Wilderness Expedition Leader/ Trips Staff
Position Summary:
The Trip Staff role is hired to take the lead role in planning and leading canoeing, hiking and/or rock-climbing trips for campers at Firefly Song. Trip staff will lead two trips during each three-week session of camp. Our trips range from two night/three-day trips to four night/five-day trips. We send campers out according to age and offer various levels of challenge (e.g., elevation, distance). Our trips take place in Vermont and New Hampshire (Green Mountain National Forest; Long Trail, White Mountains) and we also send a few trips to Western Maine and the Adirondacks in New York. Trips generally have two staff – one trip staff and one non-trip staff, and 6-8 campers.
Essential Functions:
- Co-lead four trips over the course of the summer
- Manage physical and mental health and safety of campers while out on the trail
- Support campers in their on-trail experience in keeping with Farm & Wilderness values (e.g. meal preparation, Leave No Trace, chore management, fire building).
- Take responsibility for route planning and navigation
- Assist Trips Coordinator in gear management in FS Trips Building
- Checking for proper function
- Utilize the check in and check out tracking systems for campers and staff who borrow personal gear
- Keep overall space in working order
- Once trip assignments are made, trip staff work with their co-leader and group to prepare for the upcoming trip
- Build community and think about how the group will begin to work together
- Check camper gear and acquire necessary group gear.
- Work through itinerary with campers
- Create menus/do menu planning
- Fill out required trip documentation
- Identify one leader to check with Nurse and Behavioral Health team about medications and behavioral health information, and to obtain first aid kit and health forms.
- Effectively manage distributing camper medication as needed on the trail
Post-trip
- Complete required paperwork
- Manage return and cleaning of all trip gear, including food
- Debrief trip with other Trip Staff and Trip Coordinator and share any necessary information with relevant other leadership staff such as Camp Director, Assistant Director, and/or Lodge Heads
Additional Responsibilities:
- Model enthusiasm about the positive role trips can play in each camper’s summer experience.
- During staff training, with support from Trips Coordinator, lead FS counselors on a simulated F&W overnight
- Participate in lesson plan creation and trainings to support the entire trips process (group dynamics, trail etiquette, gear management, pack out and pack in processes)
- Familiarize yourself with the F&W Trips Leader Manual; review trip reports from prior years’ trips
- Manage gear and tools that are assigned to your team for each trip (e.g., spot devices, petty cash, specialized medical gear).
- Keep notes on the campers on each trip; write a short segment about their experience to contribute to “camper letters”
- Live as a “third” in a camper cabin; eat meals with the cabin, provide occasional cabin coverage
- With Trips Coordinator, inventory all gear at the end of season and return to Operations Team
- Overall be an active and contributing member of the Firefly Song community
- Other duties as assigned by the Camp Director
Work Conditions:
- Work shifts consist of 6 days on, 1 day off
- Live in three-sided open-air cabins (RUSTIC and no electricity) with campers
- Toilets are composting outhouses
- Outdoor showers with hot running water
- Meals, coffee, and tea are provided through our camp kitchens
- Employees will have access to WIFI in designated spaces and cannot use cell phones and/or other technology outside of these designated spaces.
- The use of nicotine, alcohol, and controlled substances (including marijuana) is not allowed on camp property.
Preferred Qualifications & Experience:
- Prior experience leading wilderness trips
- Prior experience working or volunteering with children
- Ability to act with integrity with both campers and staff in a residential community setting.
- Ability to work in a fast paced, multi-layer environment.
- Openness to work with people (both staff and campers) from diverse backgrounds (e.g., ability, economic, racial, religious, political, geographical, gender, sexual orientation, cultural).
- Must pass reference checks and background screenings, which include sex offender registry check.
- Alignment with Farm & Wilderness’ values
Compensation & Benefits:
- Summer Salary paid biweekly
- Room and Board
- Personal laundry sent out and returned each week
- Access to an Employee Assistance Program- Resources, Support and Guidance
- Training in working with campers, which includes certification in Wilderness First Aid, CPR, and others depending on your position and experience (e.g., Lifeguard, Water Safety Instructor)
- Camp T-shirt and pro deals (discounts on outdoor clothing and gear).
- Magical summer with amazing community.
Organizational Summary:
- Farm & Wilderness Foundation (F&W) is a non-profit, educational organization operating five summer camps and programs for children and teens, a family camp, retreat rentals, and a conservation organization. Encompassing over 1,500-acres in the Green Mountains of Vermont, our camps and programs are known to be joyful, creative places full of adventure where staff and campers embody the idea that “work is love made visible.” In 2018, F&W joined forces with the Nineveh Foundation to manage the conservation of more than 3,300 acres of land and water in the Lake Nineveh valley. People of any race, background, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or economic status are encouraged to apply to join our community as campers or staff.