I applied on their website and heard back from a recruiter a few days later. I was immediately told that all head counselors for groups above, like 1st grade if I remember correctly, are required to be certified teachers. No exceptions. Despite having over a decade of experience working with kids in many settings including summer camps, I was told that I could only be a specialist. I get that they do that for marketing, but I think it makes very little sense to gatekeep like that. They can have a requirement and emphasize in their marketing that all head counselors are experienced educators instead of certified teachers to give more people opportunities to apply. Even if you are a private school teacher with a master's degree or even a PhD, a paraprofessional or aide at a school, a preschool teacher with an associate's in education, or just someone with a ton of experience with kids/summer camps, you aren't qualified for a lead counselor role just because you haven't taken a test allowing you to be a teacher in a public school. Also, summer camp and schools are very different types of environments and just because someone is a certified teacher doesn't mean they'll be a good camp counselor or vise versa. And not everyone who is a certified teacher is a good teacher or would make a good counselor. It's so unfortunate because this camp looks like it would be great to work at, but the gatekeeping of lead counselor roles tells me that this camp would probably be a toxic and elitist environment.
