Be a Trainee!
We intend the following description of the Trainee Program at Geneva Glen Camp to familiarize candidates in detail about our expectations and provide more information about the program and its opportunities.
The Trainee at Geneva Glen occupies a unique position. The candidate is selected according to obvious qualities of leadership and interest. If you are chosen to serve as a Trainee, you will likely be considered for a future position as a paid staff member at Geneva Glen.
Careful consideration is given to selecting a Trainee, based on several factors:
- Obvious examples of leadership qualities and abilities.
- Camp experience: i.e. the number of years you have attended as a camper.
- Interest in and enthusiastic involvement you have shown in the program.
- Demonstrated interest in camping 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.
- The desire you demonstrate to continue with Geneva Glen beyond the camper years as part of work or dish crew, counselor, or in activity areas.
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 11 through August 12, 2023.
- The Trainee will be enrolled as a camper. Their camper activities will therefore take first priority. A camper applying to be a Trainee should enroll for the sessions of their choice as usual, separate from this Trainee application.
- Duties and opportunities as a Trainee will include:
- Attending special meetings designed specifically for the training and development of leadership qualities.
- The Trainee will be assigned to dorms/cabins of juniors or middlers approximately two days per week for "hands-on" training and experience with children.
- Trainees may be asked to fill in during meals, or evening play with a group of middlers or juniors. The Trainee will not have sole responsibility for a group of campers.
- Trainees will live with their leader during the first session: Myths and Magic, and will be established into the program and in leadership roles with cabin and dorm groups. This first week will be a hands-on training.
- Trainees will assist during Check-in Sunday's and Check-out Saturday's. They will help parents find cabins, carry luggage, welcome new campers, etc.
- Total cost of the Trainee program for 2023 is $6,375.00. Regular fees for 2023 for four sessions would be $10,200 - this represents a 38% discount on tuition. *Additional tuition assistance may be available!*
The following are goals for the Trainee Program. The extent to which we achieve all of these goals is largely 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 who have 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 camp, and the unique "Spirit 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 for improving their own effectiveness with others - campers and peers - as a positive influence by looking inward to discover more about yourself and your own unique potential.
- To be able to acquire a particular set of 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 be able to demonstrate the rules of camp; learned as a camper, in a responsible leadership role, and to learn the value of initiative an 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, develop your own leadership style, and effective teaching approaches.
- To acquire the skill of distinguishing between major and minor problems, as well as real and imagined problems, and respond appropriately.
Important!
Trainee Applications are due by January 1, 2023
Campers applying to be a Trainee should still apply for their session(s) of choice through the normal registration process in the event they are not selected for one of the Trainee positions.
Questions? Email us at applications@genevaglen.org
