Three students discussed their time as camp counselors at the Beloit & Beyond Conference, with their roles ranging from group specialist for higher need campers to baseball specialist at a sports camp to site supervisor of a science camp.
Many kids enjoy their summers more with help from counselors and supervisors like these three.
Levi Hansen’26
Campers enjoying their time drawing chalk art on the pavement.Levi, a psychology and creative writing double major, traveled to Rindge, New Hampshire, to work at Camp Starfish over this past summer. There, Levi was a group specialist and was trained to work with higher need campers.
Levi described how the camp was unlike many others, with a one-to-one camper-to-counselor ratio and a very diverse age range. He had the pleasure of training skills for his later career while helping a wide variety of people.
Levi poses for a picture with a few of his campers at Camp Starfish.After Beloit, he hopes to become a clinical psychologist. During his presentation, he emphasized the skills he learned at Camp Starfish that would help him towards that career. One of utmost importance to him was the power of redirection. He set the scene of a camper’s minor injury and how he was able to get the camper’s mind off of the injury and calm them down.
“I realized how powerful it was to keep their minds on positive things,” he said. “I was able to make their day and the situation better, which was always the goal.”
Connor Vogel’25
Connor's baseball sanctuary at Camp Walt Whitman.Connor, a physics major and political science minor, traveled to Piermont, New Hampshire, to work as a baseball specialist at a sports camp called Camp Walt Whitman.
At the camp, his work included leading his own baseball lessons with groups of campers, coaching games, and helping with lessons and practices in other sports departments within the same camp.
Connor a his fellow counselors sit down for a picture.In the future, Connor hopes to coach baseball. Through his work over the summer, he learned better problem solving, building relationships, and skills to keep kids safe, but make sure they still enjoyed their time at the camp.
One of his biggest takeaways was working with a diverse team. “I worked with kids from all over the area, but also other counselors from all over the world,” he said. “Working with people from all over, even the UK, helped me get better at collaborating with others for the betterment of the kids,” he said.
Marion Mayor’26
Marion's campers admiring a seal.Marion, a geology major and education minor, worked in Oak Park, Illinois, at Outdoor Explorers, a science camp he had worked at the summer prior. Outdoor Explorers is a kindergarten through third grade science camp where kids explore different activities and the outdoors.
Over this past summer, Marion worked as a site supervisor and described how the job could be a little hectic at times, with 48 new campers per week. Through this position, Marion oversaw operations, trained other counselors, ensured campers’ safety, and was the main point of contact for campers’ parents.
Marion poses for a picture with some of his many campers and counselors.Marion hopes to use the skills he learned towards his career after Beloit, where he hopes to become either a high school counselor or a social worker. Marion improved his skills of compassion, multitasking, communication, and role modeling.
More specifically, Marion said one of the most important skills he learned was speaking louder, not meaner. “I realized that my tone of voice was so important,” he said. “The response I would get from campers from having a louder, more positive voice rather than sounding angry was immensely different. It helped me a lot with giving people direction,” he said.
