ACA Home Forums Transitioning from counselor to assistant director

Hi everyone! I was hoping you guys could give me some advice. For three summers, I've worked as a normal counselor at my tiny nature camp. This year, I finally got my big promotion to assistant director! The only thing I'm a little nervous about is being respected as a senior staff member. Most of the staff this year is new, so it's not that everyone already knows me. It's more that I'm still one of the youngest people on staff, and that I don't think I'm someone that people naturally look to as a leader. Any tips on establishing myself as assistant director?

One thing I usually see when someone young is promoted is they feel they need to prove themselves worthy of the promotion, which usually just pisses counselors off, because the person is trying to do too much. You were promoted for a reason, be confident in what you do and believe in yourself and it will show. You don't have to try and do everything to prove you're worthy of the extra responsibilities given to you....it usually just ends up being worse.

That's my advice, hope it helps. I too am one of the youngest senior staff members at my camp.

Remember if a lot of the staff are new they have no memories of you as a counsellor! To them they you are the assistant director.

My advice is to be confident, you're not "maybe" an Assistant Director, you ARE the Assistant Director. You were promoted because of your hard work and your attitude, and you should be confident and convey that to your new staff.

You should not let the "power" go to your head, otherwise none of your staff will follow you, let alone campers.

I recommend the book "Super Staff Supervision" by Michael Brandwein for new supervisors on camp.

That is awesome! I'm also a new assistant camp director. I realized that after the first few days of staff training, that I was making too many comments about training and also that I was telling people about how many years of camp experiences that I have.

I stopped. They all know that I have a lot of experience now. So now I just keep quiet during meetings and let others talk. I also don't have any staff of my own, I'm mostly responsible for camp registration and being a floater. And I ran some of my own training as well. So I had my say. So now I just sit back and listen and observe everyone else. I'm also helping the arts counselor too with planning.

I decided to just let people come to me if they need help. I'm letting the camp director run camp because that is what they wan to do. SO next year when I am the camp director I will have more control.

All of this change within only a week , I think has been helping me. I'm not at camp a lot too because I'm recruiting campers. So people have noticed that I am not there and respect me more. For they know that if I don't fill camp then there would be no camp.

Sorry I have rambled on but I thought this post was a really good one and wanted to share.

Happy Camping!

Being Assistant Camp Director is a very rewarding experience. I don't think age makes much difference as long as you do your best and don't worry about it. I'm sure you wouldn't have gotten the position if they didn't think you would do a great job. So, just go in with a positive attitude and do your best and you'll be fine.

I just hosted a rental group camp and it went very well. They want to come back next yr and bring more students. We hosted the entire week of camp for them. The staff I had were great and the kids had a lot of fun. So that is all I wanted to show was that I am able to do my job. And I did.

Good job CampWoman! My camp I went to this year was a rental group and its a bit different since our organization runs it but gets program support from the campsite for the lakefront, lifeguards for the pool, Target Sports, hockey etc, but we run Arts and Crafts and our evening activities.

I made the move from counselor to assistant director and ended at director.

The hardest part is setting your self apart a bit. As a supervisor you cant be their best friend anymore. If you are their best friend it can make it hard to be their boss.

So make friends but keep it on a professional level. Spend your days off with other leadership staff and not the counselors.