CIT stands for counselor-in-training, and the position usually goes to someone who has been a camper at the particular camp. Most camps have an age requirement of about fourteen before they will promote a camper to a CIT rank.
CITs usually participate in all the same activities the campers do, but in addition, they have added responsibilities, helping out senior counselors and supervising the younger campers.
Most CIT jobs are unpaid, but the CIT usually gets to attend the camp for free, with room and board included.
Junior Counselors
Junior counselors are usually a year or two older than CITs. Many camps prefer their junior counselors to be at least fifteen years of age. Duties will vary from camp to camp, but most junior counselors are assigned to one counselor, whom they will assist for the season.
Junior counselors can be in charge of the daily activities of a particular group of campers or work only with a specific activity, such as in the arts and crafts room or at the pool or waterfront.
Salaries for Junior Counselors
Many junior counselor positions are unpaid, waiving the camp fees and providing room and board at resident camps. Some day camps do pay an hourly wage--usually the minimum wage--and overnight camps often offer a $200 or $300 stipend for the summer. A stint as a junior counselor can often be a foot in the door for a fully paid counselor position the following summer.
Volunteers
Although the formal, academic training you will receive later on is vital to your resume for future career placement, hands-on experience is of equal importance. Not only does it provide a host of significant skills, it also allows the career explorer to make an informed decision about the suitability of camping or recreation work.
Many unpaid volunteers assist paid counselors and other recreation workers. The vast majority of volunteers serve as activity leaders at local day-camp programs, or in youth organizations, camps, nursing homes, hospitals, senior centers, YMCAs, and other settings. Other volunteers function similarly to CITs or junior counselors. Some volunteers serve on local park and recreation boards and commissions.
A person who starts with a term of volunteer work, even before beginning a college program, will have a better idea of what career options camps and recreation facilities have to offer and whether these options are right for him or her. Even if you have spent every summer as a camper, a camper's experience is different from the professional counselor's. Volunteering at a camp is a good way to see things from the other side of the playing field.
One of the biggest benefits of volunteer experience, either through part-time work during the school year or a summer job, is that it often may lead to a full-time job. Volunteers are often the first to hear about openings, and employers often prefer to hire someone they know and already have experience working with.
Getting Started with Volunteer Work
The easiest way to volunteer your time is to call a camp or sponsoring organization and ask to speak to the volunteer coordinator. He or she will work with you to match your interests with the camp's needs.
Volunteer programs are usually flexible about the number of hours and days per week they expect from their volunteers.
Firsthand Accounts
Lisa Bradley, CIT
Lisa Bradley, a sophomore in high school, is currently in her second year as a CIT at a resident camp in the lakes region of New Hampshire.
How Lisa Got Started
"I was a camper here first, for three years, and I attended for the full summer session--eight weeks--every year. Last summer, during my third year as a camper, we had our usual morning flag rising. The director always has announcements to make and one morning he announced that I was promoted to a floater. In a way that meant I became a counselor-in-training.
"I guess my parents got the rest of the summer free for me, but I am not sure about that. Basically, as a floater, I had to fill in when-ever a CIT had some time off. I'd take over her cabin and supervise her kids for an activity--or sometimes in the evening I had to babysit when she had the evening off.
"It was kind of boring, and I really wanted to have my own cabin of kids. At the beginning of my second summer I was promoted to a full CIT. At this camp you had to be there at least two years and be fifteen before you could be a CIT."
What the Job Is Like
"At my camp every cabin has six campers, a full counselor, and a CIT. We also have one cabin of floaters. The floaters don't have to have a counselor with them, so that was the best part about that--we had a lot of fun. Now, though, I am in a cabin with six eight-year-olds. They are a bunch of good kids, but a handful, too. Someone is always pulling pranks or giggling at night when she is supposed to be sleeping. Or sometimes two of the girls have a fight and you have to try to help them make up with each other. Once someone was really homesick, and I spent a lot of time trying to make her feel better. She eventually got over it and started to enjoy herself. That made me feel good.
"I help the counselor out and participate in all the activities. I swim laps during instructional swim, and sometimes during free swim in the afternoon, I can sneak off and have an extra nap or just write some letters and have some quiet time.
"But it's usually pretty busy. I have to play games with the kids and help them get dressed and take them to the showers. If some-one has to see the nurse, I take her there, too.
"I get to go horseback riding and on canoe trips. The canoe instructor is teaching me how to teach, so maybe next year I can be hired as a junior counselor and help out with the canoe classes instead of going to all the different activities.
"I like the evening campfires the best. We sing songs or tell ghost stories and laugh a lot. I like walking back to the cabin at night when the moon is out and you don't even need to use your flashlight.
'The only thing I don't like about it is that it's an all-girl camp and the boys' camp is way across the lake. We only get together for one dance during the summer, so we never really get to know those boys. One night, though, a couple of the CITs took a canoe out without permission and met some of the boy CITs in the middle of the lake. They got in trouble, though, and got sent home early."
Advice from Lisa
"I have no idea what I am going to do when I finish college, but I do know that going to camp, first as a camper, then as a CIT, really teaches you a lot about being with other people and teamwork. You learn a lot about yourself and a lot of skills, too. I'm a really good swimmer and horseback rider now. I think it's a good experience for anyone to have. And especially, if you live in the city, it's really nice to be out in the woods by a lake every year. Working at a summer camp is a lot better than being a waitress or something like that. I'd advise anyone to give it a try."
Jenn Buczynski, Junior Counselor
Jenn Buczynski works at Lynbrook Summer Playground-Day Camp in New York. She began volunteering when she was four-teen, and in 1997 began her first paying job as a junior counselor.
The camp is based on the grounds of a grammar school. Facilities include a playing field, a gym, an art room, and a computer room.
