Students looking for summer employment can look as close as Houghton, at least for a week in June, as the Scoop recently alerted students to the opportunity to be a summer camp counselor or to participate in a community garden internship.
Due to weather and current staff levels, however, the garden will not employ students this summer. “Unfortunately, several factors outside our control have made it unrealistic to get the garden started in time for this year’s growing season, and we’ve decided to delay the garden until summer 2019,” explained Sustainability Coordinator Brian Webb.
He did have good news for students interested in the opportunity, saying, “We definitely still plan to have a college garden—it’s just going to take us one more year than expected to make it happen.” The extra time will also allow the garden to be ready as soon as the growing season starts next year.
The counselor position, according to Math Camp Coordinator Lily Morris ’19, is “open to whoever wants to make a difference in the life of a Buffalo student.” The camp runs June 4-8.
“Since it is an educational camp, a lot of education majors participate,” commented Morris. “However, it is really open to whoever, so each year we have a wide variety of people. Science Camp is separate, but runs the same week and sometimes that targets more biology and science majors rather than education.” The campers are third graders for Math Camp and sixth grade for Science Camp.
When asked what she looked forward to getting out of the experience, Morris referenced the opportunity to gain leadership experience. Her major motivation, however, was the chance to create “a positive difference in the lives of Buffalo students for a few days.
“They remember Math Camp forever and some of their home lives are very difficult, so having a safe and fun place to come is so worth it for everyone involved,” explained Morris. “It also highlights some of the aspects of college living. For them, this is only a dream that they have heard of other people doing. Through this, we are able to show them they can go anywhere they want to in life.”
Meals and training are both provided during the week. Preparation for the week will begin on Monday, which is the day the counselors arrive, and continues into Tuesday. Responsibilities of counselors include decorating Gillette lounge on Tuesday night in preparation for the campers’ arrival. The theme for the year is pirates, so participants will help transfigure the space into a pirate ship. Campers will arrive on Wednesday morning, and Wednesday and Thursday are packed with exciting activities for the kids.
Because it is a math-focused camp, activities will include math centers in addition to water balloon fights, baseball games, and generally spending time with the kids. “For the daytime, there are normally four to five groups that I make up with the counselors,” said Morris. “They are our ‘color teams.’ Each of these teams are assigned five or six kids that travel with them throughout the day.”
Counselors will be assigned “bedtime buddies” for the evening. “They live in the room next to you and you basically make sure they fall asleep, read them books if needed, wake them up in the morning, eat breakfast with them, etc.,” explained Morris. “Each counselor is assigned two to four students- it’s normally two- for ‘bedtime buddies.’”
The camp will run until Friday. Campers will head home Friday morning, but there will still be a bit more time for fun before they leave. Morris explained, “We get t-shirts and the kids get to sign them at the end of the week—they go absolutely nuts!” Around 4 p.m., after lunch and clean-up, counselors will be free to leave.
Those interested in becoming a counselor are encouraged to submit an application and make sure they have a valid red employment card. Participants will fill out a time sheet together before the campers arrive Wednesday morning, and will earn $250 for the week.