While my peers were studying for the SAT, finding summer internships, and perfecting their resumes, I was gearing up to spend two months with hundreds of elementary and middle school youth.

In the summer of 2014, I spent 2 months as a Counselor in Training (CIT) at a summer camp in Santa Rosa, California called Camp Newman. I have gone there every summer since the age of eight, and my mom, aunt, and uncles even went there as well. The summer ended up being some of the two best months of my life, and so naturally, I spent the next two summers as a counselor.

Camp is a silly place, and my friends and I often joked that one day we would need to get “real jobs.” Being a camp counselor is super fun: you get to hang out with your best friends and in many ways relive being a care-free and fun-loving child. However, being a camp counselor is also hard work. There’s no way you can prepare yourself for all of the tough situations and shenanigans that you will inevitably find yourself in. So despite not seeing it as a bona fide “real job,” I actually learned some really valuable skills and lessons during my time as a counselor, lessons that can translate over into any workplace endeavor.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of some of the skills I learned:

How to Problem-Solve on the Spot.

Every night before bed-time, my co-counselors and I were supposed to plan a “cabin-time” which is a special time of the day when our cabin of 10-13 campers would engage in some quality bonding. One night, my co-counselors had been really busy all day and had forgotten to plan one. I panicked, because we literally had 5 seconds to come up with something before a bunch of un-easily impressed 14 year olds came waltzing in. Plus, the campers had already been here for over three weeks, and we were starting to run out of fresh ideas.

I did the first thing I could think of: I reached under my co-counselor’s bed and grabbed some Oreos. When the campers came in, I announced that we would be having an “Oreo eating contest.” The rules? Come up with the most creative way to eat a Oreo. Everyone looked utterly ridiculous coming up with their new Oreo-eating methods. We had a blast, and everyone went to bed with satisfied tummies. Even though the cabin-time wasn’t as planned or rehearsed as it could have been, I stayed calm and acted quickly, which is sometimes the best you can do in a last-minute situation.

How to Divvy up Responsibilities and How to Ask for Help

There was one cabin of 4th graders I had my first summer as a counselor that was particularly difficult to manage. There were a lot of big personalities, and a lot of them were going through difficult stuff at home. One day in particular, literally half the cabin was crying for different reasons: Two of them were upset because one of their cabin-mates was excluding them, another was homesick, another had a high fever but was throwing a fit because she didn’t want to go to the infirmary and risk missing out on activities, another had fallen and was bleeding everywhere, and another was upset about her parents getting divorced. Plus, one of my other co-counselors was busy working at the climbing wall, and my other co-counselor was on a day-off.

I simply couldn’t be in multiple places at once, and give campers all of the individual attention they needed. Thus, I learned the importance of drawing on one’s resources, and asking others for help if an extra pair of hands or eyes is needed. Similarly, in a workplace setting, it’s always important to work-hard and accomplish your tasks, but there may be times when it is simply not possible, and you can’t be in multiple places at once. In these situations, it’s often better to ask others for assistance, rather than try to get it all done, but risk doing it poorly.   

Learning to Prioritize Sleep

Nothing will make you prioritize a good night’s sleep more than being a camp counselor. If there is one thing younger campers enjoy, it’s waking you up for no reason at all. Even if your eyes are obviously closed, and you are as limp as a rock, campers often have no problem nudging you awake to ask you if “you can go with them to make a PB&J.” I learned the art of taking naps out of necessity for my well-being.

Being well-rested is crucial for any job, and making time for some shut-eye is entirely necessary if you want to stay focused and alert.

Other things I learned:

Responsibility, flexibility, patience, how to collaborate with others, how to go out of my comfort zone, and much more.

Moral of the story: you can always learn valuable lessons from jobs and volunteer experience that might not be considered “professional work.” As a high schooler and college student you have the rest of your life to get a “real” job, so have fun while you can, and always be eager to learn and grow from every opportunity you experience.

One of my co-counselors and I proudly staying hydrated in our CIT jerseys.