What are the dates?
Staff Training
Monday, May 28th – Saturday, June 9th
Camper Sessions
Sunday, June 10th – Wednesday, August 8th
Wrap-Up
Thursday, August 9th – Friday, August 11th
What are the accommodations like?
Counselors make themselves at home in cabins nestled among the pine and aspen trees. Cabins are campy, simple, yet modern, and are heated and have electricity. Your cabin group will include a Co-Counselor and up to 12 happy campers. A bath house is centrally located which is shared with campers. Administrative and support staff live in a communal staff housing building.
Laundry facilities are available at camp (suds provided) at no cost. Wireless internet availability is limited. Phones are available (please bring a calling card if you plan to make long distance calls).
Healthy, kid friendly meals are served family style in the dining hall. Afternoon snacks are available through your camp store account and evening snacks are provided for staff in the dining hall after lights out.
How many staff members and campers are there?
YMCA Camp Santa Maria can accommodate up to 120 campers. Our staff team is made up of about 30 people, including counselors, administrative and support staff.
How do I get to camp?
If you can get yourself to Denver, we’ll take care of the rest! Most of our staff members come from outside of Colorado and fly in to Denver International Airport. We would be happy to pick you up at the airport. Or, like many of our staff members, you can make a road trip of it. Either way, YMCA Camp Santa Maria is easy to get to. We’re located about 45 minutes west of Denver on U.S. Highway 285. View the Map and Directions.
Coming to camp but won’t have a car for the summer? No problem. One of the great things about Camp Santa Maria is that we are a close community of friendly people and enjoy being together. Many staff members do bring cars and on days off our staff members plan outings together to relax, play and explore Colorado in the summertime.
What do staff members do for fun?
The opportunities for fun while you are on staff at YMCA Camp Santa Maria are boundless. We will hike, climb, backpack, mountain bike, skateboard, kayak, raft, shoot archery, fish, horseback ride, create art, and swim, among many, many other great activities. We’ll spend evenings at camp night hiking, playing games, telling stories, and sitting by the campfire.
And, when it’s time to relax and enjoy your time off, there are endless opportunities for exploring and recreating in the Colorado Rockies. Take a day trip to ski towns like Breckenridge and Vail, head into Denver for shopping and catch up on city life, or take advantage of the many hiking trails and climbing locations in the area. Since summer is busy and bustling and time off is limited, many of our staff members plan a few extra days before or after camp to see the sights.
The Top Reasons Staff Work at YMCA Camp Santa Maria
1. Not a job, a calling:
People who “work” here at Santa Maria don’t come for the money. You could make more money working somewhere else. It’s a job about people and being part of crafting a community. You’ll live with your fellow staff, and they’ll become your second family. You will potentially have a huge positive impact on your campers for years beyond their time at camp. People can have a job, career, or a calling. We’re looking for folks who have a calling to work with youth in the outdoors and to inspire them to become their best.
2. We are interested in your personal and professional growth:
Our goal at the end of the summer is to have developed some of the best camp staff in the country. Working at Camp Santa Maria will provide you with a wide range of transferrable skills. Skills that you will have the opportunity to develop in yourself during the summer: organization, motivating others, solution crafting, leadership, followership, emotional intelligence, prioritizing, decision making, risk management, working with groups, behavioral guidance, project management, wilderness first aid, CPR, life guarding, teambuilding, group development, responsibility, self-confidence, child development, skill integration, and knowledge of more games and activities than you thought existed. We can also teach you skills in almost any program area, so that you can teach it to children and adults. It is common for staff to say they’ve learned more about themselves in three months than in several years before being through a summer at camp. It is also common for people to change their major/life course after experiencing a summer working at camp. Will this job change your life? If it does not change it, it will most likely positively affect it in some way. And we love to help you find jobs in a wide rage of fields.
3. Friends you’ll keep for life
Fast and deep friendships are made living and working with your teammates. People often keep in contact for years. A camp community has the tendency to accelerate relationship development. Working so closely with children, it is inevitable that you’ll form bonds with your campers. You’ll also be instrumental in the development of children. Help foster self-confidence, independence, life-long recreational skills, safe risk taking, an appreciation for community, a healthy lifestyle, caring, honesty, respect, responsibility, environmental awareness, and fun! Helping kids learn how to make new friends and how to be a good friend is a job you will be proud to have done well.
5. Memories
Your photo album will be full of pictures that you will treasure for the rest of your life. You will also make memories for others. You will have the opportunity to make friends with people you might never have met in a non-camp setting.
6. Fun!
Will your time here at Santa Maria be the time of your life? It just might be. You will pack in so many fun activities into your summer you will be talking about them for years to come. Fun is the vehicle we use to craft community, develop people, and teach skills. In addition to having fun we also promote having FUNN (Functional Understanding Not Necessary) whenever we can.
7. Work and play in a real community
Work with staff from around the country, and children from all walks of life. You’ll be with high-quality staff who went through a rigorous selection process and share many of the same values as you, and maybe some different from you. Your suggestions are heard, discussed, and often used. Everyone evaluates each other – it isn’t just from the top down. Be yourself and be accepted. People pitch in and share the load. People belong and everyone has equal power in helping to craft the camp community.
8. Healthy living
The days are quite long, the activities are often rigorous, and you’ll sleep well, eat well, and get plenty of exercise! We use as much organic and fresh food as possible. And you will be living at 8000’ above sea level and be able to breathe fresh mountain air everyday!
9. Beautiful
YMCA Camp Santa Maria is blessed with incredible natural surroundings. We have a small lake, miles of hiking trails, the North fork of the South Platte River runs through camp, nature that sometimes gets really close, and over 1000 acres in the Rocky Mountains. Camp is located at 8000’, has a diverse forests, and we are located next to thousands of acres of national forest. And on a clear night, our view of the heavens is almost unreal.
10. Creativity
You’ll find that your work offers both an outlet and a challenge to your creativity. At camp you will be expected to be as creative as you can while keeping things safe of course. Seeing your fellow staff being crazy and innovative adds fuel to the creative fire that amazes us all every year!
