Dear Potential Staffer,
Your interest in our program thrills us, but before you launch into considering applying to work as a counselor, you need to realize that the application process is a process and is designed as such to help you consider thoughtfully what you are embarking upon. There is nothing more rewarding than making a positive difference in the life of a child. At the age of eighteen and through your early twenties, you possess a special magic to impact youngsters without having to make much of an effort. This magic may evaporate within a few short years, but as for now, just the way you carry yourself, the way you serve your green beans onto a plate or do not, or the way you receive a guest in our midst speaks volumes to the seven-year-old who may be watching.
When done well, camp counseloring may appear as play out in nature with kids, but the arts of bringing out the best in others, of teaching them to value “whatsoever things are lovely,” to respect the dignity of every human being, including themselves and you, and nature, and of providing an environment which keeps them safe and healthy while free to explore and grow are attained by individuals who have worked at them. A potential counselor might have infinite patience with friends at college but none with a whiney nine-year-old who is having trouble getting to sleep at one p.m. Yet probably no other work is more essential to your maturity than the nurture of young people or can prepare you better for life. We have tried to design Camp Windhover to help you grow as a teacher in your particular field of expertise, a nurturer, and human being fully aware of the present moment. Our program likewise attempts to help our campers grow into their full potential.
So why am I writing to you about this? To make you think about whether you have developed some of the prerequisite interpersonal skills for counseloring and whether you can live in close quarters with others and desire personal growth. If this sounds like an interesting proposition or a worthy endeavor, read on and fill out the following forms.
