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Counselor Nick and campers at the pottery wheels.

Apply To Work At Camp Treetops

Located in Lake Placid, NY, Camp Treetops is an overnight summer camp for children ages 8-14 years old, which nurtures an inclusive community with an emphasis on values that remain vital to this day – child-centered education, the fostering of self-reliance and self-confidence, living in harmony with nature, and preserving a child’s world through a summer unplugged.

Each summer Camp Treetops looks for seasonal staff to fill positions as counselors, registered nurses, cooks, kitchen assistants, and farm interns. Occasionally, year-round positions, which serve both Camp Treetops and North Country School, become open.

What We Look For

Treetops looks for applicants who are emotionally mature and able to live and work in a fast-paced, intense, rewarding camp community where they will serve as positive role models for children. We are especially interested in individuals who have:

  • a genuine respect for children
  • experience working with children
  • a love for the outdoors
  • a sense of adventure
  • flexibility
  • patience
  • a sense of humor
  • lots of energy.

Seasonal positions at Camp Treetops

Counselors must be at least 18 years old and out of high school for at least one year. We want our counselors to have experience working with children, understand our philosophy, and be able to offer activities in several areas. The starting pay range for counselors is $3,200 – $4,000.

Are you passionate about farm-to-fork, sustainable food? As a member of our summer kitchen team, you’ll use your skills to help create an ever-changing, seasonal menu using produce from our gardens and local sources. Cooks should have a minimum of 1 year of experience working in a professional kitchen. The starting pay range for experienced cooks is $4,000-$5,000.

Kitchen Assistants must be at least 18 years old. You should have an interest in preparing food and working in a camp kitchen, the skill to interact positively with children, and the ability to accept supervision in occasionally fast-paced situations. No kitchen experience is required for Kitchen Assistants. The starting pay range for kitchen assistants is $3,000 – $3,500.

As an integral part of the health team, you will provide support and health services to campers and adult members—staff and counselors—of the Camp Treetops community. Each day will involve using your assessment skills, triage, medication passes, and being on-call after hours, including overnight shifts as needed during Camp (housing provided). Must be a licensed Registered Nurse in New York State with nursing experience, preferably with children. You should have the desire to work and live in a camp community, as well as the ability to work as a member of a team. The starting pay range for nurses is $7,000 – $8,000.

Summer Farm Interns will immerse themselves in the daily tasks and seasonal cycles that sustain our campus farm, from growing and harvesting crops that include over 30 varieties of annual flowers and over 25 different annual vegetables and herbs, to caring for livestock, and managing rotational grazing.

Year round positions at Camp Treetops and North Country School

North Country School & Camp Treetops seeks a full-time/year-round kitchen cook. We work in several kitchens and provide farm-to-fork meals to our students, campers, and staff. We cook with produce that has been grown in our gardens or locally procured. Our pork and lamb have been raised on our farm and have been cared for by our staff and students. We buy other meats locally, sustaining our community. We also raise our own chickens and turkeys for both meat and eggs.

Maintenance Technicians will support the institution’s Facilities and Maintenance team. They will be primarily responsible for routine, predictable campus tasks related to operations, maintenance, and preventative maintenance of the campus, including its various Camp and School buildings and structures.

Please note: This position requires coverage on Saturdays and Sundays, with two days off during the week.

Explore Openings at North Country School

North Country School is located in the heart of the six-million-acre Adirondack Park, of which two million acres are forest preserve. Our 333-acre campus includes extensive vegetable and flower gardens, a working farm, a maple sugaring operation, a six-trail ski hill, a thirty-six-route rock climbing crag, two riding rings, and over 3 miles of recreational trails. North Country School has long practiced a progressive, hands-on, and place-based education, taking full advantage of its campus, the High Peaks region, and the cultural and recreational opportunities offered in nearby Lake Placid.

More Information about working at Camp Treetops

Each summer Camp Treetops hires approximately:

  • 75 counselors
  • 2 to 3 registered nurses
  • 2 to 3 cooks
  • 10 kitchen assistants
  • 2 to 3 farm interns

How to Apply

1. Read through the description of the position(s) you’re interested in and the qualifications to ensure that you meet all requirements.

