Be a Trainee!
Please read the following description of the Trainee Program at Geneva Glen Camp to familiarize yourself with our expectations and provide more information about the program and its opportunities.
The Trainee at Geneva Glen holds a unique position. Geneva Glen chooses candidates based on qualities of leadership and interest. If Geneva Glen selects you to serve as a Trainee, we will likely consider you for a future paid staff member position.
We carefully consider the selection of a Trainee based on several factors:
- Examples of leadership qualities and abilities you have demonstrated at Geneva Glen.
- Interest in and enthusiastic involvement you have shown in the program.
- Your desire to continue working at Geneva Glen beyond your camper years as part of the Crew, Counselor, or in activity areas.
- Camp experience: i.e., the number of years you have attended as a camper.
- Demonstrated interest in camp in general, as shown by your desire to acquire skills that require specific certifications, such as first aid, CPR, lifeguard training, volunteerism with community service organizations, leadership training, horsemanship experience, etc.
If chosen, the Trainee will face these requirements:
- To attend Geneva Glen for the entire summer, including Myths & Magic. The required dates would be June 8 through August 9, 2025.
- The Trainee will enroll as a camper. Therefore, their camper activities will take priority. A camper applying to be a Trainee should register for the sessions of their choice as usual, separately from this Trainee application.
- Duties and opportunities as a Trainee will include:
- Attending meetings designed for the training and development of leadership qualities.
- Being assigned to dorms/cabins of juniors or middlers approximately two days per week for "hands-on" training and experience with children.
- Filling in during meals or evening play with a group of middlers or juniors. Trainees will not have sole responsibility for a group of campers.
- Living with their leader during the first session, Myths & Magic, will be established in the program and leadership roles with cabin and dorm groups. This first week will be a hands-on training.
- Assisting during Check-in and Check-out, helping parents/guardians find cabins, carrying luggage, welcoming new campers, etc.
- The total cost of the Trainee program for 2025 is $6,750.00. Regular fees for 2025 for four sessions would be $10,800 - representing a 38% discount on tuition. *Additional tuition assistance may be available!
The following are the goals for the Trainee Program. The extent to which we achieve all these goals is primarily due to the amount of investment the Trainee makes in the program.
- To prepare Geneva Glen with quality future leaders. The Trainee program seeks to employ leaders with experience and training at Geneva Glen. There is an expectation that a Trainee leader will eventually undertake a career on the GG staff during college years.
- To continue to develop loyalty to the camp and the unique "Magic of the Glen" for future years and generations - Geneva Glen's most valuable commodity.
- To help establish and perpetuate a standard and model for leadership training throughout the camping field.
- To communicate the ideas behind the themes of Geneva Glen.
- To provide the Trainee with an opportunity to improve their effectiveness with others - campers and peers - as a positive influence by looking inward to discover more about yourself and your unique potential.
- To acquire skills in different activity areas at camp and become proficient in at least one area.
- To understand and begin to make the transition between being a camper and being a staff member.
- To demonstrate camp rules as a camper in a responsible leadership role and learn the value of initiative and follow-through.
- To learn the value of professional ethics and the appropriateness of professional behavior.
- To learn not only the art of good leadership but also the art of good "followership" and the daily give and take among co-leaders, enabling you to gain independence from your leaders.
- To develop individual skills in various areas, build your leadership style, and effective teaching approaches.
- To acquire the skill of distinguishing between major and minor problems, as well as actual and imagined problems, and respond appropriately.
Important!
Trainee Applications are due by January 1
Campers who wish to become a Trainee should still apply for their session(s) of choice through the usual registration process.
Questions? Email us at applications@genevaglen.org
