KAMP Life - you may not be doing the most glamorous
job in the world but it will be a vital one. There’s often a great team spirit among
the participants and working in a lively and sociable atmosphere means it’s easy
to make new friends.
KAMP USA jobs last about 8/9 weeks. Your co-workers could be other KAMPers, international
staff from many countries, or American teenagers. Just how rewarding and enjoyable
your summer will be, depends largely on you. To get the most out of it, you’ll need
to be conscientious, reliable, have a positive mindset, be enthusiastic, flexible,
have a good sense of humour and be able to work as part of a team. Although you
won’t be living and working with children, you will have some contact with the kids
on camp so it helps if you genuinely like their company and are able to get on with
them.
Jobs
Kitchen
Most KAMP staff are employed in this area. In the kitchens
you can expect to be dishwashing or potwashing, usually with automatic machines,
cleaning work areas and generally helping in the all-round preparation and serving
of food. Kitchen work requires your presence before each of the three daily meals
for preparation, as well as afterwards, for cleaning up. You may possibly be needed
between meals for taking deliveries, although this does not occur regularly. There
are also openings for those who have catering and cooking experience to work as
assistant chefs (see below).
Dining room
This will probably involve some kitchen work, plus serving food, setting up, clearing
and cleaning tables, floors, etc. for each meal. You could be preparing food, or
helping to serve it to campers and other staff, either as waiters/waitresses or
in a cafeteria style servery, or at a snack or salad bar.
Cooking
Anyone wishing to help with the cooking must have previous experience. On your application
please state clearly what your hands-on experience has been. The director wants
to know exactly what you can do – are you skilled in baking, have you been involved
with menu preparation, if so for how many people and what types of menu? Whatever
experience you have had, it is important to give us as much information as possible.
As with other kitchen staff, your presence will be required before each meal and
will involve getting up quite early in the morning for preparation.
Maintenance
Maintenance involves both outdoor and indoor work. On the grounds you will be cutting
grass, trimming shrubs and trees, raking leaves, grass and other rubbish. You may
be driving tractors and trucks, and may have some dangerous equipment to handle,
e.g. chainsaws, etc. Obviously most of this work is in daylight hours but as a maintenance
person you will be on call 24 hours a day for emergencies, although for the most
part the job will be routine. Painting, changing lightbulbs, repairing sports equipment
such as goalposts, repairing buildings (window screens, doors, bunks, walls, decks,
docks and other fixtures) may be involved and some jobs may require carpentry skills.
Indoor work may involve cleaning (including toilets and showers) as well as general
repairs which may involve plumbing and electrical skills. Again it is very important
to give us as much information as possible on your application form.
Laundry
An efficient laundry is crucial to the smooth running of camp! This is invariably
one of the hotter jobs on camp and includes the collection of laundry from the cabins
and other areas, plus the washing, folding and redistribution of the laundry. Laundry
staff are also responsible for laundry supplies and minor equipment maintenance,
such as cleaning filters as well as keeping the laundry room dry and organised.
Cleaning
This means cleaning toilets and shower areas as well as mopping floors, disinfecting
kitchen surfaces, sweeping, collecting and disposing of garbage etc. You may be
involved in other areas such as general maintenance. Flexibility is the key in all
these job descriptions.
Housekeeping
Basically the same as for cleaning but not all camps have this position. General
cabin and bathroom cleaning will be involved but also general ‘domestic’ duties
for the living quarters of the director, senior staff and guests. Almost certainly
the job will also encompass some or all of the laundry and maintenance duties.
Security/Night Watchman
Like most of these descriptions, the jobs mean different things to different camps,
from sitting by the camp gate in the sun directing and admitting visitors, to patrolling
the camp at night and being a combination policeman/firewarden/surrogate parent.
Inevitably the job entails to some extent ‘policing’ your peers (many camps have
a curfew) and you need to have the maturity, responsibility and management skills
to be able to handle this appropriately. You have to remember that you are working
for the camp director and not the counsellors and staff. For obvious reasons, camps
prefer older applicants who can respond well and safely to both the routine and
the unexpected from inside and outside the camp.
Driving
A job as a driver may involve the transportation of children, staff and equipment
to various destinations. You will also be required to do various errands such as
collecting the mail and are likely to be asked to go somewhere at short notice.
