THE LIT EXPERIENCE

Learn hands-on leadership skills in an exciting new place.
Then bring those skills home to make a difference in the lives of our campers.

At camp everything we do points toward SUCCESS. When you become a 9th or 10th grader, SUCCESS begins to take on new meanings. Our commitment to our LITs is to help you develop leadership skills for problem solving, role modeling, and working as a team.

TAKE ON MEANINGFUL RESPONSIBILITY
We want you to become a SUCCESSFUL staff member, but we also want you to gain important skills for college and for beginning your career. All this happens with the opportunity to visit a new and different community and culture, where you
will make an important contribution toward the people and their environment.

PARTICIPATE IN AN EXCITING ADVENTURE
You will journey to a new place, meet new people, and work together with them to improve their surroundings and their lives. You’ll come back ready to make a bigger difference in the lives of your campers, and all the new leadership skills will be yours for life.

Impressive real-life experience that will stand
out on your resumé and college application

The chance to make a difference in the lives
of others, in a whole new community,
and then back at camp

All programs include an LIT Salary of $250 for 8 weeks work at camp AND an additional $150 if your LIT becomes a bus counselor. Tips have been averaging about $250 per person over the past few years. This year we are allowing both 4 and 8 week sessions for LIT’s. Regardless of whether you choose 4 or 8 weeks, the cost of the programs is the same. Program costs reflect the cost of the weeklong trip and overall leadership training. All programs include the Pine Grove Leadership training which is a formal weekly meeting and ongoing job supervision by our Leadership Training Supervisor.

Option 1: Long Acre Adventure

Leadership training in the Poconos with Long Acre Expeditions: This program has been VERY successful in teaching teens teamwork, leadership, and responsibility. This program includes leadership training both by the camp staff and the Long Acre Staff, and significant hiking and camping during the 6 days out. IT IS DESIGNED TO GET YOUNG PEOPLE OUT OF THEIR COMFORT ZONES and push them to see what they can accomplish.

DATES: June 27 to July 2; Approximate Cost: $2700

Option 2: Habitat for Humanity

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY Covington, Louisiana (about 45 miles outside New Orleans): Here our LITs will be flying from Newark to New Orleans to work with Habitat for Humanity, building houses on the Gulf Coast. This trip will be fully supervised by camp personnel and guided by Habitat for Humanity. This adventure promises to be fun, rewarding and very hard work! The leadership training portion of this program will be handled exclusively by camp personnel. Community service hours will count towards any high school requirement and letters of completion issued by the host service organization for participants to show to prospective colleges.

Dates: July 11 to July 17; Approximate Cost: $3000; Airfare $250.

Option 3 Costa Rica or La Push, Washington

Costa Rican Rainforest Village Experience

This international leadership and community service trip heads to the beautiful Costa Rican rain forest where our LITs will work with a small community built around the spectacular Carara Rainforest Reserve. The reserve is about 30 miles west of San Jose. Our LITs will fly into San Jose and spending a week in cabins (with electricity and plumbing) and helping with the following local projects:

Building pedestrian bridges
Painting schools
Building Housing
Tree planting and reforestation
School renovations
Rain forest trail renovation and maintenance

Participants will also get to work with local children and participate in leisure activities. This program is designed for both community service and environmental awareness. Participants will receive a letter of completion for both community service hours and college admissions. All leadership training will be done by camp staff and the group will be accompanied by an camp staff member.

Tentative Dates: July 26 - August 1; Approximate Cost: $3500; Projected Airfare Cost: $500 to $700.

La Push, Washington Option (new!)

lapush This is an exciting new trip for 2010 with LIT’s flying into Seattle and traveling 4 hours north to stay in La Push. The program includes community service projects and cultural exchange with the Quileute Tribe who are native to the Pacific Northwest. The village is right on the beach and is an autonomous Native American Reservation.

Community service projects will include:

Trail Restoration and Renovation
Helping the villagers record and document the stories of the elders
Beautification of the reservation grounds
Building painting and maintenance

Cultural exchange will include:

Living in a reservation which is closed to outsiders
History of Quileute people
Cultural activities including dance and drum circlesTeaching of native arts
Living arrangements: LIT’s will be housed at the La Push Community Center which is complete with bathrooms and kitchen. Meals are provided both at the Community Center and in the village and La Push is a fishing village expect seafood! We will be traveling to La Push in December and will have more information on the trip soon.

Tentative Dates: July 25th to August 1st Cost: $3000 Airfare: TBD

ALL PROGRAMS INCLUDE

Commitment to 4 to 8 weeks employment as LIT
Complete LIT training including formal weekly meeting and ongoing job supervision
LIT salary, and potential for added gratuities from parents
Door-to-door transportation, to and from camp

APPLICATION REQUIRES:

Two letters of recommendation
Last year’s school transcript
250-word essay on why you want to participate and why you want to become a camp counselor

This carefully planned and fully supervised program is strictly limited to only 12 campers per group, so we want to hear from you now. Call us for full application materials.