Mentoring at Maine Camps

We’re celebrating National Mentoring Month and all the benefits from mentor/mentee relationships between our Maine Camp directors, counselors, and campers.

Here’s how mentorship positively impacts the Maine Camp culture and community:

Caring, experienced camp directors mentor counselors. This starts in the interview stage, and continues during pre-camp staff training and throughout the summer (and often beyond). Counselors receive guidance about being responsible, becoming leaders, handling different situations, making connections, giving advice, and enriching lives. Directors are empowering counselors to learn and grow. In return, counselors bring great spirit, energy, creativity, and support.

Counselors build their leadership skills and confidence as they serve as role models to campers. Whether they’re a bunk counselor or a program instructor or both … they help campers in so many ways. Counselors lead by example and help campers learn to do everything from making their own bed and keeping their cabin clean, to socializing with other campers, learning how to play tennis, waterski, climb, paint, and more. Once hired, counselors go through extensive training to learn the camp’s policies and culture. Great counselors make a great summer even greater! Counselors feel a sense of pride and fulfillment from mentoring kids in positive, life-changing ways. Counselors grow from the experience of guiding and encouraging.

Campers benefit from having counselors who are enthusiastic, responsible, and caring. Taking direction from counselors is often received differently (and sometimes better) than hearing it from parents. Like at home when kids may be more open to learning math from a tutor than their parents, campers may be more open to guidance from a counselor who is more than a peer, but also not a parent. Campers look up to their counselors and will remember the good ones forever. From counselors, campers learn new activity skills and life skills. Campers learn to respond to the world around them - how to try new activities and foods, how to make friends, how to navigate challenges, and how to appreciate natural beauty. Likewise, campers enrich the lives of counselors who feel proud and happy when campers enjoy their camp summer, learn, and grow.

The symbiotic relationship between directors, counselors, and campers is a wonderful thing! We celebrate mentorship at Maine Camps!

Maine Camp Experience Resources & Tools: Looking for the perfect Maine camp for your child? Try out our helpful tool where you can select a camp by choosing: type of camp (girls, boys or coed) and session length (1-8 weeks). It helps to narrow down a few camps to a manageable list that includes rates. Then you can research these camps in more depth. Next, be sure to contact our Maine Camp Guide, Laurie to discuss these camps as well as for free, year-round advice and assistance on choosing a great Maine summer camp for your child.