GESHER
Our Staff-In-Training Program
for Entering High School Seniors
(Gesher is the Hebrew word for "Bridge")

 
The Gesher program has three main goals: 

To create opportunities for personal & professional growth. Everyone at camp is here to learn and grow. That's why our Gesher program is very intentional about giving participants not only the tools they need to succeed as camp staff members, but also tools that will help them engage as Jewish citizens of the world. 

To provide participants with meaningful work experience. As vital members of our operations staff, we value the work of our Gesher program, and seek to give them a supervision experience that not only gets the job done, but provides tools & skills that will be useful to them when they are employees in other settings. We also want participants to have meaningful time learning how to work with campers, and will provide staff mentors who will help cultivate those key camp skills.

To provide participants with a meaningful transition from “camper” to “staff member”. It is essential that we spend time compoaring and contrasting the camper and staff experience; the experiences are, of course, different, and it is vital that future staff members understand this and can bridge the difference.

Gesher will seek to strike a balance between work experience, engagement in our camper program, and education designed uniquely for entering high school seniors.

Aspects of the program include:

Time & commtment to the educational program. The daily education program, which will take place 12-15 times per session, will focus primarily on camp staff skills. Then 6-8 times per session, participants will ahve evening programs, led by our visiting faculty, covering a broad range of issues & topics, all chose with high school seniors in mind.

Opportunities for supervision & mentorship from our top staff members. As opposed to just learning by watching, we make sure our Unit Heads and our most experienced counselros are involved in delivering programming and sharing best practices with Gesher program participants.

A reasonable daily work schedule. The work rotation schedules gives Gesherim more time "in the trenches" with the campers and the camp program - the best way for them to put their growing set of skills to practice.

Deadlines:
Application deadline - 12/31
Interviews - Mid-Jan. thru Mid-Feb.
We will accept applicants who are available for the whole summer program first. Those who cannot commit to a whole summer will be waitlisted.

Acceptance notification will be issued by the end of February. After February 15, late applications will be considered on a space-available basis only.