The Village Leader (VL) “Hands” at Camp Augusta
AKA: Program Coordinator
You make ideas into reality.
As campers and counselors dream up their next quest to complete in the days ahead with mysterious old wizards and adventure galore, you are poised to prepare our heroes for the journey ahead. You live to push dreamers into uncharted realms, bringing the glimmer of imagination to light as campers and counselors alike embark on treks filled with perilous challenge and fruitful reward. You are a vital part of wondrous and creative happenings each and every day, providing counselors and Village Leaders alike with the tools, support, and resources to make their grand imaginings a reality. Whether ensuring a cabin has the guide and materials necessary to trek through the mountains on a climbing day trip or conjuring a ‘bloodstone’ in time for the cabin activity in three hours, you live to bring ideas to life by utilizing detailed and structured supply lists, clear and timely inter-domain communication, and an efficient and well-managed (by you) team of support.
The 2025 Village Leader Team
Being a logistical whiz, you also have the opportunity to teach a few activities each day, participate in camp-wide games, create magical immersive worlds for campers, or tell a scary story. Other camps may know you as Program Coordinator, but at Camp Augusta, you are our Village Hands!
A cabin act making a giant gummy worm!
Nuts & Bolts of the Job
So, what do you actually do all day as The VL Hands?
About 80% of your role is coordinating the operations and success of Cabin Activities:
- Work with campers and counselors to figure out how to operationalize their fantastical ideas. They want to go “swing from a chandelier”? How can we make that happen at camp? (Spoiler: We hang a lyra sideways, give the campers materials to decorate it like a chandelier, and then let them try out circus tricks on their new Chandelyra!)
- Create and maintain a well-organized system and space for the many materials camp has to make these ideas real. We have a guillotine, a ping-pong cannon, a human spinning wheel, an xyz cannon, a fresnel lens that can melt metal, mountain boards, inflatables galore, an arsenal of airsoft and paintball equipment, racks of art supplies, bins of beakers and chemicals for science experiments, foam tipped arrows and bows, fishing poles, a real katana, SCUBA gear, goblets, tea sets, a smoke machine, a wood fired hot tub, a ‘junkyard’ of potential treasures, 3 costume closets, human bubble suits, spa supplies, and so much more!
- Research & Plan what’s possible. Campers want to make liquid nitrogen rockets? What materials do we need? How can we make sure everyone stays safe?
- Gather materials and set up cabin activities for all cabins. Each cabin will run one of these activities they have created every day. You’re making sure they have what they need for that hour.
Preparing the Air Cannon
- Record what works. Work with counselors and VLs to document activities that went well so we can run them again!
Then about 20% of your time will be devoted to other parts of camp:
- Make sure campers go home with everything they brought! Find fun ways to make sure campers take home their lost & found (auction it back to them? Clothesline in the dining area? It’s up to you!
- Support and coordinate with the 6-person village leader team
- Teach two activity blocks per day. Find joy in the variety and the opportunity to impart knowledge and facilitate fun : )
- Assist with the set-up of all-camp weekend programming.
- Manage the town run. Two or three times a week someone will go into town to get materials we need for different activities running at camp. You’re the point-person for this.
- Add extra magic to elaborate Wakeups and Embers.
No list could ever fully capture what the hands does in a day. And that’s what makes summer camp a special place!
For a glimpse of what setting up cabin acts looks like, here’s the actual supply list for one day of cabin acts!
Would I enjoy being the VL Hands?
Likely, you would find joy in this job if:
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- You’re excited to bring ideas to life. You’re a skilled “editor” and you thrive on taking creations and making them possible. You want to find ways to say, “yes” to campers’ big dreams.
- You read this page about Camp Augusta’s vision of cultivating Creativity & Expression and feel excited to be part of it.
- You want to live in a world of limitless play; constantly coming up with new and thrilling ideas for bringing wish, wonder, and surprise to the camp community.
- You are open, caring, patient, and flexible when working with a variety of people.
- You are eager to support creative growth in campers and village counselors alike.
- You’re comfortable with computer work and especially google sheets. You believe that keeping things organized and running from behind the scenes is just as important as talking in front of a group.
- You love to organize and manage stuff. You are thrilled by seeing a mess turned into a systematized clean space, and you have ideas to make it possible. You’re a ‘clean’ and organized person in your life outside of camp, and you find flow in that.
- You’re excited about being a leader in the community – supporting other staff and holding professional boundaries.
- You’re excited to live in a community, and manage a semi-community space. Let’s be honest, sometimes counselors are in a rush, materials get destroyed and lost. Things get mixed up. In general, entropy happens in your space, and you have the patience and positivity to manage that space while improving your own structures of the space and keeping a positive orientation of the community.
- You love kids and you want to work with them to offer fun, memorable experiences even beyond your realm.
- You’re excited to learn. You know that you know lots and are also humble in what you don’t know yet. You see learning new skills as an opportunity, and you’re okay with getting things wrong sometimes
Beyond the Perks, why be a VL Hands at Augusta?
- Meaningful work: You will be part of shaping the lives of hundreds of campers by making their ideas real and teaching them they can make their own fun (even without screens!)
- You already love summer camp, and you want a stepping-stone role into camp leadership. The hands role offers a unique opportunity to work as a program director, but also part of a Village Leader team. You can get involved in many areas of camp, and absorb tons of ideas and perspectives into other roles at Augusta or your life beyond Augusta.
- Numerous opportunities for leadership advancement – if desired, receive training in the summer for another role the following summer
- 75+ hours of training in your choice of clinics from 140+ options, including weaponry, circus arts (like fire spinning), high ropes course, intensive arts (like blacksmithing), mountain biking/boarding, and music. Take on new skills / hobbies!
- Fun! Working at camp offers you the chance to do this meaningful work in the beautiful woods of Northern California while also being playful and silly throughout your days. How often do you get to show up for work in the morning in full costume?
