Interested in joining our

Summer Team?

A Life Changing Summer ↘

The numbers* don’t lie! Being a part of YWCA Vermont Camp Hochelaga leaves a lasting impact not just for the campers you care for, but for you!

Community

Percentage of staff that felt supported by leadership staff
Empowerment

Percentage of staff that attributed their feelings of empowerment to being at camp:
Self Growth

Percentage of staff that felt they grew as a person over the summer:

100%

93%

*All statistics taken from our 2023 End of Summer Survey for Seasonal Staff

100%

Who Are You?

At YWCA Vermont Camp Hochelaga, we seek to fill our team every year with incredibly kind, hardworking, patient, intentional, and passionate individuals who help bring the mission of the YWCA alive. Our seasonal teams consist of dozens of counselors and staff who create a joy-filled camp space that welcomes all campers who join us.

Staff Application Portal

Our 2026 Staff Applications are OPEN!

We ask all staff applicants (national and international) to please complete an application through our portal for consideration.

*Email our Camp Director, Christine Perry, with any staffing questions (camp.director@ywcavt.org)

What is the difference between Leaders in Training (LIT) and Counselors in Training (CIT)?
LITs will be applying and working as first-year counselors, while CITs will still be regarded as campers learning to be counselors.

Wondering what’s the best fit for you? We are in the process of increasing the age of our first year staff, and in turn, our CITs and LITs. We believe that giving our campers more time to exist at camp (and in the world) as “kids” will serve their developmental readiness to take on the responsibilities that accompany being a camp counselor later on.

During our 2026 season, our LIT program will be accepting individuals who are high school graduates and/or 18+ years of age, as well as rising 12th grade participants who have gone through our CIT program. We advise rising 12th graders who have not yet gone through our CIT program to look further into that at this time.

Beginning with our 2027 season, we will only be accepting applications from individuals who are high school graduates and/or 18+ years of age.

We appreciate your understanding through this process, and if you have any questions at all, please always feel free to contact our camp director, Christine Perry (camp.director@ywcavt.org).

If you are interested in our LIT Program, please submit an application above through our standard Staff Portal. You will be able to select LIT as a position you are interested in.

If you are interested in our CIT Program:

CIT Application

CIT Session Information

Seasonal Roles & Positions

Entry Level Positions

Our LITs are day or cabin counselor staff who are under the age of 18 by the first day of their contract. These young staff are able to perform all the same essential job functions of our General Counselors, with a bit of additional support through our LIT Program.
Our LIT Program participants will have an additional mentor on staff (Head of LITs) to support their growth and success during their time at camp.
General Counselors will makeup the majority of our seasonal staff. Our General Counselors typically are assigned to supervise one cabin per session (with a co-counselor) across one of our 3 overnight age groups. Counselors live in platform tents* with fellow staff, separate but nearby to our camper cabins.
General counselors are also expected to: participate in all of our in-person Staff Training, supervise a camper table up to 3 meals a day, lead daytime** and evening activities, and sing a lot - amongst other things.
*Pictured in “Quick Guide to Life on Staff”
**Our General Counselors are able to instruct classes across any of our program areas during the summer
Our Day Camp Staff will typically have slightly different primary working hours than our Cabin Staff.
Day Camp Staff are expected to be ready to greet our campers by 8am, and supervise camper tables during Breakfast & Lunch (as well as Dinner on Day Camp Sleepover days). Day Camp Staff typically remain with their campers during all transition times, and class periods - supporting leading developmentally-appropriate activities.
We can accept a limited number of commuting Day Camp Staff (who live off-site all summer). It is preferred that these staff can supervise our Day Camp Bus (schedule can be found here).
Other Day Camp Staff will likely be expected to live in our Day Camper Cabin (“Dugout”), and support up to 3 nights per regular session on our Day Camp Sleepover.
During the summer we utilize an outside catering company who will provide our chefs. Kitchen support can include running meal dishes, keeping the dish pit and dining areas tidy and up to health code standards, breaking down and stocking food orders(? wording), and keeping the dining area restroom facilities clean.
Additional service tasks around camp can include supporting our Facility’s Manager on light work projects, upkeep of general spaces around camp, and camper laundry amongst other things.

