youthoutside
Counselors in Training By Tailor Dolgin, Associate Youth Programs Manager
Summer 2021 staff and CITs pose for a photo before a rafting field trip. Photo by OAC Staff.
I
was the kid at camp struggling with homesickness and cowering from the spiders that visited my bunk. I had friends attend the same camp year after year, become counselors in training (CITs) during high school, and then return to those camps in college as staff. I never understood their connection to camp until I met the CITs at our Mountaineers summer camps. Over the nine weeks of day camp that ran during the summer of 2021, we had nineteen teenagers join us at our Seattle Program Center to help create camp magic. As someone who didn’t grow up as an enthusiastic summer camp attendee, the irony that my role at The Mountaineers is to eat, sleep, and breathe summer camp is not lost on me. And I feel so lucky to be inspired by our amazing CITs now every year. They are a wonderful example of how summer camp shapes its own future and provides community for campers and teens while school is out.
Expanding the role of a CIT CITs volunteer to be a part of our camp community, doing everything from belaying campers to helping oversee swimming safety in Lake Washington. They teach bracelet-
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mountaineer | winter 2022
making and lead games of “where’s my water bottle?” They participate in safety talks, jokes, riddles, field trips, and most importantly, they empathize and engage with campers as their role models. The CIT program was first introduced in 2013, and many of our CITs are involved as campers for years before they volunteer. As camps have evolved, so has the CITs’ role in the program. As we brought in-person camp back this past summer after a year-long hiatus due to COVID-19, we were able to look at our CIT program with fresh eyes. In the past, campers aged out of our programs after they turned 12, and did not have the opportunity to return as CITs until they were at least 14. We decided this just wouldn’t do. In 2021, we invited 13-17 year-olds to join camp as CITs. We also introduced a new type of CIT just for our 13 and 14 yearold volunteers: an All-Time Belayer. An All-Time Belayer’s role at camp is exactly what their name implies: they help belay campers anytime they are on campus. Eight intrepid 13 and 14 year-olds volunteered their time this past summer to brush up on their belay skills and support campers on the wall. Seven of the eight All-Time Belayers were campers from years past, a testament to the strength of our camp community.