2. You can save your application and continue to work on it later. However, if you plan on completing it in one sitting, please allow at least 15 to 30 minutes.

3. Gather necessary information needed to complete the application in one sitting:

  • contact information for three references
  • employment information for the past two years (including summer): employer name, email, location, start, and end dates
  • certification information for CPR/AED, EMT, Lifeguard Training, Nursing License, Wilderness First Aid, Wilderness First Responder, WSI.

4. Apply using our online application. Click here for the online application.

When to Apply

We begin accepting applications in early September and start the interview process in early December. Interviews continue until all staff positions are filled — typically around mid-March.

Interviews & Hiring

We must receive all three reference forms before we contact applicants to schedule an interview. Interviews are conducted in person, by phone, or via Zoom, based on your location and availability. Hiring decisions are generally made two to four weeks after the interview.

Compensation and Benefits

Compensation is dependent upon experience and job responsibilities.

Benefits include:

  • room and board
  • laundry facilities
  • opportunity to live, work, and play in a beautiful setting
  • computer and Internet access.

Of course the greatest benefit comes with the meaningful relationships and friendships developed with children and peers, the opportunity to help children have transformative experiences, and becoming a contributing member of the Treetops community.

Employment Dates and Time Off

The employment period extends from mid-June through mid-August. Staff arrive two weeks before campers for orientation (see below) and remain three days after campers depart in August.

All staff members will have at least six days off during the seven-week camper season, to be arranged as duties permit. In addition to a day off, staff members usually have two other evenings off per week, which begins after dinner.

Staff Orientation

All staff attend our comprehensive staff training before the arrival of our campers. A fun and educational time, Staff Orientation provides time for staff to get to know each other and to acquaint (or reacquaint) themselves with our program. Staff participate in a combination of group work periods to set up the Camp activity areas and living quarters and training sessions that cover a range of topics — from Treetops philosophy to how the program works, health and safety concerns, and sessions on working effectively with children.

Staff also have the opportunity for certification in courses such as Wilderness First Aid, CPR, and Lifeguard Training.

Accommodations

With our commitment to simple living, our staff are housed in rustic cabins or wooden platform tents designed for two to four people. Staff accommodations are separate from but nearby those of the children.

Policies on Equal Employment Opportunity & Harassment

Camp Treetops is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing a working and living environment that fosters mutual respect and relationships free of discrimination based on a protected characteristic, and to complying with the spirit and letter of applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to equal employment opportunity. For purposes of subsection A and B below, protected characteristics at Camp Treetops are an individual’s race, color, ethnicity, gender, religion, national origin, disability, age, veteran status, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and any other characteristic protected by applicable law. In addition to the guidance set forth below, a full explanation of equal employment opportunity and harassment prevention requirements, as defined by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, is available in the business office of Camp Treetops.

Camp Treetops is committed to:

  • Administering all personnel actions, including but not limited to recruitment, employment, promotion, demotion, work assignments, classification, discipline, termination, compensation, benefits, training, education, tuition assistance and social and recreational programs, without regard to any protected characteristic;
  • Administering all human resources policies, processes, and/or procedures without regard to any protected characteristic; and
  • Making required reasonable accommodation for the physical and/or mental disabilities of qualified employees and job applicants.

Camp Treetops is committed to providing a harassment-free work environment, which includes time an employee spends interacting with co-workers in work-related settings such as during business-related travel, as well as meetings, conferences, training sessions and social events sponsored by Camp Treetops.

Impermissible harassment includes, but is not limited to:

  • Making an individual’s terms or conditions of the provision of their services to Camp Treetops contingent on rendering sexual favors,
  • Insinuating or conducting oneself in a manner that suggests that the submission to or rejection of sexual favors by any individual covered by this policy will in any way influence decisions concerning the employment or contractual relationship between Camp Treetops and the individual; or
  • A comment, material, gesture or any other communication or conduct, which is unwelcome and offensive, demeaning, or derogatory towards any person or group of persons, based on a protected characteristic.