The Staff Experience

Working at Airy these last 4 years has been the most rewarding and exciting job I have ever had. Growing up at camp, I always used to think that you could only have fun as a camper, but I can wholeheartedly say that isn’t true. My years on staff have been the most fun summers I’ve had at camp, and I have met so many incredible people along the way. I never thought I would be able to say that I have friends all over the globe, but because of Camp, I have made connections with people from so many different countries. The people at camp truly become your second family, and it’s incredible how far this family reaches around the world. Being able to provide a fun and exciting experience for our campers is unbelievably rewarding. There is no better feeling than on the last day of camp when all of your campers tell you how excited they are to come back next year. Working at Airy has taught me how to be the best version of myself and made me push myself out of my comfort zone. I learned so much about working with kids and how to put them in the best position to have the most incredible summer possible. It’s not just about the activities at Airy, it’s about the community and brotherhood we share that allows our campers to truly be themselves. Because of my years on staff, I got to inspire the next generation of campers and staff members, and I can’t think of any other way I would want to spend my summers than to be at Camp Airy. 

Over the past 6 years that I’ve been on staff at Camp Louise, I have learned so much about myself as an individual, coworker, and supervisor. My communication skills have improved and my ability to effectively and successfully lead a team have grown significantly. In the off-season, these are not skills that I forget, but rather ones that I continue to hone in on as I work on and complete my graduate education. As a staff member who did not grow up at Camp Louise, but grew up elsewhere, I was nervous about becoming a part of a new camp community with their own unique traditions. However, I was welcomed in with open arms and now consider Camp Louise to be one of my summer homes.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to work at Camp Louise and for the skills, lessons, memories, and experiences that come with it.

I’ve gone to camp pretty much since before I can remember. It’s crazy to look back and reflect on how much I’ve grown as a person since the day I stepped onto the mountain for the first time. What’s even crazier is that I never imagined that I’d make the transition from camper to counselor at all – and here we are going into my fifth year on staff with no signs of stopping any time soon. Why? Because the staff environment at Camp Airy allows for you to grow as a human being — even if you’re there as a counselor with the responsibility of helping the next generation grow themselves. Throughout my time on staff at Camp Airy, I’ve been able to learn more about who I am as a person in love with a place, and as a professional in love with a job. I’ve realized things about the way I operate on a human level that I would never have understood or came to terms with if it wasn’t for the welcoming, nourishing, and supportive ecosystem that is Camp Airy. When I wake up each day at camp with the sole intention of being a role model for our campers in our quest to have the summer of a lifetime, I can look around me and see co-workers who feel like family — whether I have known them for a few weeks, or for years. This is something I never take for granted and, while I am overjoyed to have the responsibility of starting the next cycle of Camp’s camper-to-counselor pipeline, I hope that more people who have never been to Camp Airy before come and join our staff family — it really will change your life.

Camp Louise has been my summer home for the past 13 years, and I am confident it will remain my happy place for many more years to come. I have learned countless skills and lessons at camp, from simple things like dancing to teamwork and building deep, lasting friendships.  There are so many reasons why I and many of my friends continue to come back to camp. These bonds last a lifetime and are totally unique.  My best friends are my camp friends; we have a connection that can’t be formed anywhere else or in any other way. I have spent the past two years on staff at camp, and it’s somehow even greater than being a camper. I’m in the Music Department, and teaching a camper to play a song and hearing them do it with no prior experience before is a rare, amazing, and indescribable feeling.  Camp Louise gives me this feeling constantly in so many ways.  Seeing campers grow the same way I did years prior and knowing that I am helping to shape them into the great women they’ll become is why I keep coming back. There is nowhere else I would rather spend my summers, and I love being a part of such an incredible and strong community of Jewish women.

Working at Camp Airy was the highlight of my year in 2021. As a first time staff member I was amazed with how both professionally and personally rewarding it is to be a counselor. Camp is not only an incredible opportunity to meet new people from all over the world, but it is also a place for personal growth. Airy helped bring out the best version of myself by pushing me out of my comfort zone in the extreme sports department and encouraged me to do my best week after week. Even though I did not go here as a camper, by the end of just my first day I already felt accepted by everyone and that the people here were family. Looking back, and going forward with camp, it feels incredible to be a leader and role model for the next generation.

Growing up, I was never a ‘camp guy’ and I honestly thought overnight camps were just a thing on television. This all changed when I got to college, where I became good friends with some guys who worked at Airy. After some light convincing, I took a leap and decided to become a counselor. While it seemed a little intimidating and out of my wheelhouse at first, the summer of 2019 will stick with me forever.  Airy is where I figured out what I wanted to do with my life professionally and was able to cultivate a programming skill set to support that. Not to mention the guys I’ve worked with have ended up becoming some of my closest friends. While our campers have the opportunity to partake in activities they never thought they’d do, the same stands for the staff members and is encouraged. Something else about Airy that I really appreciated was the fact that food and housing is covered just by being part of the staff, which is a common worry among college aged people. Summer after summer, and even through the COVID-19 pandemic, Camp Airy is my summer home.

I came to camp thinking it would be a fun summer and a way of making new friends, but I had no idea the amount of growing I would do as a person. Working with your co-counselors to care for a bunk of girls teaches you invaluable skills like communication, problem solving and time management which are essential in all areas of life. You get the opportunity to work with co-counselors from all different parts of the world, giving you an opportunity to establish close friendships which are life long. There’s a reason we have so many staff returning year after year – coming to work at Camp Louise from Australia is the best decision I’ve ever made!

After working last summer as an in-bunk counselor at Camp Airy, I believe I have already learned so much about myself and others. Last summer was my seventh year at camp. Many of my friends on staff have been attending camp since they were 8-10 years old. I started after my 6th grade school year and I have never looked back. Every day, week, month, and summer are completely different. You are learning so much each day and you don’t even realize it until you are applying it to other things in your life. Camp has taught me how to treat others, how to always make time for the people we love, how to be a leader in previously unknown settings, how to manage conflict and how to expose others to new skills and hobbies. There are so many different reasons to continue coming back to camp, however, the all-encompassing reason that links them all together, is the people. At camp we learn so much, but even when you are doing something you don’t want to do you have the people around you to help you get through it. We often take for granted how much simple interactions with a camper or counselor can impact them. From having short and funny conversations to playing a game of catch outside, the interactions were always worth it if I got to see my campers smile because of it.  I love camp more than any place in the entire world and although my camper years were great, being a counselor and seeing the campers around me have a blast is even better. I wish everyone could have the experiences and opportunities I have had attending a sleep-away camp. I have no idea where I would be without Camp Airy and people who heavily impacted my camp experience.