What is the Camper Worker Program? – Summer Camp Special Needs Job Training Programs.
At Camp Lee Mar we offer a well-rounded program of traditional camp activities, complemented by social skills training and job training. As our senior campers move through their traditional academic program, job coaching is introduced into their programming at around age 15.
Our senior campers still enjoy all the traditional activities that camp has to offer, but their academic and speech program expands to job coaching, interview skills and self-advocating in the community. Our Summer Camp Special Needs Job Training Programs includes:
- How to write a resume
- Filling out job application forms
- Interview skills
- Job readiness skills
- “On-the-job” training with a job coach
- Social skills within the workplace
- Self-advocacy
- Problem solving
- Communication skills/phone skills
Our campers can work in many different areas across camp. Areas that match their skills sets and interests. Our campers can apply for job training positions in the office, the dining rooms, at the pool, in activities alongside our counselors, or mail sorting, among many other areas. These positions give our campers the experience and job training they need to apply for jobs within their home communities or schools. Sometimes these jobs and the residential experience of camp are used to provide references for a campers choice of residential school or a supported college placement.
The independence, experience and confidence our campers gain from our job training program help to develop the key skills our campers will need to be successful in their transition to adult life.
Written by Lynsey Trohoske
My name is Lynsey Trohoske, I am the assistant director at Camp Lee Mar. I have three amazing children, my middle child happens to be on the autism spectrum and is a camper at Lee Mar. I joined camp as a counselor in 1998 and loved the campers and their families so much that Camp Lee Mar became my second home!
