JUNIOR COUNSELOR PROGRAM

Junior Counselor Applications open January 3rd here.

Interview offers starting on January 16th.

This program is perfect for teens ages 13-17 to gain valuable leadership experience while having a great time! Junior Counselors (JCs) will assist the adult leaders in the daily activities of camp as they learn about working with kids, leadership styles, outdoor skills, and being a strong role model. To give them time to build on learning and feedback, JC sessions are two weeks long. They will receive mentoring from camp leaders, develop fun and rewarding connections with the young campers, and bond with each other. Each Junior Counselor will leave camp with professional written feedback, contacts for jobs and references, and 60 hours of child care experience. Due to their valuable assistance, they receive a discount on camp registration fees.

SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE for Junior Counselor positions. To apply, visit our scholarship page and fill out an application. Scholarships for summer camp open January 3rd.

Responsibilities

Attend a 3-hour in person training prior to the first week of camp (Saturday May 31, 2025, 9am-12pm). If you absolutely cannot attend this day, contact us to make alternate arrangements.
Take part in the daily staff meetings and weekly professional development along with the adult counselors, before and after camp. This accounts for the extended camp hours of 8:30am-3:30pm for Junior Counselors.
Complete a self-evaluation of your leadership skills prior to camp
Incorporate constructive feedback from adult counselors to improve your leadership skills throughout the two week session
Participate with enthusiasm in all parts of the camp day
Help lead younger campers during lessons, crafts, games and nature exploration
Show initiative in assisting with preparation, supplies, and clean-up
Model a positive, flexible attitude and cooperation skills
Help younger campers get along with one another and follow the rules
Appreciate and respect the outdoors
Discuss an in-depth evaluation of your leadership skills with your adult counselor partner at the end of each week, to reflect on the lessons you take away from the experience and how you would like to continue growing

How Does it Work?

Junior Counselor applications will open on January 3rd and will be reviewed starting on January 16th as they come in until all spots are filled. As soon as your application is accepted, you will be invited to register for any of the remaining open dates. Those who apply sooner will have more open dates to choose from.

*Accepted JCs will be asked to attend an in-person training session at Bluff Lake on Saturday May 31st, 2025 from 9am-12pm. Attendance is strongly encouraged, but if you absolutely cannot make this date, please contact us to make alternate arrangements to receive this essential training.

How To Apply

Step 1: Find an adult who is willing to be a reference for you. You should tell them a little about this program, and that they would be asked to fill out a 5- to 15-minute online survey about your strengths and weaknesses. Please choose an adult who knows you well, but who is NOT a family member (for example, a boss, teacher, coach, or parent whose children you babysat). You will just need their permission, full name, and email address in order to move on to Step 2.

Step 2 (Starts January 3rd, 2025): Complete and submit the 2025 Junior Counselor Application (Opening January 3rd), including your basic information, responses to three short-answer questions (3-5 sentences each), and the name and email of your adult reference. Once you submit this, let your adult reference know that they should be receiving an email from Bluff Lake after January 16th. That email will include a link for them to complete an online reference survey for you, and when they submit it, their responses will come directly back to Bluff Lake. Your application will not move forward until your reference submits the survey, so you may want to follow up with them after a few days to make sure they received the link and were able to complete it.

Step 3: Once we have received both your application and your reference’s survey, you can expect to see an email from us to schedule a quick 10- to 15-minute interview in which we will get to know you, talk about our program, and hopefully answer any questions you have!

After the interview, the Bluff Lake education team will make a decision regarding the status of your acceptance into our program. This will take no more than 1 week, and we will email you with the result either way. If you are accepted, we will include the camp registration link, and you will be able to choose your own session(s) from all the spots that are left and register yourself right away. This means that the sooner you complete your application, the more choices of sessions you will have when you register.

If you are accepted, please plan to attend the 2025 Junior Counselor training session. It will be on Saturday May 31, 2025, from 9am-12pm at Bluff Lake. You should do your very best to attend this training session, but if you absolutely can’t, please let us know as soon as possible and we will try to set up an individual training session for you. Please also make sure that you and/or your parent/guardian watch for emails from us during the spring. We will begin sending out details about the summer as soon as all of the Junior Counselor positions have been filled.

*Junior Counselor applicants MUST submit an application and be approved before registering through CampDoc. Bluff Lake staff will inform you when you are permitted to register.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Bluff Lake Camp Director Ben Jacques at ben@blufflake.org.

Thank you for considering the Bluff Lake Summer Camp Junior Counselor Program. We hope to see you in 2025!