Who overseas who at your camp?

[Freaky]

I was just wondering what is the Hierachy order at your camp. My camp is failry new and we have a director of course. Well actually more like 4 Directors then under them is an assist Director, then 4 Division Leaders (2 female, 2 male), then a group leader per bunk, and then we have program directors for the main sports and activities likes evening activities and drama/dance. Are camp only has about 300 kids max. Is this how it is at most camps or is it to much? Any input is greatly appreciated!

[CAMPFRIEND]

I think that most camps are about the same. It just changes on the size of your camp and what type of camp it is!

[camper]

owners/directors (1 couple...the husband mostly focuses on boys side and the wife on girls) -> head counselors (1 for boys side, 1 for girls) -> groupheads -> (6 for boys side, 6 for girls) -> assistant groupheads (each grouphead has one) -> general/specialty counselors.

then within that you have the athletic director (1 for each side, who is kind of an assistant head counselor) who oversees all of the program directors for each activity, who oversee the counselors at their special.

pretty similar at most camps.

[prettysocks]

Under "Senior Staff" we have (one of each):
-Director
-Administration
-Program Director
-Head Cabin Counselor
-Driver/Tuck Shop/Secretary-type person

There is then 4 lifeguards, 4 ropes course, 2 sports, 1 arts and crafts, 1 pottery, 1 life skills/environment, 1 drama, 1 sailing.. for the program staff.

There is 64 campers per session.

There are (about) 50 'cabin counselors'. This includes the 15 program staff, 7 senior counselors, and 28 cabin counselors. All these people work in the cabin, some spend more time there, some have program during the day. All work full time days, and work just as much as anyone else.

There is 4 cooks. Also, 4 cleaning staff. There is 1 general maintenance/grass/gardening person. Also, there are 4 full-time, 24hr nurses.

It was emphasized that it not be a hierarchy. The director generally overseas, and has an all-year round job, but he just does different things than the, say, cabin counselors. The counselors work hands-on with the campers, making sure they behave and are under good health, while the head counselor solves and deals with staff-problems, as well as working with the director to deal with parents and 'real world' problems. We work as a TEAM, not as bosses and minions. I think that's important to a well-functioning camp.

[Freaky]

Under "Senior Staff" we have (one of each):
-Director
-Administration
-Program Director
-Head Cabin Counselor
-Driver/Tuck Shop/Secretary-type person

There is then 4 lifeguards, 4 ropes course, 2 sports, 1 arts and crafts, 1 pottery, 1 life skills/environment, 1 drama, 1 sailing.. for the program staff.

There is 64 campers per session.

There are (about) 50 'cabin counselors'. This includes the 15 program staff, 7 senior counselors, and 28 cabin counselors. All these people work in the cabin, some spend more time there, some have program during the day. All work full time days, and work just as much as anyone else.

There is 4 cooks. Also, 4 cleaning staff. There is 1 general maintenance/grass/gardening person. Also, there are 4 full-time, 24hr nurses.

It was emphasized that it not be a hierarchy. The director generally overseas, and has an all-year round job, but he just does different things than the, say, cabin counselors. The counselors work hands-on with the campers, making sure they behave and are under good health, while the head counselor solves and deals with staff-problems, as well as working with the director to deal with parents and 'real world' problems. We work as a TEAM, not as bosses and minions. I think that's important to a well-functioning camp.


I don't want to give the impression we don't work together as well I just couldn't think of another way to word it. We also work together its just as a new camp we are adding new position every year. My 1st year their was only the directors and counselors and this is the 8th year and we have lots of upper staff now but we def work together and I wouldn't classify it as a hiearchy at my camp either. I guess I need to watch my wording on here....lol

[Dave]

We have two main camp directors who oversee everyone. Our camp is divided into three smaller "camps", separated by age groups. Each of those camps has a camp director and an asst. camp director. Each "camp" is divided into divisions, two per age group. Each division has one division head. Then come the bunks: senior counselor, then junior counselor, then counselor assistant, then CIT (who aren't technically staff since they still have to pay to come to camp).

[Flukie]

Okay - let's see if I can get this right. As of right now:

Girl Scout Council oversees...
Camping Service Program Manager who oversees...
Camp Director who oversees...
Assistant Director, Nurse, Maintenence, Program/CIT Director, Cook, and Waterfront Director

Program/CIT Director oversees...

Unit Leaders (5)
Unit Counselors (10)
Interns (4, this summer at least!)
CITs (~10)

Waterfront Director oversees...

