Leadership Programs
To become a part of Onaway, is to be connected to amazing Onaway women, young and old, new to camp and long time veterans, and close to home and scattered throughout the world. The deeply shared Onaway values connect us throughout time and over great distances.
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Onaway campers learn to care for each other and for the world around them. Seven weeks of summer camp provides plenty of opportunities for leadership, both within your cabin group and with campers younger than you.
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Once that final summer of camp is finished, many girls return to join a 3-week wilderness program called OWLEs at age 16 and 17. And then return another summer when they are 17 or 18 as an AIDE, a year as a counselor-in-training.
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We love when our camp alumnae choose to return to camp as summer employees! These alumnae provide the through-line of camp culture summer after summer. (See below for employment information.)
Big Sisters
Both formal and informal roles
Welcoming New Campers
New campers are assigned a "big sister" camper who writes to them before arriving at camp, gets to know them, and helps make them feel a part of the camp community from the moment they arrive. They model the value of letter writing and long-form communication. This responsibility is one that many older campers take very seriously. They understand that living in community is essential to the Onaway experience, and they see their own role in creating a welcoming home for others.
Role Models
Older campers serve as role models at camp. They are looked up to by the younger campers who interact with them throughout each day. Mealtimes, in particular, are a time when our camp acts as one unit. We eat family style three meals each day. And our tables of of 6 to 8 people include a counselor or two and 4 to 6 campers. Older campers help set the tone at meals, assisting with table manners and helping form this community. Each week, campers switch tables so that throughout the summer they get to know everyone at camp.
Plays, Trips, and More...
Many of our special activities provide campers with an opportunity to form friendships with girls from other cabin groups. Every Saturday, for instance, we hold Brown and White games, where the camp splits into their teams for games of capture-the-flag, diamond smugglers, and others. Camp plays and long trips also include campers from different ages. Our older campers, who have often already participated in an activity help lead the way in these spaces, assisting with new or younger campers. The oldest campers step in a "SkAides" (Skytop - Aides) when the Aides have their days off.
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OWLES
Onaway Wilderness Leadership Experience
3-Weeks in the Wilderness
The OWLE program is designed for 16 and 17 year old girls following their last year as campers at Onaway. With the New Hampshire and Maine wilderness as the classroom, the girls learn valuable outdoor skills and essential life lessons. The three week trip includes canoeing, sea kayaking, rock climbing and backpacking.
A Close Cohort of Peers
The emphasis of this program is to help girls realize their leadership potential with their peers and to test it out in a number of wilderness situations. The program helps the girls appreciate the environment, instills in them a spirit of adventure, and promotes teamwork in challenging situations.
Intentional Leadership Skills
Each girl is assigned as leader of the day, making decisions for the group, several times during the trip. Girls are able to receive constructive feedback and then incorporate what the learned as each girl is leads the group at least two if not three times. They learn to read maps and budget their food.
AIDES
Onaway Counselors in Training
Mentorship
An aide is a former camper or other 17 – 18 year old who attends camp for a summer of counselor training. Each Aide works directly with two cabin group counselors, receiving direct mentorship as they take a leadership role in the life of the cabin group. This position comes with a stipend, as the girls grow in real responsibilities throughout the summer.
Responsibility
The Aides assume responsibility in assisting the counselors with activities, trips, and cabin groups. Every day, there is an Aide-of-the-day, who assists the COD with the daily schedule. As the summer progresses and both skills and confidence increase, Aides take the lead role in classes and cabin group activities. Early in the summer, the Aides make their mark by creating a themed day of activities for the camp on the 4th of July.Â
Community
Aides lives together in their own cabin group. Often, they are girls who have known each other for years as campers. Now as they grow into responsibility, they do this together. They have their weekly day off together, they are leaders in chapel service together, and they learn to balance their free time with their responsibilities, as they take that step toward being a counselor the next summer.
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Counselors
Where your summer is more than a job
New Skills & Personal Growth
Counselors at Camp Onaway develop expertise in relationship building, teaching, lesson planning, trip management, conflict management, time management, and so much more! A summer working at camp will equip you with so many of the soft skills you need to thrive in a future career.Â
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You learn to work in a close community with a diverse group of people. Together, you foster a culture of acceptance and joy and resilience.Â
Beauty & Fun
Spending the summer as a counselor at Onaway also means a daily jump in the lake, a time to hike up New Hampshire's White Mountains, and a return to a more simple, fun life in the woods.
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Time with young people being goofy is never wasted time. Onaway has a culture that sings all day long, marvels in evening skits, plays games, cheers on campers who are striving for goals, and does all of this in a culture where people are simple accepted for who they are.
Life-long Friendship
Being an Onaway counselor means making life long friends with people from all over and of all ages. The bond created as you form community with your fellow counselors and campers is unlike other places.Â
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To become a counselor is to give back to Onaway and ensure that she thrives in the years to come. You carry the flame of this place and provide magic for campers every summer!Â
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