COIcampgirl04

It wasnt a contagious sickness. I have a severe iron deficiency...I just get very weak at times...along with migraines

I completely understand what you are saying. At my camp, the staff is regarded as one of the best in the south. We also have one of the worst pay rates without being a volunteer staff. I am very aware of the fact that some people DO have to join the real world...but with those of us that don't have to quite yet...whats the rush? there is no need to try and push us into it. All in all, its mainly whats important to the specific person making that decision. Also, people are saying the 'amount of money for the amount of work'. You know what you are getting yourself into and it shouldnt be 'just work'. If its 'just work' then those people arent going to be the best staffers either. As far as age, we have 15-all the way up to 40's and 50's. The average age of our staff members is 19-22. Our CD and PD are in their mid twenties...and even our young staff members, where they may lack in experience...are sometimes the BEST counselors. If they arent mature enough to grasp that this is an actual JOB, they get sent home, as the case was last year. With the older scouts we have an outstanding program and is one of the most popular in camp. High Adventure, or the Ranger program, is one where they go to our rock face and climb, travel to several rivers for rafting and canoeing, and go caving in TN. Even though one of the mottos at camp is understaffed and overworked...i've never actually heard anyone upset about that. I remember one week specifically, when i was extremely sick...I started each morning at 600 getting ready,615-815 giving out meds, 9-12 doing first year camper programs,and the rest of the day I did nothing but treat kids...until midnight...not to mention teaching a merit badge, and working both in our dining hall and our trading post and having to deal with SEVERAL serious medical issues...Every week was like that for at least 10 staff memebers...switching depts. like crazy...but they loved every minute because they were there for the experience...so your paycheck shouldnt reflect the amount of work you do, because as my PD has said in the past...for the amount of work a camp staff member does, our budget should be endless...you just CANT put a correct price on that, if you did....every camp staff member would be rich. You are a teacher, a nurse, a psychologist of sorts, a professional organizer, a babysitter, a cook, a server, a fun director, a law enforcer, a tour guide, a judge for their small fights, a secretary for the paperwork, and so much more. Can you imagine the correct price tag? Its kind of like being a parent...they should make TONS and TONS of money for raising kids because its such a HARD job...and yet they normally go into debt...why? because that is the 'career' they chose. I understand what everyone is saying,however, you know the payment you will recieve when you take on a job...either take the job or find another one that DOES meet your requirements. As I've just read back...most of these people are talking about their 15-16 year old son, who woul 1) find it hard to get a job elsewhere anyway and 2) only have the amount of hours at a part time job to equal that of the avg. camp staff pay. and not having ANY fun at all and being stuck inside. As far as me not knowing what it's like to give up things for camp...I gave up my senior trip and a new car. So, yes...I do understand.

im sorry you feel that way...if you have all those responsibilities to worry about, then maybe you should think about actually joining the real world rather than criticizing those of us who prefer an escape from it, such as camp.

As Im sure you are aware, working at a camp is a 24/7 job or at the minimum 24/6. From the time you set foot on your camps property until the time you leave, you are working. That would be 850 a week. Some people dont even make that in a SUMMER. As Im sure you are also aware, working at camp you are provided with room and board. It is not possible for people to be paid an hourly wage AND their housing and food for an entire summer. Also, since you are of course posting in this message board Im pretty sure that you know that most camps pay in salary, which means that they can pay you what they want to and most people work there because they WANT to...not because they need the money and the people that work there arent there for the 'minimum wage'. If they were, they would be at the nearest McDonalds. But like I said Im sure you are aware of all this.

Camp Old Indian is one of the greatest camps for Scouts. While they might not have state of the art facilities, Scouting is a passion for most of their staff and it shows through their program. Every scout there feels wanted and that a staff member there cares about them, which could be a challenge for any other camp housing 550 campers with 60 staff. I would reccomend this camp to ANYONE! By the way, spaces do fill up fast, so sign up quickly!

All I'm saying is...For the amount of time/work a counselor does/uses(most staff make camp their life) is far less...and its a salary wage...not by the hour...plus the room and board....I would be perfectly fine working for free....because our camp charges each visitor 5.00 a meal...so that it itself is more than my salary was my first year(17 meals a week)and once you add that to my salary then figure that the camp spends around 50 dollars a week for your general living expenses, then its over 200 dollars a week, which isnt bad for a summer job in general....and yes camp is more than just a regular summer job and MUCH different. You make life long bonds, you learn and experience soooo many things, and you live there for 3 months...I dont see many fast food summer jobs that offer these things. In my opinion, the experience is priceless. However, our council pays each person according to situation for the most part. It depends on what the person needs to be paid in order to be able to work at camp( within reason) as well as how much experience they have.

All I'm saying is...For the amount of time/work a counselor does/uses(most staff make camp their life) is far less...and its a salary wage...not by the hour...plus the room and board....I would be perfectly fine working for free....because our camp charges each visitor 5.00 a meal...so that it itself is more than my salary was my first year(17 meals a week)and once you add that to my salary then figure that the camp spends around 50 dollars a week for your general living expenses, then its over 200 dollars a week, which isnt bad for a summer job in general....and yes camp is more than just a regular summer job and MUCH different. You make life long bonds, you learn and experience soooo many things, and you live there for 3 months...I dont see many fast food summer jobs that offer these things. In my opinion, the experience is priceless. However, our council pays each person according to situation for the most part. It depends on what the person needs to be paid in order to be able to work at camp( within reason) as well as how much experience they have.

My camp had 6 female staff members, 4 of which were under 18(us four were 17). there were no problems at all. In fact, I was in the department that taught basic Scouting skills, and I taught it the best of anyone in my dept., excluding the director. I think it is a GREAT idea to have staff demographics such as this. Is there a certain hormone that turns off as soon as you reach your 18th birthday? As long as the people that are being hired are there for the right reasons, it shouldn't matter. Doing their jobs for the Scouts will most likely not be affected at all, and if it is, then it should be dealt with on a case by case basis.

Being a current/former BSA camp staff member I can tell you that most all of us don't work there for the money, and some of us even end up losing money over the summer. Working at camp shouldn't be about the money, and for me, as well as my co-workers, it doesn't really matter how much we get paid. 90 % of us would pay to work at camp. That is not saying that the money doesn't help. All I can say is that my pay was FAR less than minimum wage, if you don't factor in the room and board. Most people think that being on camp staff is one of the greatest experiences of their life. The starting salary at my camp is not very high, but with experience your pay goes up, but not to what a normal summer job would be...but like I said, if people are working there for the money, they arent there for the right reasons.