Any "support staff" people here?

[gabor85_hungary]

I'm wondering if there is anybody here doing so called "Support staff" work like maintenance, kitchen, etc.

Can you tell me what you guys are doing in your everyday camp life? And how do you enjoy your job, is it fun? Is there a heavy workload?

[Trees]

Support staff work is generally pretty hard and/or boring, but they have the advantage of getting more time off.

Are you considering support staff work? It's cool if you are, but I want to warn you that in my experience the international camp counselor agencies sometimes push Eastern Europeans toward support staff work because it's easier to place them there, but if you are firm in wanting to be a camp counselor, they WILL work with you.

[KiwiCRB]

I was support staff in the form of a kitchen aid my first summer and I absolutely loved it. It's one of those situations that is only fun if you make it be fun. My summer and the one after that the kitchen aids interacted with the kids and the rest of the staff and we all had amazing summers. Last year, however, the kitchen staff kind of kept to themselves and didn't have such a good time. There were other factors I suppose but they could have enjoyed it more than they did if they had tried.

[tigerfan]

I used to be a kitchen aide at my camp, and I had a great time. Yes, it was hard work, and a lot of what you do (in my experience) is under-appreciated; mainly because people who have never been on support staff don't really understand the amount of behind-the-scenes work.
I agree with KiwiCRB, you get out of it what you put in; the other people I worked with and I made an effort to talk to the counselors and campers when we had the chance. Because we developed relationships with the counselors, it was a lot more fun to help them make meals with lots of noisy campers run smoothly!
Also, the support staff group dynamics have a lot to do with your experience as well; good group dynamics can go a long way in making difficult and/or boring jobs a lot better.

[gabor85_hungary]

To tell you the truth I don't really like monotonous jobs, but I wanted to take every opportunity into consideration.

And there was one more thing that raised my attention: it's the salary. At CampLeaders counselors are paid $850 minimum and support staff are paid $1450 minimum. (And they pay the flights up to $600).

Well, my father has a good job, and he earns about $1250:) So you can imagine how great feeling it would be for me to earn more than my father who has been working for 30 years and has two university degrees: )

Anyway I'm not going to bring home any cent, cause I want to travel in the US after the camp: )

[camper]

if you have been a counselor before at a camp, i wouldn't recommend a support staff job. you'll most likely be sad watching the counselors and you'll want to get into camp life, and that can be difficult as support staff. plus you don't have very much interaction w/the kids.

[dreamer]

I was a kitchen assistant last summer and will be again this summer. It's the only position at my camp I'm able to get cuz I'm not 18 & I didn't do the CIT program. I love camp & my family can't afford for me to be a camper, so it's the next best thing. I can't wait till I'm 18 so I can be a regular counselor.