By Leyna Krow, Assistant Editor, JTNews
Summer camps can’t exist without summer camp counselors. They run daily activities, lead hikes, build campfires, sing songs, make sure campers are safe and accounted for, and, with luck, act as positive role models for the youngsters in their charge. For many kids, the interactions they have with their counselors can make or break the camp experience. It’s a lot of pressure for a group of minimally paid employees, usually just a few years beyond camper age themselves.
So when the opportunity for a little extra training comes around, many counselors jump at the chance.
Last month, returning third-year bunk counselors for Camp Kalsman and Camp Solomon Schechter took part in the Foundation for Jewish Camp’s Cornerstone Fellowship, a four-day leadership seminar designed to help camp staff enhance both the Jewish content and mentorship they provide to their campers.
“It’s a great opportunity for them to feel empowered as Jewish role models to younger staff and their campers,” said Rabbi Eve Rudin, director of the department of camp excellence and advancement for the Foundation of Jewish Camp.
More than 250 bunk counselors from 41 Jewish camps around the country gathered at Capital Camps in Pennsylvania from May 24-27 to learn new activities, team-building exercises, and Jewish programming ideas to take with them back to their respective camps.
According to Sam Perlin, director of Camp Solomon Schechter, this is the third year his camp has sent counselors to the Cornerstone Fellowship program.
“We’ve definitely been benefiting from the knowledge they come back with,” Perlin said of the counselors who’ve attended the program in the past. “In addition to being good mentors for first- and second-year staff, they help focus on what it means to be a good Jewish camp leader. They’ve added new evening programs, and bring ideas that introduce Israel or Hebrew in a special way.”
Rudin said the program is not only a way to educate returning staff, but also to keep good counselors coming back to camp. In addition to a trip to the Cornerstone seminar, fellows get a $500 stipend.
“It’s a way to incentivize returning third-year counselors to remain at camp and in the role of bunk counselors,” she said. “What we found is they move on, either to other roles in camp or other jobs entirely. The most important person in a camper’s experience is the bunk counselor. But first-year counselors are getting their feet wet, and second-year counselors are still learning.”
Maya Seidel, 19, a student at Lewis and Clark University in Oregon, attended this year’s Cornerstone Fellowship. She said the program introduced her to a variety of new ideas she might not have otherwise known about.
“I learned a lot about really good, positive activities,” she said, “specifically how to create non-competitive programs for kids to bond.”
She added that meeting counselors from Jewish camps in other parts of the country was rewarding as well. Rudin seconded that sentiment, saying she believes much of Cornerstone’s value comes from the interactions counselors have with the peers during the seminar.
“Let’s say for example you’ve grown up at Camp Schechter and now you’re a counselor there,” she said. “The Cornerstone Fellowship might be the first time you’ve ever been exposed to Jewish camping as a broader movement. It’s very eye opening for these young people. They learn a great deal from each other.”