Lifeguards (2-3)
Sailing Program Manager who oversees the Sailing staff (~4)
Bay Sailing Manager who oversees the Bay Sailing staff (~1) and 9 advanced sailing campers
Windsurfing Specialist

We haven't sorted out the ADs job yet... :) She'll oversee some of the Ad-Staff depending on what her strengths and skills are in. The cook oversees the two kitchen assistants.

And I think that's everyone!

[Fleur]

The staffing director oversees the head counsellor and *I think* the specialty supervisor (it's a new position this year), plus any other head staff who deal with logistics and programming

On the unit side of camp, it goes head counsellor -> unit heads -> assistant unit heads -> junior and senior counsellors

Within the specialties, it goes specialty supervisor -> head specialists -> specialty counsellors

I'm not exactly sure how swim works (I'm never down there, and don't have much of an opportunity to spend time with swim staff), but my guess would be swim director -> pool supervisors -> lifeguards/instructors

We are a large camp, with a couple hundred staff and over 800 campers. Our head staff positions seem to change every year to try to find the best way to deal with our size.

[audur]

Now, this post was just *asking* for a chart...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v107/audur/cs.jpg

We have 2 assistant directors (at least we did last summer - I'm assuming we will again this coming summer). One oversees all of the specialists (art, leadership, trips, nature) and the waterfront and riding directors. The waterfront director oversees 4 lifeguards, the riding director oversees 4-5 wranglers. The other assistant director oversees 4 Unit Directors (that will be changed to around 10 Unit Leaders this summer), who oversee around 40 Unit Counselors.

The camp director oversees the health supervisor, food service manager and CIT I and II directors. The food service manager oversees around 2 packout coordinators, 2 cooks and 2 kitchen assistants.

[who_stole_my_loofa]

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b279/Who_Stole_My_Loofa/SUHWEET.jpg

This is our breakdown. I rule.

[who_stole_my_loofa]

ps I left out a lot of details- like in specialists we have horseback which is like it's own little world and within each area we have other breakdowns and stuff- the only reason the cabin breakdowns are so details is because thats where I work. :-D

[rockinsmiles]

Ok so I will try to break ours down. First we have the owner...he is the number one boss, but I take it he does more paperwork type things. Like he doesnt deal with the campers a lot nor does he do a lot of staff eval. things. I'm not saying he isn't a part of camp but it is just in a different sort of way. I guess if I wanted to get picky I could say that NC State/4-H is the "big head".

Then we have our summer director who I consider the staff's main boss. There are other director positions for other times of the year, but I'm just going to explain the summer. Anyways he works year round at camp and is freaking awesome.

Next we have assident director(s). They only work during the summer and it goes year to year on how many of them there are. I think max is like 3 though. We also have a head counselor who is some what on the same "field" per say as the assident director.

Then are the counselors and specialist. I should add that we do have a lead horse instructor, and another assident director type of person who heads the two older groups. So the specialize in canoeing, rock climbing, and outdoor living skills. Also there is the day camp director who is under the summer director. And after all that we LITs and CITs.

I should note as others have done that we don't really have a "hierachy." Really only the summer director and owner can make the "big" decissions concerning campers and staff.

[collissimon]

I'm liking the charts!!! How did people make those?

[sarahdee]

Well No one has said anything about good ol' CAM
We just underwent new changes..but the positions are the same ...this is how it works...
-Owners
-Exective Director
-Director
-Senior Staff which includes, senior section head, junior section head, CIT director, and program staff director
-umm then I suppose crisis intervention, float, cook , nurse, maintainence
-then counsellors, program staff, kitchen staff,
-JC
-CIT...hehe

[Sparkes]

We have our director and her husband, but he wasn't around a whole lot cause he works in the city.

Under the director is our head counsellors - one on boys line and one on girls,
waterfront

Then activity heads
athletics - there are two,
science and technology,
tennis - not included in athletics
arts
drama
circus

Then the rest of senior staff, which includes our basketball specialists, programming, accounting person, woodshop teacher, waterski specialists, cooking instructor, head of our laundry & the head of our maintenence.

Then we have head counsellors (there are 8 - two for lower camp and one for every other age group) and then 5 assistant group heads.

Each counsellor falls under a specialty, or under lower camp, and then answer to the senior staff member in charge of them (achery to athletics, photo to science and tech and so on). In the case of the lower camp counsellors, they answer to the group heads, who answer to the head counsellors.

