Staff Assistants/Counselors in Training for Summer Youth Camps and Vacation Church Schools
By Fr. Michael Anderson
One
way of involving older teens in your camping or vacation church school
program and developing future adult staff is by having staff assistants. St.
Andrew’s Camp in upstate New York refers to them as S.A.s while other camps
call the Counselor’s in Training (C.I.T.s)
An
S.A./C.I.T. program gives older teens a chance at leadership and an opportunity
to give something back to the program that they may have enjoyed when they
were younger.
There
are some key things to remember, however, if you are going to have such a
program.
Make
sure they understand their role at camp. A possible job description might
be:
1.
To assist camp staff (adults) in the day to day activities of camp.
2.
To be an example to campers about proper behavior and attitude during the
program.
3.
To understand that above all participant safety is “job one.”
4.
They can be assigned to a group of participants where they. . .
-
are within visual and vocal contact with their group at all times
-escort
campers from activity to activity
-take head counts at the beginning and ending of each activity
-assist
whoever is running the activity (go and get needed items, help participants
with a project, play the game with them, etc.)
-sit
and eat with participants at meal times (this becomes a great time then for
staff to have a quick meeting)
5.
Given their special interests and abilities they can run an activity with adult
staff assistance. Often S.A.s have a lot to offer in sports and crafts.
6.
Under NO circumstance should a S.A. discipline a participant. If there
is a difficulty, the S.A. should bring the participant to a staff person, or
in the case of a serious situation, the program director, who will provide disciplinary
action as is appropriate.
S.A.s
should not be placed in a situation where they are supervising participants
by themselves for a period of time.
Some
helpful tips for running a Staff Assistant Program
1.
Assign two S.A.s to all jobs where they are escorting participants. That way,
if someone falls or gets hurt someone can stay with the participant(s) while
the other one gets help.
2.
Give S.A.s time for themselves at some point of the day. At, camps, evenings
after campers’ bedtimes are often good times for this. This means, however that
adult staff need to be with the campers.
Part
of S.A.s evening time should be structured (Christian Education session, etc.)
And part of their time should be free time to just spend time with each other,
share stories from the day, etc.
3.
Either the program director, or the assistant director should be assigned with
the task of coordinating and directing the S.A.s. Other than when S.A.s are
working directly under adult staff members, no adult staff members should be
directing S.A.s. This is the job of the S.A. coordinator (program director or
assistant director).
4.
All S.A.s should agree in writing to all the above conditions before arriving
at camp.
5.
Since an S.A. program is by nature and necessity selective all S.A.s need
to go through a selection process which should include the following: name,
address, phone number, date of birth; any previous experience working with younger
children; 2 references (one by their parish priest and one by a non-relative);
the usual health information required of younger participants since they are
not legal adults; and an opportunity to select areas of interest in which they
would like to be involved at camp.
CIT
/ SA Guideline Forms
