Being a part of the Watitoh family starts during a camper’s first summer at camp and never ends. Our campers, once they have reached the end of their camper years, may continue to return and participate in a program that resembles a Junior Counselor experience. To help with those camper’s transition to being a counselor, we offer an opportunity for those high school students to attend a one day conference, called LEAD. The American Camp Association brings together teenagers from around the country to educate teen leaders on leadership, communication and professionalism, as it relates to camp and how these skills translate into the “real world.” This year, three of our counselors attended the conference. Sam, Lekse, and Jesse all left the conference with a new outlook on their summer at camp and felt that it was a huge benefit to them in their Watitoh experience. Below is their reaction to the day:
“It was a fun event in which new counselors from all different camps in the region went to learn about how to be a good leader, friend, and responsible counselor. It also provided us with necessary information on how to transition from camper to counselor. They had many different activities to help us get ready for this summer. They also had some interesting keynote speakers that talked about their camp experience as both camper and counselor and how it has influenced them in the real world. We highly recommend it to the next group of rising counselors at Watitoh and we can’t wait to be back this summer to show off what we have learned!”
We are all looking forward to watching these counselors grow and develop this summer, while giving back to the place they call their summer home.