Both a full UK and International Driver’s Licence (I.D.L.) are required and we need
photocopies of both sides of your UK licence with your KAMP application
form, please. Most camps stipulate that you be over 21 in order to comply with their
insurance regulations (at some camps you need to be over 25). You will probably
be asked to take a further driving test on arrival at camp. You should have some
experience of driving on the right hand side of the road. When not actually driving,
it is assumed you will be available for just about any other necessary work, both
indoor and outdoor. A practical knowledge of auto mechanics is always useful.
Office
The camp office is the hub of camp, the centre for all camp business. Your job could
involve working in any of the busy office areas at camp - answering telephones,
bookkeeping, photocopying, computer/word processing (note, undertaking computer
based courses is not sufficient experience), helping children with problems and
certainly general reception and associated duties. If you are applying for this
type of position you must like children as you will be in frequent contact with
them. You must be organised and flexible, and be prepared for shift work and long
hours - this is unlikely to be the 9 to 5 job as you might expect at home!
You are placed in a support role in camp according to your skills, preferences and
experience. Previous work experience is an advantage for any position but essential
for maintenance, office and kitchen (cooking) work. The sooner you apply, the more
placements will be available to you. As more and more vacancies start to fill, you
will probably need to keep more of an open mind and be prepared to be more flexible.
Is KAMP right for you?
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There is the opportunity to have a lot of fun on camp, but you will need to be prepared
for a lot of hard work. At the beginning of the camp season, your hours may exceed
the normal 8-10 hours a day, but as you get used to the job, you should speed up
and achieve a fair amount of free time.
There may be some restrictions on your freedom such as curfews, unsociable hours
and some weekend work. The rules and regulations that apply to all kids and other
staff about smoking and drinking will also apply to you.
It is likely you will be living and working with people from a variety of countries,
backgrounds and cultures. Whilst this is potentially great news for widening your
circle of friends around the world, it can make communication challenging at times.
In practice, if everyone works as a team and helps each other out when necessary,
this international mix can provide an extra exciting dimension to camp life.
Accommodation can be very basic – rough wooden cabins, shared by a few of you. Probably
the first thing you will have to do on camp is to clean them, as they will have
been unoccupied since last summer.
We try to give as realistic a picture as possible, but generally we find most participants
experience a challenging and fun summer, making lifelong friends in the process.
Time off
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On most camps KAMPers are generally able to take advantage of camp facilities during
their time off. This doesn't always happen automatically however, sometimes you
have to politely ask if it's OK to use the facilities when the children are not
using them. Similarly, while some camps are very good about helping get off camp
on evenings or days off, others may not be able to provide that help. In that case,
you may have to be a bit more pro-active in order to arrange transport off camp.
Types of camp
"Going to camp" for up to eight weeks each summer is a well-established North American
tradition in a country where school holidays last for three months and the summer
is generally hot and sunny. Since this type of camp is relatively unknown in Europe,
some further explanation may be helpful.
Private Residential Camps
These are privately-owned and run on a profit-making basis by individuals (generally
husband and wife) and cater for the children of high/middle income families. The
camps are mostly long established, permanent structures set in wooded, rocky, picture-book
parts of the USA and although some of them are lavishly equipped (even with electricity
in the cabins), others are more primitive, emphasising the back-to-nature element
of camping. Some even prefer platform tents to cabins.
Day Camps
At these camps, the children attend only on weekdays and return home at the end
of each day. Day camps can be privately run, or they may be operated by the local
town or an agency such as the YMCA. They provide the same type of activities as
residential camps, often catering for several hundred campers each day.
Organisational Camps
This covers camps run by such bodies as the YMCA, Girl Scout organisations, as well
as those attached to a church or charitable institution. Some are every bit as well
equipped as private camps, others are quite rustic with basic facilities. Campers
attending these camps tend to be a fair population mix – the children of doctors,
lawyers and business people as well as kids from working class backgrounds. Campers
usually attend this type of camp for between one and four weeks.
Camps for Disadvantaged Children
Operated by various social, philanthropic or religious agencies like the Salvation
Army, the Fresh Air Fund of New York, or other local caring organisations, these
camps aim to give inner city kids a break from the streets with a week or two in
the country. The family pays very little for the child to go to camp or even nothing
at all. Facilities tend to be very limited and on the worn and rustic side.
Special Needs Camps
On this type of camp, the campers require more specialised care and attention. Run
privately or by non profit agencies, special needs camps include those for the physically
or mentally disabled (adults as well as children), camps for diabetics, camps for
overweight children and camps for kids with special learning or behavioural problems.