This summer will be my seventh year working at Goose Pond Scout Reservation. In this time, I have met some awesome friends and made some great memories. I have also touched the lives of countless scouts. With the summer camp season only a few weeks away, here are the top 10 reasons to become a camp counselor!

10. Free room and board

For the duration of your time working at camp, you get a free place to sleep and free food! What could be better than that?! Granted, you are probably sleeping in either a tent or a cabin without air conditioning. Plus you aren’t getting a five star meal. However, free is my favorite word, even if it’s not the highest quality.

9. Fresh air

Working at camp, you are outside almost all the time.After a long winter where you are stuck inside, you should be overjoyed to be outside.

8. Mosquito immunity

My first year working at camp, I had a ridiculous amount of mosquito bites. Since then, I don’t even have to use spray and I barely get bit. I guess over the years I have built up an immunity. Or maybe I’m just lucky.

7. This is a job… that you get paid for.

Money should not be the reason that you are a camp counselor (and if it is, you probably won’t make enough to have it be worth your while). It is, however, a nice perk to make some money doing something that you love.

6. Swimming and boating all the time

If it is a really hot day and you are on your break, you have access to the swimming and boating areas. What other job can you go jump in a lake or take out a kayak on your break?

5. You are around the coolest people.

To the campers, the counselors are the coolest people in the whole world. Believe me, I have been on both sides and it is completely true. Especially younger campers. You are much older and wiser, and if you say hi to them, in their minds they just became the coolest kids in camp!

4. Nature is beautiful.

Personally, the camp I work at is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. I can say that other camps I have been to are also extremely beautiful. Don’t you want to work in an environment that is absolutely breathtaking?

3. Resume builder

Like making money, this should not be your sole reason for wanting to work at camp. That being said, a college or employer who sees that you worked at a summer camp may be really impressed. This shows that you are hardworking, dedicated, and spent your summers staying out of trouble.

2. Camp is fun.

Yes being a counselor is first and foremost a job. However, jobs can be fun and working at a summer camp is probably the most fun job you could possibly have.

1. It is the most rewarding job ever.

The best feeling in the world is when a camper comes up to and thanks you or even just to see the smile or your campers’ faces. You know that you have done something right and have made a lasting impression on a kid. Maybe you inspired them to do something or even just gave them a reason to smile and forget about any troubles they may have outside of camp. This is the greatest reward you can receive as a camp counselor.