7th and 8th Grade Trip Lead

The JCC Ranch Camp is not just the Denver JCC’s overnight summer camp, it’s also one of the best places to work during the summer. As a staff member, Ranch Camp will become your home away from home as you work to create a community where people can thrive. You’re a hero to your campers; you have the chance to do something you really care about and have a whole lot of fun doing it. Your experience as a staff member is just as important to us as our campers’ experience. That being said: We’re here to serve kids and make sure they are in the safest environment possible while having the time of their lives. 

First and foremost, all our staff are madrichim or counselors.  

All Staff Responsibilities

• Take care of your campers by prioritizing their physical, social, and emotional health, safety, and well-being. 

• Work as a team with your co-staff to make sure every day runs smoothly and to the schedule.  

• Create a community that you want to be a part of and that you want campers to be a part of.  

• Include everyone and make sure everyone is included.  

• Jump into the camp life: ride horses, swim, camp, play games, sing songs, roast s’mores, be ready to do everything the campers do! 

• Know where your campers are and what they are doing all the time.  

• Care for the campers and manage camper behaviors using the tools you learn in Staff Orientation week (We’ll go over positive behavior management techniques, enforcing appropriate safety policies, emergency procedures, camp rules, and more.) 

• Be flexible and adaptable because things change quickly at camp. You have to be able to roll with it. 

• Live in a bunk with your co-staff and your campers. 

• Fill out daily Camper Bunk Notes to track campers’ physical and emotional health, cabin social dynamics, and overall camper wellbeing. 

• And other duties and responsibilities as assigned: you might need to make your campers’ dreams of a beach themed ice-cream campfire song session come true or become your favorite legendary Pokémon for an evening program. 

But our staff aren’t just counselors. We want you to do what matters to you while you’re at camp.  

Want to spend your summer outside, exploring the back country of Colorado and climbing mountains? We have a job for you. Does spending the morning playing soccer and the afternoon creating art make your heart happy? We have a job for you. Want to design a rocket that can make grilled cheese, but also land on Mars? We probably have a job for you, let’s talk. 

7th and 8th Grade Trip Lead Responsibilities 

• As a madrichim, you will work as a team with co-staff, ensuring that all our campers have an experience of a lifetime that keeps them coming back for the years to come.  

• Make sure that everything is functioning as it should on the trip and in the bunk- cleanliness/organization, friendships/social dynamic, routines and rituals, etc. 

• Shape the daily routines and rituals campers follow with their bunkmates. 

• Support campers in their day-to-day life at camp including helping to facilitate personal care routines, providing programmatic adaptations, guiding transitions, providing sensory breaks, and mediating conflict resolution.  

• Work on an individual level with campers who have identified needs, such as cognitive, social-emotional, psychological, physical and behavioral needs, to carry out camper care plans and ensure accommodations in care plans are implemented effectively. 

• Have flexibility to step in to help other cabin groups who may need extra daily support.  

• Work directly with Camper Care Coordinators to manage crisis intervention with campers as needed, such as major dysregulation, emotional/mental health struggles, and sensory overload. Be ready to do this on your own during the trip. 

• As a guide on the 7th and 8th grade trips, you will lead a 3-to-4-day camping and/or beginner backpacking trip with up to 12 campers to build campers’ backcountry camping, survival , and interpersonal skills, bond your group of campers together, and give them the tools they need to be self-sufficient while camping. 

• Assist in assessing trip intensity and adjusting in real time to fit camper needs. 

• Facilitate meal preparation in the backcountry allowing campers to learn how to cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner while on the trail and camping.  

• Drive 15 passenger Turtle Top Bus – must be over 21. 

• Assist with issuing and return of gear to ensure gear is in good repair.  

• Ensure camper safety through conscientious decision making and effective boundary setting. 

• Work with your Unit heads to create multiple programs for each day for campers on and off the trail that are safe, fun, and memorable. Run the programs while on the trail. 

• From recognizing something small like trying a new food, or big like a negative social interaction between campers, you always know what’s happening in their bunk. Nothing slips through the cracks. 

If you have previous camp experience, as a Lead Counselor, you’ll also have the opportunity to step into additional leadership roles and responsibilities including, but not limited to:  

• Help develop programming for staff, such as Onegs, staff appreciation, or other events  

• Help develop all-camp programming, such as evening programs or special days  

• Work with the SIT (Staff in Training) program as a mentor 

Finally, all staff must be able to attend staff orientations and be available to live at camp for the summer season. While we prefer staff to work for the entire summer, we understand if you can’t and encourage you to apply if you can work at least 5 – 6 weeks of our summer season.     

Physical Demands and Working Environment:

Physical Demands: This job requires the incumbent to have operative auditory and visual functioning. Employee must also be able to walk upwards of two (2) miles each day, including use of stairs and uneven terrain.  Employee may also stand, sit in chairs or on the ground, run, and swim. Employee may lift or body block campers when necessary.   

Work Environment: Working conditions may include being in indoor, often loud, spaces and spending extended time outdoors under the sun. Must have the ability to work in a fast paced, sometimes stressful environment while maintaining the standard of care. Must also have the ability to work in a backcountry camping environment.