Camp America

[Lbet]

Are there any parents whose kids have done camp America?

My daughter is currently taking a gap year before going off to uni next.
She is really interested in doing camp America next summer.
We have had a good chat with a student who has just been for his second summer in a row. We have had loads of useful tips and advice from him. He did say you don’t do camp America for the money because you actually end up being out of pocket and you do it for the experience.
That suits my daughter fine as she is definitely wants to do it for the great experience.

Just wanted to know if anyone’s child has been and if you can tell me about their experience.

Thanks in advance.

Thank you - will check out dates for fairs. Good to know we wouldn’t be allowed in!

I’m just going by what dd said last year she did Glasgow and London and found it amusing there was a pen for parents to wait in.

Hi, yes they get to choose which camp they want to go to totally up to them.
I too recommend going to the camp fairs.
A very useful tip though is for them to get there super early as a queue starts to form and they want to be at the front to get a head start especially if they have a camp in mind.
My daughter went to the one in London, it was quite late

Whoops not sure what happened there but I hadn’t finished. Yes it was quite late I think it was around end of April or Couldve been early May.
There they go to the camp stand they have in mind or if they don’t have one in mind then they can just explore several.
They will have a chat with the team about why they want to do camp America, be warned if they just say they want to go for the experience they may be rejected as my daughter learnt from others. To do camp America you have to be passionate about wanting wanting to work with kids, it’s the career path my daughter is wanting to take. Camp America is all about the kids so it is super important you have that passion.
It is very hard work with very little breaks at times so very long working days.
However it is also very rewarding with a couple of days breaks where you get free time to go off and do what you want.

My daughter absolutely loved her camp America experience, she made so many friends who she is still in touch with.
She has got a place confirmed on the same camp as last year as so has all the American friends she made.

I encourage anyone who is passionate to do camp America to go for t 100%.

Oh and just to add… We drove our daughter to London and once there left her to it and me and my husband had a lovely few hours to enjoy London.

Haha - that’s a bonus! Super helpful intel - thank you. My DS has worked with kids but would I say he loves it enough for the Camp Counsellor experience? This is what we need to work out…. Also need to find out what distinguishes one camp from another and draw up a short list. My son has tennis and football coaching/refereeing experience .

@sweetmelodymy DS also has refereeing experience amongst other sports. He ended up at Camp Pinewood which seemed very sporty (that’s not to say other camps wouldn’t be). He loved it

Thanks for the tip @lorn195 I checked out the website and it sounds right up his street. From the images though, I don’t see any racial diversity and as DS is black, I’m not sure that would be right for him given his age and inexperience as a solo traveller.

DS2 was 18 and a it was his first time as a solo traveller but he soon met up with others both first timers and returners at the airport. He made friends really quickly so he could never be alone.

@sweetmelody A lot of camps aren’t particularly diverse in terms of campers, especially the long established camps on the East Coast you see on TikTok. You do find greater diversity on the staff side though - camp directors are looking for the best person for the job!

I would also tend to disagree about the comment above regarding being able to choose which camp you go to. Yes, you can contact camps direct and ask to be considered, and you can also turn down a camp that offers you a role. But not all camps will be looking for your particular skill set, some require counsellors to be over 21, some stipulate you must have completed one year at university etc.

I used to work for one of the big agencies and their job is literally to match you with a camp. It’s very frustrating when someone turns down a great position at an amazing camp because they “only want to go to Tyler Hill”. Unfortunately Tyler Hill didn’t want them, they turned down another three placements and then didn’t get to go anywhere…….

I’d look carefully at makeup of camp. The one my dc was at was Jewish (albeit not a religious camp) and predominantly white.
She turned down her first offer as it was religious and too remote. It was a gamble but she got an offer at a camp that was a much better fit.
I’m not sure how true this is but she went to the Match London fair and felt they were still desperate for males whereas some were full for female staff. She was wandering around with a lad who had a sailing qualification and he was inundated with offers.

Thanks @Investinmyself@lorn195and @RatherBeOnVacation I really appreciate the insights. We will try and hit the London fairs in January, mocks permitting.

Your DS might like to investigate YMCA summer camps, which sometimes offer a greater degree of racial diversity.

In general, east coast summer camps are rather WASPy.

I did camp America back in 1991 as a kitchen helper. I was too shy to be a councillor. I went to a Fresh Air Fund camp in upstate NY (Fishkill reservation). I had an amazing time. Out of the 6 brits i worked with I was the only white person (1 Asian boy and 1 black boy and 3 black girls). The camp itself was run by a charity for under privileged kids from nyc and it was very multi racial. Highly recommend looking them up.

I have - thanks so much!

My daughter has her visa interview at the Embassy in a couple of weeks. I can’t believe we are at this point again.

The one my daughter worked at a decade ago in the Catskills was very east coast affluent. Donald Trump went there as a child, indeed where he learned to swim. A demographic she was familiar with from her London expatriate schoolmates. But she was the only one. Her camp mates tended to be outdoorsy types from Scotland, the West Country, Australia and South Africa. Ability to work hard and get on with it was the key. Some of the kids rattled like pill boxes with diagnoses for every sort of ADHD ND variant. And some were very sweet, dumped in the Catskills for the summer so they did not interfere with their parents busy lives.

DD did not say anything about racial diversity. The divide was largely between American camp workers and the rest. My guess is that, as she found at school, the very affluent can be quite racially diverse. It was Bristol University that she found surprisingly white.

Having a qualification/background in a popular camp sport makes it easier to get hired. Even a life saving qualification helps. Having more than one allows you to have a more varied rota.

Has Anyone’s kids had to pay US tax on their earnings from last summer?

@Lbet
its a few years since DD went but i think her year was the first year J1 visas had to pay tax. Before that they had personal allowance which Camp earnings didnt usually exceed, but they took away those personal allowances.

Yes my daughter is waiting on the paperwork from her camp for her to then pay the tax.

Has your daughter had her interview yet? Mine is in the process of arranging her appointment but is flipping out at the whole having to have all her social media public thing. I’ve let her have them on the condition they’re locked down & friends only & now she has to open them up to the world!!!

Hi, do you mean her visa interview or interview with camp.
She had her visa interview on Friday and all went well.
For those booking an appointment for their visa my daughter’s appointment was 10am and she said it was a much shorter queue outside but once inside the queue was much longer. She didn’t mind that as she was inside out the cold. So an early morning appointment maybe a good idea. With queuing time amd the actual interview it took 1 hour 30 mins which was much less time last year with an afternoon appointment, although last year hwr appointment was much later in the year.

My dc did Belfast and it was very quick in and out. If they are North England/Scotland can be much cheaper to fly to Belfast than train to London.

could anyone advise how flexible the end dates are? A level results day is 13 August and wondering whether DS should plan to be back in the UK for that even though we were hoping to meet up with him for a family holiday in the US/Caribbean. Maybe it’s feasible for me to sort out any issues around his A level results/clearing as he is planning on going to university September/October….

I would definitely plan to be home on results day. Universities would need to speak to him during clearing, not you and it’s just not worth risking it.

Camps are usually really good at getting staff out once the last kids leave - usually the same day or day after. Depends on where the camps are located too as dates tend to align with the back to school dates in the state they are in and surrounding. Most of the traditional 7 week East Coast camps are finishing the week commencing 10th August this year.

A camp will only hire him for their full season - too expensive otherwise. But plenty of camps have end dates when he could be back in time for results.