Camps provide educational, athletic, or cultural development for children while teaching new skills in a safe and nurturing environment. As a camp director, you'll get to build many wonderful memories for these children by putting their needs ahead of yours during the summer months or during other specialized training camps. In this role, you'll oversee the planning and day-to-day administration of recreation programs that are specifically tailored to the participants' needs. Some of your responsibilities will include designing camp activities, overseeing camp employees and campers, and overseeing budgeting and expenses.
Your main goal will be to provide a fun, safe, and exciting environment for all participants. Another important task that you'll need to fulfill as a camp director is to establish emergency rules and safety procedures for both campers and staff. You'll need to be prepared to handle any issues that arise, including camper behavior issues, parent complaints, and any safety and health-related issues.
To become a camp director, you'll typically need to have a Bachelor's degree in the areas of recreation, youth development, or liberal arts education. Additional training in camp administration is also helpful.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a camp director. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.47 an hour? That's $38,425 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 33,800 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many camp directors have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, flexibility and leadership skills.
If you're interested in becoming a camp director, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 73.1% of camp directors have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 12.1% of camp directors have master's degrees. Even though most camp directors have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a camp director. When we researched the most common majors for a camp director, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on camp director resumes include associate degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a camp director. In fact, many camp director jobs require experience in a role such as camp counselor. Meanwhile, many camp directors also have previous career experience in roles such as internship or teacher.