Staff
The staff at Farm & Wilderness is a dedicated and creative group of people. We hire talented people who share F&W's philosophy. Many of our staff members were F&W campers or counselors, and/or also current or former camp parents, and they understand the importance of creating a safe, nurturing, challenging, and fun environment for children.
Learn more about the administrative team, the summer camp directors, and the rest of the year round staff by visiting the pages on the right hand side of this page.
Each summer Farm & Wilderness hires 200 new and returning staff for the summer camps. Some returning staff have been working at Farm & Wilderness for almost 25 years. The summer staff is a competent and diverse group of adults with a passion for providing opportunities for kids to learn about themselves and the world around them. All summer camp counselors are committed to the F&W mission and are skilled in particular program areas. Many of them were themselves former campers, and some of them come from multiple generations of F&W campers.
Our summer staff to camper ratio is 1 to 3. Due our extensive wilderness tripping program and the age of campers at Tamarack Farm and Saltash Mountain, we hire many counselors 21 years of age and older.
Before each camp season begins, the counselor staff undergoes extensive orientation to working with children at F&W. First-time staffers attend a six-day skills training in the activity area in which they will teach campers. During skills week staff can become trained and certified as Red Cross Lifeguards and in Wilderness First Aid, if those certifications are relevant to their positions. All staff are certified in Basic First Aid and CPR. All waterfront counselors have Red Cross Lifeguard Certification. We meet American Camping Association (ACA) standards for counselor certification and hours of training required in the various program areas. Every rock climbing instructor is trained and evaluated by our experienced climbing coordinator before working with campers.
All counselor staff attend a nine-day Staff Week at their camp, receiving further training in their activity speciality, making activity plans for the summer, and preparing their cabins and lodge groups to welcome and support their particular campers.
