Our Staff
Our well-trained staff grew up at camp too
Dedicated, responsible, safety oriented, and fun loving describe the staff at Camp Otterdale. These leaders nurture your child’s camp experience with their enthusiasm and love of people and camping.
All staff are chosen for their leadership ability, skill and a keen interest in caring for children. They are well versed and qualified in facilitating camp activities. Counsellors are 18 years of age or older, and all are former campers.
Each cabin group of 10 campers has 2-3 staff members. The team consists of junior counsellors and a more experienced counsellor between the ages of 18 and 22. In addition to their counselling duties, the staff also instruct at least two different activities each day.
Our Leadership Team
Camp Otterdale’s Leadership Team grew up here as campers and learned their Counsellor and Program skills as staff. Vibrant, dedicated and multi-talented, this group of highly motivated individuals work directly with Captain and Muskie. They ensure our programs and activities run smoothly, our younger staff are coached and supported and most importantly our campers are safe and well cared for. Their collective skills set is impressive. Our Leadership team have up to date qualifications in Swimming, First Aid, Canoeing, Sailing, Climbing, Camp skills, Environmental pursuits, and they aren’t too bad in the kitchen when needed!
We pride ourselves on our Leadership team.
They join us in May to help with the physical side of maintaining the camp site and to assume a variety of roles needed to run a successful summer camp. From this team, we assign individuals to Program Director, Assistant Director, Administration, Maintenance, Waterfront and Swim Director. This allows them opportunities to develop and hone everything from carpentry skills to preparing the vegetable garden at the Camp Farm to facilitating workshops, teaching staff how to run an activity, leading an evening program…..the list is endless.
Campers at heart, hands on Leaders through and through, we couldn’t run Camp Otterdale without this team!
Counsellors
At the core of Camp Otterdale are our Counsellors. These young leaders, with a level of maturity and intuitiveness far beyond their years, guide, coach and mentor our campers, both in the cabins and out at activities. Their communication skills are exemplary. Listening, assessing, coordinating, and always looking through the lens of empathy and kindness, a Camp Otterdale Counsellor encourages and cheers on all campers!
Each Counsellor is responsible for the team building of a cabin group, as well as the daily needs and activities of each camper in their cabin. Like any great Coach, our Counsellors provide direction and feedback to the younger staff assigned to the cabin.
As part of the Camp Otterdale staff community, our Camp Counsellors also communicate and work directly with the Leadership team as well as Captain and Muskie. Their enthusiasm knows no bounds. Keen to lead the whole camp in a new song, quick to attend to a scraped knee, swift to don a crazy costume just to play Capture the Flag, our Counsellors spread joy and their love of camp to everyone they connect with.
Senior Leaders
At Camp Otterdale, we call them “SLeds” which is short for “Senior Leaders.” These 2nd year assistant counsellors have a summer of leadership learning under their belt, and play a key role at activities and in their cabins.
Teamed up with a Camp Counsellor, each SLed provides the caring and support for each camper in their assigned cabin. As well, they help out the Junior Leaders “learn the ropes,” while they continue their own training/learning to become a full-fledged Camp Counsellor.
Junior Leaders
At Camp Otterdale, we call our youngest staff “J-Leds” which is short for “Junior Leaders.” During their first summer on staff, the J-Leds embrace a very busy summer of transitioning from a camper to effectively becoming a full-fledged staff member of our Camp community.
We provide many opportunities for growth, as the J-Leds take on new responsibilities in a variety of activities and cabin life. It’s a summer of apprenticing while providing hands on assistance to the older staff, to their cabin team, and to the daily Camp Otterdale activities. For 2 weeks, each J-Led spends time learning and helping our Kitchen Manager prepare meals and do the dishes for the whole camp!
Led by Captain and Muskie, the Leadership Team and their Camp Counsellor, the J-Leds quickly accumulate the skill set to become loving Leaders in our community. It is a joy to watch them thrive!
Support Staff
We couldn’t flourish without our support staff. Ok, we actually couldn’t function without them! Our Support staff are an integral part of our team and we thank our good fortune for their presence.
Kitchen Staff
Led by our Fantastic well qualified Kitchen Managers, our Kitchen team is also comprised of our Junior Leader staff who assist in the food preparation and dishwashing tasks.
Health Centre Staff
We have been so fortunate to have such qualified Nurses, Nurse Practitioners and Doctors join us for a session to run the Health Care Centre.
Other Staff
In order for Camp Otterdale to run on a daily basis, we rely on our Maintenance team! Whether it’s a basic fix on a tap, or a more involved project, our Maintenance team, led by Captain keeps us going strong!