Director Jud's Blog

Read "Confessions of a Camp Counselor" by former SMA Teen Camp Staff

Posted by Jud Millar on Fri, Mar 13, 2015

Meatballs Teen Summer Camp Movie

Former Stone Mountain Adventures Teen Camp Counselor Gabe Millar has written an article titled "Conessions of a Camp Counselor"  Gabe Millar was a Camp Counselor at SMA in 2006 and 2007 and is currently gatting his MBA from the Uni

CLICK HERE TO READ "Confessions Of A Camp Counselor" versity of Montana in Missoula, MT.

Here is part of the blog post:

"As parents, you entrust counselors with your children, well, I guess you mostly entrust the directors or owners of the summer camp, but in reality, counselors are the ones who are with your children most of the time. According to the American Camp Association there are over 12,000 summer camps in the United States, and they employ over 1.5 million people each year, most of whom are counselors. Are these people trustworthy?

Popular culture would have you believe that camp counselors spend the vast majority of their time focused on partying with other counselors (think Meatballs part 1 through 4) and put very little energy into the job of protecting, nurturing, and teaching your kids. Well, I cannot speak for all of us, but this is the perspective of one former summer camp counselor.

Summer camp counselors are notoriously underpaid and overworked, at least that is what we will tell you if you ask, and there is some truth to it. It is true in the same way that parenting is often referred to as the hardest job in the world. I know this because it has been nearly twenty years since I last taught water-skiing, mountain biking, or canoeing as a camp counselor and I am now a parent.

Does the movie Meatballs accurately portray life as a summer camp counselor?"

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

Stone Mountain Adventures Teen Adventure Camp

Stone Mountain Adventures (SMA) is teen summer camp for kids ages 12-16 located in the mountains of central Pennsylvania. Our adventure activities provide the opportunity for young adults to challenge themselves to step beyond their abilities: to ride with confidence, to rock climb with technique, to control the sail, or to bike one more hill. We create a non-competitive atmosphere where campers have fun, make lasting friendships and feel safe trying new activities.

New Call-to-action

With only 60 campers per session , SMA summer camp for teenagers is a small, non-competitive adventure camp. With 1 staff member to every 4 campers, camp feels like a great big family, full of good friends. We celebrate our victories, accept our shortcomings, and learn from both. As the days flow by, our philosophy of respect and sharing emerge. We learn respect for animals, the outdoors, and each other. As strong individuals, we come together as a summer family, learning and having fun together.  Oh yea... and did I mention we have FUN

We offer exciting and engaging activities and events everyday including:

Our teen “tween” campers learn new skills, gain self confidence, make strong friendships and become members of our strong, value centered summer community. 

Things that make SMA Teen Camp unique are:

  • Young Teen Focused Activities
  • Choose Your Own Activities Everyday
  • Adventures and Camping Overnights Out of Camp
  • Campers increase self confidence and independence

New Call-to-action

As with many aspects of teenagers lives our camp is also a very social place and we work hard to model and encourage positive relationships, create community in an authentic way, stop cliques from developing, and take away many of the traditional pressures that teens feel in school. 

The result is that campers feel a new found freedom to explore who they truly are while at the same time feeling like they have a new “home away from home” at Stone Mountain Adventures

Stone Mountain Adventures is an overnight summer camp where teens and “tween” campers will be challenged on our activities, foster independence and leadership skills, develop strong friendships with fellow campers and our staff all while having fun every day and making memories to last a lifetime.  You child will have an incredible experience at SMA Adventure Summer Camp. 

 

 

 

 

 

Topics: Teen summer camp, camp counselor

About Director Jud's Blog

This blog will give you the "411" about everything that is Stone Mountain Adventures Teen Summer Camp!  Everything from "Summer Updates" to useful family and camp resources.  Check it out! 

Subscribe to Email Updates

Recent Posts

Posts by Topic

see all