In my former life as Program Director at Camp, I often lamented that the skills I was developing were not transferable. There isn't a high demand for someone highly skilled in Name Games, numerous variations of Tag and a great repertoire of Silly Songs. I still stand strong with this argument. No has yet to call me with a ice-breaker emergency or in desperate need of someone to lead a silly song.
However, my previous laments have fallen through. One of my jobs as Volunteer Manager is to process applications of potential volunteers, train them, check up on them and encourage them. That sounds pretty familiar to my life at Camp. Things really started to look familiar when Andrew, my former counselor at Camp, applied to volunteer at DenUM. Crazy of crazies! Andrew is doing a semester "abroad" here in Denver called, "Wartburg West" and one of the requirements is to complete some volunteer hours. So, Andrew found himself at my workplace, 788 miles from our good bye at Camp. I got to go through the volunteer process with him, just like I had gone through the application for summer staff process with him twice before!
Things got even more similar as Andrew was trained and oriented for volunteering at DenUM. Because I am was still in training myself, I only sat in on Andrew's training process as Amanda talked through things with him. I wish I had counted how many times I had thought, "just like camp!"
Here at DenUM, we work with a vulnerable population (just like Camp!) so it is important to treat everyone with dignity and respect (just like Camp!). Our clients come from a variety of backgrounds and lifestyle choices (just like Camp!) and it is important that we do not pass judgement or refrain from helping if able (just like Camp!). The first step when helping a client is to smile and say "hello" (just like Camp!). If you ever have questions, be sure to ask a staff person, don't just assume things (just like Camp!).
This list could go on and on!
Working at Camp is a lot of fun, but it's more beneficial than first meets the eye. People of all career fields and life stages need to know how to love people and work with people in a variety of situations. Working at Camp offers practice in a safe, controlled environment on a team of supportive peers and supervisors that are there to help. Working at Camp provides great work experience for more than just the education field.
Camp helped prepare me in more ways than I realized as well. Oddly enough, I learned how to work in an office at Camp. I learned to be self-motivated and complete my own tasks while still being responsible to my supervisor. I have learned how to work within a community and respecting our own personal roles within the organization.
So, even though I am 788 miles away from Camp and only brought one carload of stuff with me, I've managed to bring a lot of Camp with me. And camp seems to have found me at work and in Volunteers. Camp is more than just fun and games, it's a whole lot of life learning. :)
So, even though I am 788 miles away from Camp and only brought one carload of stuff with me, I've managed to bring a lot of Camp with me. And camp seems to have found me at work and in Volunteers. Camp is more than just fun and games, it's a whole lot of life learning. :)
