Summer camp: Staffing and supply hurdles, but no shortage of fun
Zoa Archer planned to be back at camp this summer. She’d already accepted a job at Camp Summer Fenn in Concord, Massachusetts, and knew how desperate the camp was for staff. It had even asked her to name her own salary.
But the college student pulled out at the last minute when the opportunity arose to spend the summer at Oxford University studying Renaissance literature.
“It was hard to decide,” says Ms. Archer, an aspiring college professor, “because I love my camp.”
From the smell of sunscreen and mosquito repellent to exasperatingly catchy campfire songs that stick well into fall, summer camps around the United States have long offered campers, parents are more eager than ever to get their children off screens, into nature, and practicing rusty social skills, says Sarah Kurtz McKinnon, co-founder and CEO of The Summer Camp Society, and somecamps are reporting record registration numbers.
