A frequently expressed opinion of many a Magic Camper is how cool their counselor was, and how much they’d love to work at the Magic Camp too. The Fantastic Magic Camp’s internship program is the vehicle by which that dream can become a reality!
Once a camper reaches 13 years of age, they’re too old to come to Magic Camp as a camper anymore and will receive an invitation to participate in our internship program instead.
They will meet all the rest of our team members at the Youth Leader Training Academy’s (YLTA) monthly training sessions throughout the spring, where they will learn a wide array of life skills such as leadership, time-management, goal-setting, how to interact with children with special needs, teamwork, and more! The YLTA is also where interns will hone their skills with the Magic Camp’s curriculum in preparation to lead and teach our campers. The total training time provided by the YLTA each spring comes out to over 40 hours!
In the summer, a first-year intern will attend a session of Magic Camp free of charge as a Counselor-in-Training (CIT), shadowing one of our older counselors, helping them out, and learning the ropes.
Successful CITs will be eligible for a second year as an intern, and after another spring in the YLTA will have the opportunity to be a full-fledged counselor at one of our summer sessions – maybe even with a CIT of their own! In fact, every one of our counselors is a former camper who progressed through the internship program and the YLTA.
After three years as a counselor (and four years in the YLTA), an intern will be 16 years old and have reached the normal end of their time in our program. Their time at Magic Camp will stay with them, however, as any of our staff and former counselors can testify: The skills learned in the YLTA and at camp have helped prepare them to face the challenges of finishing high school, applying to colleges, and finding a job, to name a few!
Every now and then there will be an intern that is just such a fantastic counselor, who loves Magic Camp so much, that they will receive an invitation to apply for another year at Magic Camp, as a Senior Counselor. Senior Counselors must define their own job description as part of their application, identifying how the skills that they possess can fit into Magic Camp. Senior counselorships only last for one more, final year – after being a Senior Counselor, an intern will no longer be eligible to participate in the internship program.
For a select few, though, the dream lives on – when there is an opening on the Magic Camp staff, we invite our Senior Counselors to apply for the position. Almost without exception, every one of our staff members were Magic Campers who went through the entire five-year program from CIT to Counselor to Senior Counselor before being invited to apply for their position on staff.