I was, and am, one of the "rogue" emplyees - I work in the office, so I'm not covered by a senior staff member. I found it kinda bad, cause if there was ever a problem I would have to go straight to the director, and I didn't want to be bothering her. I kinda self adopted myself under the wing of arts and teach, mainly cause the staff member in charge of it was a fellow Canadian, and he's who I always went to if I had problems.

Our kitchen staff answered to our cook, our waitress to the head waitress, and maintence/laundry to the husband/wife team that takes care of camp throughout the year.

Oh, and then there are our LIT's who adopted the slogan "Staff...kinda" and wore "I pay to work here shirts".

[Indigo]

At my camp, the camp director oversees the assistant director, who oversees the business manager, office manager, health staff, program director and head UL... The office manager oversees the office assistants. The head UL oversees the ULs, who oversee the counselors. The Program director oversees the Head Wrangler and Waterfront director, each of whom has an assistant and wranglers and lifeguards, and the Arts and Crafts, Sports, and Nature directors. The CIT and WIT Directors are always kind of ambivalent though, because we're ULs and also kind of program staff. So last year we were under the program director, but that isn't always the case, and sometimes at the beginning of the summer, nobody really knows who's supposed to be overseeing us. And I think that's all in our strange hierarchy.

[AshleyJane]

Wow! Our camp is so small! We have about 60 kids. We have a director, an Assistant Director (Me) and 11 staff. Of the 11 staff we have a first-aider, lifeguard and canoe instructor, they all have regular counselling duties as well.

[katy007]

We're so small!
"Wow! Our camp is so small! We have about 60 kids. We have a director, an Assistant Director (Me) and 11 staff. Of the 11 staff we have a first-aider, lifeguard and canoe instructor, they all have regular counselling duties as well."




ya well i feel you!! we have 1 program director 1 camp director 1 nurse 1 lifegaurd ( somtimes two) maybe 8 or 9 counselors, and 1 craft director. we have about 50ish kids a week..i guess somtiems maybe more!! so ya i feel you about being small! it makes me sad, i wish we had so much more.

[Sparkes]

Wow, working in a small camp would be so different! But I would imagine your entire staff is really really tight, instead of just age groups being close.

[Campy Measius]

Oh for sure Sparkes,
We develop a pretty tight bond!
Ashley and I have big plans for the summer though, so we'll be small... but mighty!! hehe

[CAMPFRIEND]

I know that I will be working with a smaller staff this summer at my new camp. We have about 120 campers per week. I am used to 200-400 per week with a lot of staff! This should be a different summer for me!

[shermanator]

The Camp I worked for in Markham Ontario This is how the order goes
We have the director
office Staff
Assistant director, Head of Speacialty
Unit heads
Heads of Speacialty
Assistant Unit Heads
Specialists/Counsellors

[Sparkes]

Ok, question. Your office staff is below your director? so their considered senior staff? See, I work in the office, but I'm also a counsellor (but only because I want to be - I was the first one) and I don't know where i am. Not that I care really, I'm just curious how other camps work it.

[runrachrunn]

the camp I used to work at worked similarly.

Office staff (at least at our camp) are hired solely for the purpose of administration - dealing with parent phone calls, mailings and handouts, registration and the day-to-day running of the camp. I guess (from my experience) that office staff spend about the same amount of time with the directors that the head staff do.

[Sparkes]

clearly, I am an oddity, because that is the exact description of my job rach, but without the "being important" part, and the addition of being a bunk counsellor. I actually ended up talking to my director about it because I didn't feel like I fit anywhere. So this summer I'll only work 4 periods in the office like any other specialty counsellor (as opposed to evenings, meals, and before sing like I did last year in addition to the day)

[coach1974]

We have directors that run our camp, but we also have a board that handles all the other stuff. We have 2 program directors and then me I'm the CIT coordnator amongst other duties

[camper]

our office staff is hired to specifically work in the office, they are not counselors. that's the main office, though. those people deal w/money that comes in, parent phone calls, logistics, and like other behind the scenes stuff. people who work in both the boys and girls hq's are all counselors, in fact several people rotate to do that job. that involves dealing w/kids and counselors who come down to hq and need things like more toilet paper or shampoo b/c they lost theirs, taking messages for people from calls that get transferred through the switchboard, and handling kids and counselors who come down to see my mom or the directors.

[CampFreak]

Main Director --> Program Director --> Day Camp Director --> Then all other staff

Mainly day camp are under the day camp director, but sometimes residents are too.

as for lifeguards they listen to an aquatics director