If you are someone who can survive on little sleep, has constant energy energy, can endure hundreds of screaming voices and wants three months of worshiping Christ, then I have the perfect summer job for you: be a Camp Worker. 
To start off, I am Jennifer Kilbourn, a senior at SAU. Over the past four summers, I have had the amazing opportunity to work at two Christian campgrounds: Covenant Hills Campground and Somerset Beach Campground. Over the course of those four summers, I had three different jobs; office assistant, counselor and camp photographer. Although these jobs are all fairly different, I would have to say that I enjoyed each job equally because they all had their own interesting parts. Before I go into more detail about the different jobs I performed, you should know that camp has always been a huge part of my life, both through going to camp as a kid and each of the camps I have worked at have been a part of my family for a long time.
But let’s get to more of the fun stuff, what does it look like to be a camp worker? Starting with being a camp counselor, you can find a large group of varying people who lead hundreds of kids to Christ every week. According to http://whyismarko.com/stereotypical-camp-counselors/there are 7 stereotypes of camp counselors: (if you have ever worked at a camp, you will totally understand these stereotypes)
1. The Joe Cool
2. The Disciple
3. Sir No Showers A Lot
4. The Nicest Person That Ever Lived
5. The Reformed Rebel
6. The Narc
7. The Rebel
I like to think of counselors as shepherds with 9-13 kids (sheep) following them around all day. These are the leaders that will probably make the largest impact on any kid that goes to camp, because you are living with them for a week, and somewhere in there you are bound to have an impacting talk about Christ. Even if you are only able to reach one kid, that counselor leaves knowing they brought one more person to the Lord.
No one said you had to be a counselor to make a lasting impact on the kids coming each week. If shepherding around kids all summer is not for you, try the support staff, as I did as camp photographer. Support staff are all the behind the scene jobs, where you set up activities for the kids to do each day, or like I did, take photos of the kids having a blast at summer camp. As support staff, you—in a way—get to make these kids dreams come true. I got to watch kids face their fear of heights by working at the zip line, high ropes course and climbing tower. You never know what kind of talk you are going to have with a kid who is scared and you get to share how Christ says “don’t be afraid.”
And last the final job I worked at a campground was an office assistant position. I wasn’t working with the kids, but I did get to show the love of Christ in the way that I treated people in person or on the phone. The one major thing you have to remember when you are working in the office is to keep a smile on your face and to remain patient when dealing with a frustrated customer.
So when you are looking for a summer job where you can have fun every day, look no further than a Christian Campground.
By Jennifer Kilbourn
