior counselor position for one year. ​

 

My next year, I took on the role of the Gym Activity Leader which meant I was in charge of coming up with different activities each division could participate in when they were stationed at the gym, field/playground, or the blacktop. I had to submit lesson plans every week for every day at each location. I enjoyed this very much due to the freedom I had in providing many different and new activities to all our campers to perform. I was specifically stationed and in control of the gym. Every day I had each division coming into the gym once and even sometimes twice a day which provided me an opportunity to teach our campers not only new games but as well as different skills. These skills included the performance of throwing and catching different balls, kicking to different targets, and even performing or combining these skills while in different movement patterns.

 

I even started a basketball club that lasted the entire two months of the camp season. We held the club three times a week which allowed me to work with the campers on learning the basic skills of basketball. It even allowed me an opportunity to teach the more complicated skills of the sport. The campers learned a lot of new and more advanced skills. The club provided them with the fun of basketball while still being challenged every day to go outside of their comfort zone and accomplish a new skill. I would break the students up into new teams for the first two weeks which provided them with the opportunity to work with everyone in the club and become comfortable with one another and even make new friends. After the two weeks, campers got to choose their own teams with a draft which meant campers had to stay in these teams for the remainder of the club. I would still teach the campers different skills and even plays they could run and practice with their teams every club day. When we reached the fourth week (middle of the camp season), the campers began gameplay. They would play two games every club day for a total of six games a week. This lasted up until the final week of camp in which the entire week was our playoffs week. The final day of camp was when we held the championship game between the final two teams. Overall, the campers had an excellent time and were able to learn a lot of new skills, games, and activities throughout the entire camp season. I performed the gym activity leader position for three years in total. 

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I continued moving up and was now taking on the role of a Group Leader. This position held responsibilities that put me in charge of one specific division for both the campers and counselors of that group. I had to create lesson plans for the entire day at every location such as art, music, arcade, and even in our classroom. I was able to teach our campers different and new skills in all of these areas whether it was teaching the different music genres, how to properly draw a shark, and even different board games that required campers to think and find a solution together. I enjoyed having this freedom to share my own knowledge and personal experiences with the campers for each of these different activities in each area. I always carried a medical bag that contained a full medical kit including different needs for every camper such as epi-pens, inhalers, and even glasses/goggles. Band-aids, gauze, tape, disinfectants, and even different cutting tools were included in this medical bag. We were able to go on different field trips with the campers which made for a more memorable and exciting experience. These trips went from educational adventures such as visiting the Bronx Zoo, to trips that allowed the campers to conquer their fears and go on that scary roller coaster at Adventure Land. I kept in touch with every campers` parents to help set up birthday celebrations at the camp, and even provide them with an everyday overview of what their child did that day in camp. I provided any documented issues from injuries, fights, and arguments with other campers or even counselors their child might have had. This was an overall great position, and I enjoyed making camp an awesome experience for all of my campers. I performed the group leader position for two years.

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With all three of these positions came heavy training in identifying different camper and staff awareness and behaviors. I did receive my certification in CPR/APE and First aid training, and every summer the camp offers a re-certification process with a class followed by a test. I even trained to be one of three Pool Activity Leaders which held the role of lifeguard whenever we would go on our swimming and bowling trips. I do continue my employment at Camps 'R' Us in Baldwin, NY and I will be going back this upcoming summer (2023) for my ninth summer and my second year as the Program Director. As the Program Director, I created the daily schedules for the entire camp, including the field trip itinerary for each group when they would leave the camp to go on different field trips. I also created schedules for the different special events we had at the camp such as different outside organizations that would come to our camp, theme days that included a Nickelodeon Day and a Halloween Day, and even our own camp activities such as our yearly Color War between the Orange and Blue teams. I held weekly staff meetings to keep our staff informed and up-to-date with regard to everything we had coming up within our camp, as well as always trying to find ways to better each other to be the best counselors and co-workers we could be for each other and most importantly, our kids to ensure that they have the best possible summer that we could give them. I can not wait for summer 2023!!