Crestwood Valley Day Camp

For the pay you’re given, a lot is expected of you. This includes writing a newsletter, creating a cabin day, dressing up for special days, eating lunch with the campers, and helping the swim instructors on top of supervising and taking the campers to activities as well as participating with them. You’re only given a 15 minute break each day and will be exhausted, especially if you’re also assigned as a bus counsellor, which piles on more responsibilities. Best part of the job is getting to know your co-workers (co-counsellors, supervisors, activity specialists, swim instructors, bus driver, etc) who are mostly decent people. The campers can also be fun, although there will always be a couple of misbehaving ones. The camp’s directors are pretty creepy and you’ll try to stay away from them. Communication is also pretty bad at the camp, especially if you’re a bus counsellor, since you’ll miss meetings. You’ll more than likely get in trouble for something you didn’t know about. On the plus side, getting for the job was pretty easy since they are understaffed. I just sent an application and had a 2 minute phone interview. I’d recommend working at a city run camp rather than this, because you’ll actually be paid minimum wage. If you still choose to work here, you should also note that there is a pre-camp training session that occurs during the last week of June. This got in the way of some of my final exams so be sure to plan ahead and tell the camp.

Worked here for several summers before University and I enjoyed the opportunity to be outside and work with other people my age but looking back the environment was SO TOXIC.

Despite paying employees a couple of cents per hour (they claim its because they provide food but its just low key exploiting 15/16 year olds for cheap labour that don't know better) the job wasn't too bad. 

However, they hired new management after my first year and they were honestly horrible. Super derogatory and condescending, especially to female employees (including head staff) and made several members of the staff cry on several occasions. Swearing and yelling was not uncommon.

At the end of the summer, there is a banquet which is open invite to all counsellors, head staff, and directors. The head staff sing a "burn" song which recounts "hookups" amongst staff members and other topics that were sources of gossip throughout the summer. This never really sat right with me especially considering that the majority of their staff were underage high school students.... 

A typical day at work would start out at 8:15am with the head of my section telling us what we were suppose to do with the kids that day. The kids would then arrive and we would take them to many different activities such as arts and crafts and to swim twice a day. The day would end at 4:00pm and that is when we would walk all of our campers over to their buses to go home. I learnt how hard it was to take of a child and the importance of being aware of your surrounding when people are relying on you with a very important job. The hardest part of the job was constantly changing the children in and out of their clothes because they were so young, they would become upset and resist. The most enjoyable part of the job was the bond you form with the children you take care of and the your co-workers by the end of the summer. I will never forget my time at Crestwood as it taught me many valuable skills and I formed many important friendships there.

Crestwood Valley Day Camp was an overall fun camp to work at and was interesting learning certain methods to make sure the kids would cooperate. The only thing i really didn't like were how long the hours were compared to how much we got paid per hour. It felt very unfair and like we were basically volunteering for the camp and not as if we were actual workers due to how some of us were treated by management and what not. Working with my co- workers was rarely ever a problem. We all worked really well together and made sure that with the help of management or not we would get our tasks completed. The most enjoyable part of this job was just working with the kids and seeing the smiles on their faces every day as they walked into camp and everyday as they left because it was in those moments when i came to realize that although i'm working for only $2 an hour, everything that i was doing was worth it in the end of the day.

A typical day at Crestwood for the swim staff in particular is pretty relaxed comparatively. We have less overall responsibilities than the counselors, and the work that we do is very fun and engaging. The camp is managed and run very well, almost like clockwork. Everything happens when it needs to, not a minute out of place. The hardest part of this job is being out in the sun for 9 hours without many breaks, but being able to teach children new skills and watch them advance as swimmers makes it worth it.

Our staff salaries are paid at the end of your session according to your employment contract. In order
for staff to receive their FULL STAFF SALARY , they must carry out the responsibilities clearly laid out
in this contract. Our employees are hired, subject to a completion bonus, which makes up 40% of
your salary. If for any reason a staff member decides during their agreed upon employment period, to
cancel any part of this contract, your completion bonus will be forfeited.
Your FULL STAFF SALARY IS $ 1200

The work environment is great. It can be stressful thought depending on where you are. I.E dealing with 4/5 year-olds as they do run around and are still learning. You are expected to participate in all activities with the kids. Superior staff are always friendly and ready to help out if you're stressed or unsure of what to do.
Everyone is generally really nice. There are events throughout the summer session.

This camp I find Was really good in keeping the young campers active  and aware. I find was really effective in teaching social skills and socials skills about the environment and in teaching how to be aware about boundaries but also building healthy functioning relationships by using team building strategies and games and in teaching how to work with each other/teamwork.

The schedules were very organized and had to be very punctual. I learned what it means to work hard and get underpaid for the amount of labour I did. Management was not very helpful in certain situations. They only cared about the parents and the money. The counsellors were amazing. The hardest part of the job was to make sure the kids all got along and did not get hurt. The most enjoyable part of the job was meeting the other counsellors.

Kids  are great and there are various programs that run throughout. Counters are also unstaffed to work with however they are underpaid and directors of the camp are unpleasant and rude. They feel entitled and use their position to belittle staff and as it seems in some reviews children. It’s unfortunate that a good camp is Directed like this, And you would assume a more positive attitude and energy. 

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