How Jenn Got Started
"I needed to do some volunteer work for school and thought it would be a good idea to work at a camp. It's a good summer job, it's only three hours a day, and it's an easy job and keeps me busy.
"There were no real requirements to get the volunteering position I started with; you just needed to be going into the ninth grade or be fourteen years old. I volunteered for two years, and then got my current job as a junior counselor. To become a junior counselor at this camp, you need to volunteer first for two years and you also need to be at least sixteen years old."
What the Job's Really Like
"It's actually really easy. I have about twenty girls, all third graders, to watch every day. It's only three hours a day, fifteen hours a week, and I have a counselor and a volunteer also in my group, so I really don't have to do much. I just have to keep an eye on everyone, help the counselor, or bring the kids to the nurse or to the bathroom.
"It's a great summer job--especially since I'm getting paid for doing close to nothing. I make about $5.20 an hour. Plus, I get ice cream every day, go on trips for free, and get to hang out with my friends.
"A lot of my friends work at my camp, so we usually play a game with the girls and get all the junior counselors to play, too.
"I also have to get the campers their snack. Then we either go to the gym, art room, or to the computer room. Sometimes we play in the playground or watch a movie. I play games with them and just keep an eye on everyone. It can get boring. My kids are mostly really good, and I don't have to watch them that much.
"The counselors are generally really friendly, with a few exceptions. But my counselor is especially funny. The volunteer who works with us is just like one of the kids. She wonders off and plays with the kids, and sometimes we feel as if we are babysitting her, too.
"Some of the kids I'd love to kill, but most of them are good and listen. The ones who don't listen, you practically have to scream at them to get them to even notice that you're talking to them. And then they still don't listen to you. Like today--this little boy in the second grade was bothering my girls, so I told him to stay away from them, but he called me a dirty name!"
Advice from Jenn
"My advice would be to take a CPR and first-aid class. It's always good to stay up to date on that.
"Volunteer for a couple of years to get the feel for having to watch all those kids. Make sure you like the job before you take it and realize too late you can't handle it. You have to feel comfortable."
Debbie Siu, Junior Counselor
Debbie Siu started her first job as a junior counselor in summer when she was going into the eleventh grade. She works at Meadowbrook Country Day Camp in Chester, New Jersey.
Why Debbie Chose Camp Work
"I love kids and I want to get experience working with people. I am not really thinking of a career with children later on, but I do want to earn some money and get to know how to work with people.
"My cousin goes to the same camp, and the office people asked me if I wanted to work there. I went to an interview and got hired."
What the Job Is Really Like
"The camp is very pleasant--the work atmosphere, as well as the grounds. It is surrounded by woods and has a large field where we can play football, lacrosse, baseball, soccer, and other games. It has three swimming pools, six tennis courts, a bullfrog pond, an Indian village, an archery range, arts and craft building, a ceramics building, a computer room, and other activities such as music, dance, nature, drama, bumper boats, boats, and fishing.
"Junior counselors usually have to take the kids to the rest room, or to the nurse, and run small errands. We have to do lots of walking, and there are many interesting activities such as the zipline and tower of power.
"Zipline is where you have to climb up a tree with protective gear on you, then you are hooked onto a line, then you slide. The whole zipline is about 50 feet long.
"The tower of power is where you have to climb onto a wall. You will have protective gear on you, and instructors will be there to guide you through the whole process. The wall has wooden blocks for you to grab hold of.
"I sometimes have to organize the sports, for example, by separating the children into groups and teaching them how to play something.
"During lunch we are supposed to help them pour drinks. If a kid has to leave early, I will take him to the office and wait for the parents to come.
"Sometimes when the senior counselor asks you to go to the office to hand in something, you just go.
"I also supervise the kids on the playground and during swimming. Every counselor has to go into the pool to help the instructor out."
A Typical Day
"In a typical day we do activities such as swimming, arts and crafts, soccer, street hockey, and music. I help with the kids, encourage them, and participate in activities with them.
'The bus picks me up at 7:45 A.M. We get to the camp at 8:45. Then I have to sign in and go to my group. I supervise them and sometimes, if the kids want to go to the playground, I have to take them.
"At around 9:15 we do the flag salute and the head counselor makes any announcements.
"Then we go to the changing room to put bags away. The assistant senior counselor and I take the lunches up to the fridge. Then after that, we start our day.
"On Monday the first thing that we do is football. (We start with different activities on different days.) So we will go to the field, and the counselor will teach the kids how to play or organize some kind of game. Then after football, we go to bumper boats. We usually ask the kids to form a line with a partner so we can be more organized.
"After bumper boats, we have instructional swim. We all have to go into the pool.
"After swim, we have lunch. After lunch, we have tennis with the tennis instructor. Sometimes we have to the balls to the kids.
"After tennis, we have electives. Elective time is an hour where kids can pick whatever they want to do. If the kid wants to do swimming as her elective, she has to stick with it for two weeks. Then we change after two weeks.
"After electives, we go to baseball. But sometimes we skip that because it is too hot outside. Then instead we go to the playground.
"After that, the kids have free swim where they can do whatever they want. After free swim, we are supposed to do mini-golf, but sometimes we have snack instead.
"After that we have arts and craft. After arts and craft we tell the kids to get their bags, and we head to the bus stops. Then we all go home. The end of the day is 4:00 P.M.
"It is always busy. And I get frustrated sometimes because kids don't really listen to me. I work five days a week. Each day is from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. and sometimes the day can be a little too long.
"But I like it that the kids love to play with you and that they respect you."
Salary
"The pay at my camp is really cheap-$350 for the whole summer, if you are a first-year junior counselor. Second-year counselors get $550."
Advice from Debbie
"If you want to be a counselor at a camp, you have to love what you are doing. You've got to love kids or else you won't be able to stand it."
