What Was it Like to be on Staff This Summer?
Giving up your summer to work as a counselor is always a big deal. We ask our full summer staff to leave their hometowns and spend 11+ weeks in our community, living a life of service and sacrifice out of love for the Lord and our campers. Of course, this kind of selfless work reaps countless rewards, and we do everything we can to pour into them throughout the summer (check out our Adopt a Staffer program next!), but there’s no denying that being a camp counselor is hard work, and this year even more so.
Our 175+ full summer staff (and 85+ Junior staff!) signed their contracts without knowing many details about what a COVID summer would look like. They didn’t know if they’d be able to leave the Bubble for time off, if they would be asked to wear masks, or what their activity areas would look like. What they did recognize was that God was going to do something unique in Greystone this summer, and they wanted to be a part of it.
Like every staff group before them, they came in to Orientation with countless hopes for the summer ahead…and a few nerves. They came ready to make lifelong friendships, to learn more about themselves, and to serve selflessly to give God glory. And just like the counselors before them, their summers were filled with highs and lows, moments of tremendous growth and lessons, but also so many moments of pure joy and abandon as we all relished being back at camp for the first time in 2 years.
If you weren’t with us this summer, just know, it was a really sweet one, and our staff are able to attest to that as well. The Lord answered prayers! But don’t just take our word for it - scroll down to hear from some of our incredible staff members about what the summer was like for them.
This summer was special and needed more than ever!
After the year we’d all been through, our campers were craving camp, and the same went for our staff! Everyone recognized that the joyous, free, peaceful feeling of the Bubble was a kind of antidote to the stress and anxiety of the pandemic. We knew that the summer was special as we were in it!
- “I had a feeling that there would be something really special about the campers who came back this summer. After having a summer away, I knew that the campers that were choosing to come back had to love camp fiercely and I wanted to experience a camp community that was so excited to be home after desperately missing it the year before!” - Margaret Stacy
- “Being on staff this summer just gave me a good ‘reset’ after a crazy year and a half of COVID and navigating my first year of college during COVID. It was nice to just take a break from the craziness of the real world and be present in camp.” - Lydia Sidrys
- “Similar to many campers and counselors this year, I was both excited and nervous about being back at camp this summer. It is a place so grounded in tradition and keeping the special things the same, and a place that has been consistent, familiar, and comfortable for my whole life. Knowing that things would be different this summer was scary, but I was so ready to dive right in and change along with it! I was really excited to go back to camp this summer even though I hadn’t worked there since 2019, because I knew that the group of staff would feel the same way. It would be a group of people that didn’t really know what was coming but who were willing to be flexible and enthusiastic anyways. After a hard year of isolation that looked so different for everyone, I could not wait to be back at my home in the mountains with my favorite people in the world!” - Janey Oline
- “This job truly teaches you the joy that comes from serving others and putting their needs ahead of your own, which is something that I needed so bad after spending the last couple years more focused on myself. Not only do you get to contribute to young girls’ lives in such a meaningful way, but you also grow personally in tremendous ways. It is also SO FUN!” - Libby Floyd
It was the hardest, best job ever.
We say it every summer, and it was truer this year than ever. This staff team poured themselves out over and over again, and felt that deep satisfaction of a job well done at the end of it. Well done, good and faithful indeed!
- “Being on staff this summer was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but by far the most rewarding. Watching my campers grow and cheering them on filled me up more than anything ever has in my life!” - Anna Ruth Morrison
- “The hours are long, you’re basically mothering 10 kids, it’s hot, and you never sleep…yet it was still my favorite summer I’ve ever experienced. The relationships you form with the other staff are incredible! All in all, camp is silly and fun and exhausting and sweaty and rewarding and peaceful. The greatest test of strength and endurance, but also the most humbling and blessed experience of my life. ” - Abby Ivester
- “I wanted to work at camp this summer because being a counselor at camp is the most rewarding and challenging thing that I have ever done.” - Libby Floyd
It changed me forever.
If you give your all during a summer as a counselor, you can’t help but leave a better, more patient, more friendly, more giving person. We are better for having worked at Greystone, that is for sure!
- “Working at camp has made me the friend, leader, and person I am today, and the lessons I have learned there will stick with me forever.” - Margaret Stacy
- “Being a part of the full summer staff team this year was incredible, to say the least. It felt like I was a part of something bigger. I think that was especially true this year because of the circumstances surrounding our everyday lives. Returning to camp - or coming for the first time - was more important than ever, and we could feel that.” - Abby Schenider
We will sing from the rooftops how grateful we are for our 2021 staff team! They are getting a well-deserved rest now, but our search has already begun for next summer’s counselors.
Do you know someone who was made for this job? Send them our way! Working at camp really is the hardest, best job ever, and we can’t wait to see the team the Lord puts together for summer 2022!
