A Day in the Life of a Counselor

Hi Swamp Blog Readers!

Happy Monday! I hope your week is off to a fabulous start. This week Camp Swamp is sending out its first ever Swamp Corps Cambodia team to go put on camp in Cambodia. Please be keeping the team in your prayers, along with all the Cambodians who will be camping, counseling, and working at the camp. You can keep up with this Swamp Corps trip by visiting the Campswamp flickr acount to look at pictures, and by reading the blogs of team members on the Swamp Corps blog. Also, please sign up for Swamp Work Days on May 12 and/or May 19, if you are able to attend. You will be doing a great service to camp by joining. Speaking of serving camp, we need more volunteer boy counselors for summer camp. If you are interested, please consider signing up on our website.

Daily Schedule of a Camp Counselor

Parents: Have you ever wondered what your kids' counselors do at camp all day? (Other than spending time with your kids, of course.)
Campers: Ever wondered why your counselor is so tired all the time?

This blog is designed to give a little inside look at the day-to-day schedule of a counselor at Camp Swamp. So, hopefully if you're a parent, future counselor, or camper, this will give you some more knowledge on what counseling at the Swamp is truely like.

Pre-Breakfast (between 7:00 am and 8:30 am) : Wake up, wake up campers, get ready, help campers get ready, take campers to get medicines, quiet times/personal times

8:45 am : Camp-wide meeting and review of the day. (During this time counselors do head counts and start asking campers how much money they want from the bank.)

9:00 am : Breakfast (Counselors get money from the bank and eat with their campers. Most counselors energize themselves with a cup of coffee.)

9:45 am -10:15 am : Clean Cabins and Work Detail (Counselors round up campers, do a head count, help campers clean cabins, and do daily chores (cleaning bathrooms, showers, sweeping the front porch, etc.)

10:15 am - 11:45 am : Free Time (Counselors hang out with their campers doing things like, playing games, going to the canteen, making friendship bracelets, and other activities. Counselors also help their cabins meet for challenges. Fulltime Counselors may have lake duty.)

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm : Bible Classes and Counselor Meeting (Counselors, if not teaching a Bible class, report to the dining hall for the counselor meeting. This is where they talk about how the week is going, activities for the day, and get trained on additional safety procedures that were not covered in-depth in Sunday training. Afterwards, counselors have free time.

1:00 pm - 1:45 pm - Lunch (Counselors eat lunch with their campers and take campers to get mid-day meds.)

1:45 pm - 3:00 pm : Cabin Time (Counselors round up their cabins and do a head count before returning to the cabins. During cabin time, at least one counselor will stay awake to watch the campers during their rest time. Cabins may also work on lip synchs during this time. Counselors wake campers up to get ready for free time or pool time.)

3:00 pm - 5:00 pm : Free Time, lake closed, pool open, canteen open (Girls' Swim Time is 3:00 - 4:00. Boys' Swim Time is from 4:15 - 5:15. Counselors take their campers to the pool and take turns sitting in the lifeguard chairs and playing in the pool with their campers.)

5:30 pm : Mail Call! : Counselors, campers, workers, and everyone at camp (hopefully) gets mail from friends and family.

6:00 pm - 7:00 pm : Dinner (Counselors eat with their campers and take their campers to get evening meds. Dodgeball also starts during this time!)

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm : All Camp Activity (Counselors work with camp directors to facilitate camp activities. This usually involves working as a team, and boosting team/cabin morale. Somewhere during this time will be a short free time, and the canteen will be open.)

9:15 pm : Evening Devotional (Counselors will go with their cabin to evening devotional, depending on the age group. Counselors may help give lessons, as well.)

10:00 pm : Return to Cabins (Counselors do a head count and take campers up to the cabins to get ready for bed. Counselors also take campers to get night meds. Lights out differs by age group. Counselors and campers go to bed and dream about how awesome camp is ;) )

Next Morning: WAKE UP AND DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN!! WOOHOO!

I hope this schedule gave you some insight into a day in the life of a counselor. Not mentioned in this schedule were all the deep talks with campers, special memories, laughs, and relationship building. Being a counselor is definitely hard work, but it is certainly worth the reward of getting to impact a child's life. Next time you see a camp counselor, thank them and give them a hug. They'll need it to get through this schedule!

Until Next Week, guys!

Much Love & Respect,
Julie