A reason to stay

Abstract

The American Summer Camp industry is a large, growing, and significant aspect of Americas recreation and education systems with more than 14,000 day and overnight camps in the United States. Camp counselor retention is important to the business of camping because veteran staff play a key role in a camps success by helping to preserve camp culture and maintain camp traditions. Veteran staff serve an important role in the naturally occurring peer-training and peer-support environment that camps depend on. Using Achievement Motivation Theory as a theoretical framework, this Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) sought to answer the following research question: what are the experiences of veteran camp counselors at Jewish Summer Camps and how do counselors make sense of their experiences as they relate to their motivations for returning to work at the camp beyond three summers? Five veteran camp counselors were interviewed in this study, representing four different camps. The camps ranged from Conservative and Reform affiliated camps to a Jewish Community Center camp. Findings from this research showed that counselors stayed at camp for different reasons. They stayed because they were invested in their campers and want to continue to contribute to their campers childhoods. They stayed for their own friends, for the Jewish connection, and especially, because overnight camp offered them an opportunity to gain useful skills that they knew would help them as they moved into specific careers or continued with their education.