COUNSELOR TALES

Local counselors reminisce about
their best and worst experiences.

JENNIFER FINER JEWISH NEWS INTERN

orking at camp
can be a re-
warding yet
challenging ex-
perience— just
ask anyone
who's done it.
Counselors from area camps
like Sea-Gull, Tamarack and
Tanuga recount their best and
worst camp experiences.

W

Name: Julie Berman
Age: 20
Camp: Sea-gull
Years at camp: 1991-92
BEST CAMP EXPERI-
ENCE: "I loved going on canoe
trips, making friends and
Olympic Day. The camp is di-
vided into five or six teams for
Olympic Day and you do relay
races and activities as a team.
It's great seeing the campers '
faces as they cross the finish
line."
WORST CAMP EXPERI-
ENCE: "One time we were on
a canoe trip and we were camp-
ing out on this island. We had
to stay an extra night because
the weather was so bad we
could not canoe off the island so
we just hung out in our tents."

Name: Paul Bernstein
Age: 25
Camp: Tamarack and Maas
Years at camp: 1988-1992
FUNNIEST CAMP EXPE-
RIENCE: "Before the kids got
to camp, the counselors would
go on a camping trip by them-
selves. One summer my village
staff and I were sitting around
a campfire when two parents
and their kids asked if we want-
ed to join them at their fire. Be-
ing camp counselors we thought
it would be fun so we joined
them. We started singing camp
songs, but when we couldn't
think of anymore songs the
mother suggested songs like
"Jesus Praise the Lord." We all
said we were sorry but we did
not know that song. They didn't
know we were Jewish and con-
tinued to suggest religious
songs. Finally, she suggested
"Jesus Loves Me," a song I re-
alized I knew from working at
a Baptist group home for peo-

ple with low functioning devel-
opmental impairments. I'll nev-
er forget that story because I
thought it was funny I actually
knew the song and it seemed to
make them happy."
WORST CAMP EXPERI-
ENCE: "One of our counselors
was going to be fired for driving
a camp vehicle on camp
grounds with a suspended dri-
ver's license. The staff went to
administration and said, "If he
leaves, we all leave." The end
result was he was allowed to
stay and they were willing to
give him another chance. Al-
though the end result was pos-
itive, it was a stressful few
days."

Name: Rob Kalman
Age: 25
Camp: Tamarack
Years: 1986-1989
BEST CAMP EXPERI-
ENCE: "I was a counselor on
Senior Side (fifth-grade
campers) during a very small
session with only seven kids.
We went on a three-day canoe
trip and we had canoe wars the
whole way. I remember mak-
ing it to the end of the trip with-
out getting soaked. One of the
kids in my canoe got so excit-
ed he stood up in the canoe and

ILLUSTRATION BY SHELLY ANN

it tipped over. As a staff mem-
ber, this was one of the best ca-
noe trips I've ever been on."
WORST CAMP EXPERI-
ENCE: "One summer there was
a tornado warning and I re-
member sitting in the nature
center for about two hours with
about 30 kids and a lot of them

were really scared. But I have
to say that even the worst of
times at camp were good com-
pared to being in the "real"
world of work."

Name: David Kramer
Age: 20
Camp: Tanuga
Years at camp: 1989-1991

So You Want To Work At A Camp?

JENNIFER FINER JEWISH NEWS INTERN
n their quest for the perfect counselor, camp
directors from four overnight camps divulge
some of the qualifications they look for when
hiring camp staff.
As a general rule, counselors should have pri-
or experience working with children and have
camping or outdoors knowledge. They should be
of college age and motivated and excited to spend
a summer at camp. Some camps require that staff
have American Red Cross lifeguard training.
"I've begun hiring staff now and I'm not done
until the first day of camp," said Larry Stevens,
one of the owners and directors of Camp Walden,
outside Cheboygan. "Looking for suitable staff is
a full-time job. We hire about 100 staff members."
All accredited camps are required to: do a crim-
inal check on applicants, ask for references and
have potential staff fill out applications, accord-
ing to Harvey Finkelberg, the executive director
of Fresh Air Society and Tamarack Camps.

I

"There are two kinds of job applicants, staff
who were campers and those who are new to the
organization," said Vic Norris, the senior direc-
tor at Camp Tamakwa, in Algonquin Park, On-
tario. "One of the things I look to see is if
applicants have traveled or spent time in Israel
or on a kibbutz. This is usually an indication they
know about being independent and hard work.
Those who have done this are usually your very
top-notch staff."
Dave Nickman, the staff director of Camp
Tanuga, in Kalkaska, said it takes time to judge
a candidate's character but the first indicator is
if the person he is interviewing looks him in the
eye,
Mr. Finkelberg said he asks a number of ques-
tions about how an applicant would deal with
specific "camp" situations, like how they would
help a homesick camper or work with a child who
is trying their patience.

BEST CAMP EXPERI-
ENCE: "I taught basketball
and canoeing and a lot of the
kids came to camp with pret-
ty minimal skills in both those
areas. I felt proud of the fact
that the kids who had an in-
terest in both those areas came
away with increased skills and
more confidence. They also had
fun doing it and that should be
the main focus of camp. It
doesn't matter what your abil-
ities in certain areas are, it's
more important to enjoy it and
come away with an increased
proficiency and still have fun."
WORST CAMP EXPERI-
ENCE: "When I was a junior
counselor, we canoed across the
lake before lunch to get to this
store. There were high winds
and it was a tough paddle.and
a lot of the kids weren't strong
enough to do it. There were
three staff members and one
left early, so it was me, one staff
member and 10 kids. When we
left I decided I wanted to get
back quickly so I could get my
laundry. I ended up going in the
canoe with the other stsilTmem-
ber and we got back faster than
the kids. When I got back from
doing my laundry, I found out
three canoes got stranded and
they ended up calling camp,
telling them they were stuck
and needed to be picked up. I
was chewed out pretty bad and
learned a lot about being re-
sponsible with kids."

Name: Caryn Lubetsky
Age: 18
Camp: Ramah
Summers at Camp: 1990 and
1993
FUNNIEST CAMP EXPE-
RIENCE: "Every week there
was a special day of creative
programming. One day we put
on a mock bar and bat mitzvah.
We had a Torah reading and a
candle lighting ceremony. It
was really cute because we gave
the campers characters they
had to be, like aunts, uncles and
grandparents."
WORST CAMP EXPERI-
ENCE: "At the beginning of
camp each age group put on a
play. We did Peter Pan and it
was all done in Hebrew. Re-
hearsing for the play was real-
ly difficult because the kids
were getting used to camp and
at the same time they had to

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