Summer Leadership Positions

Our Program Coordinator is responsible for creating our weekly programming schedules. This should be done while taking into consideration: the number of enrolled campers that week (and range of ages); anticipated weather; staff abilities and interests; camp tradition needs; and our seasonal Program Budget.
At least 2 times per summer, the Program Coordinator is also responsible for evaluating program quality and providing feedback to Program Staff.
Our Office Assistant will be responsible for supporting our Business & Operations Director in maintaining staff and camper documents, mail, and other essential functions for smooth program implementation.
This person may also be responsible for replying to phone calls and emails, supporting program efficacy and camper safety, and greeting and assisting guests at the campgrounds.
Our Head of LITs will be the primary support for our first year, under 18 year old staff members. In addition to the duties and responsibilities of a General Counselor, this person will host a once daily reflection and support group for our LIT staff for the first 2 weeks of programming, and once weekly check-ins throughout the rest of the summer.
The aim of this role is to offer additional supports to our younger staff as they navigate their first year as counselors. There are many situations you can’t imagine until you’re thrown into them, and we want to ensure that our LIT staff have an additional layer of support built in to their first season on staff.
Our 5 week cohort of CITs can hold up to 20 individuals around the age of 16*. The Head of CITs is asked to live in a separate room connected to our CIT Cabin.
The seasonal leaders of our CIT Program are responsible for preparation and implementation of our developmentally appropriate teen leadership program. This program primarily consists of an hour long daily CIT course, guiding CITs on a multi-night off-camp trip, and supporting the curiosity and growth of our CITs as they learn to take on more responsibilities in our camp community.
*See more details above and on our Session Types page on ages of our participants in our CIT and LIT Programs
Our cabin groups (known as “lines”) are divided roughly by age into the following categories:
Lower-Mid Line (elementary school aged)
Upper-Mid Line (middle school aged) (FILLED for 2026)
Senior Line (high school aged) (FILLED for 2026)
Each Head of Line will be responsible for around 30-40 campers in their assigned line group cabins each weekly session, as well as supporting their 8-10 cabin counselors.
Heads of Line at Camp Hochelaga still participate in day-to-day camp programming, and are required to live at camp over the summer.
Our Head of Day Camp is responsible for around 30 day campers, their Day Camp Counselors, and supporting program staff. This person will be the primary contact for all day camp families over the summer season (using a seasonal email); support smooth and successful daily pick-up/drop-offs for our day camp participants; coordinate day camp sleepovers*; and to ensure that the quality of day camp programming being offered is meeting our camp standards in collaboration with our Program Coordinator and Camp Directors.
*Typically, the Head of Day Camp is not expected to stay late nights for day camp sleepovers. This position is available as a Monday-Friday commuting position. Hours expected at camp are between 8am-5pm daily.
While our Head of Day Camp will spend a lot of time interacting with camper households, and supporting administrative work for our Day Camp, our Day Camp Coordinator is expected to guide and oversee our Day Campers and Counselor staff through Day-to-Day programming and meals.
This person is expected to support on camper check-in at camp each weekday morning beginning at 8am, and for being the main point person during our Day Camp Sleepover nights. This staff member will live in the back room of our Day Camp “Dugout” (cabin) throughout the summer.
Our Health House team is asked to be on-call all summer long through a rotating shift schedule to ensure our campers and staff can stay healthy, safe and well all summer long outside in the sun.
We prefer to operate with 1-2 Head Nurse/s with at least their RN certification. This ensures someone can be on-duty day and night while also supporting the rest and wellbeing of our Health House team. We may also consider supplementing our Head Nurse/s with 1-2 additional Health House Staff carrying current EMT certification and/or currently enrolled in a nursing program.
(Waterfront Director) This person ensures the safety and efficacy of all waterfront programming, as well as the daily upkeep and oversight of our lakeside and all water equipment. We offer kayaking, canoeing, Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUPs), and sailing amongst our other swim and water games programming.
The person in this position should already have experience as a certified lifeguard (ideally on open water/lake front), and should have experience at least with paddling (ideally sailing as well).
This person does not need to live at camp over the summer. They are expected to spend most, if not all, of their time on-duty supervising the waterfront.

Additional Roles & Qualifications

Being a summer counselor and staff member can be a highly emotional job - staff are tasked with caring for dozens of young children almost 24 hours a day for almost 8 weeks straight. Overnight summer camps can also come with challenging work/life balance, and limited community support outside of coworkers they live with all summer long.
To support processing challenging and stressful situations that our staff may face, in addition to supervisors and Camp Directors, we offer all of our Seasonal Staff the opportunity to meet anonymously with a licensed and practicing therapist free of charge to them once per week.
Ideally, this person has an understanding of childcare work (or specifically camp life), and they can join us during normal business hours twice weekly to hold 30 minute to hour long sessions with staff.
Young people and kids have to face a lot sometimes - this role ensures that we have someone on staff with time dedicated to supporting campers who has previous experience supporting through mental health challenges (including: depression, SI/SH, eating disorders, anxiety, and more), and ideally supporting neurodivergent young people and youth.
In addition to supporting campers, this person is expected to support through camper/camper conflict as needed, and to advise camp counselor staff through supporting challenging situations as requested.
This person does not have to live at camp, and would be expected to be on-duty Sun-Thurs for the equivalent of 40 hours per week.
These staff, in addition to General Counselor duties, will be the primary overseer of their program area, and should hold extra qualifications within their program area to ensure continued quality of programming offered.
Available for 2026:
Head of Arts & Crafts
Head of Mission-Aligned/Social Justice Programming
Head of Agriculture/Nature/Gardens
Other:
Head of Theatre
Head of SCAMP
These staff, in addition to General Counselor duties, will be responsible for spending at least 3 hours per day on-duty at the waterfront.*
All Lifeguard staff should plan to either a) arrive at camp with current and up-to-date lifeguard certification with practiced experience within the last 6 months or b) participate in lifeguard training at Camp Hochelaga upon arrival in addition to other Staff Training responsibilities.**
*Lifeguards are still welcome to lead classes in other program areas if they choose.
**After being registered, if you opt out of completing the certification, the cost of the program will be deducted from your seasonal salary.
These staff will be asked to spend at lest 1 class period per week in their preferred program area.
Some Archery Staff will be asked to lead an additional class period of our Day Camp Archery session each day.
Archery Instructor certification, and an Axe Throwing lesson will be offered by Camp Hochelaga during Staff Training.
Each weekend between sessions (“Changeovers”) we offer specialty programming that is typically off camp at local experiences.
The person who takes on this role is responsible for leading these off-site activities each Changeover Weekend of the summer; supervising and ensuring quality programming for our 15-40 campers and 5-8 staff who support them.