Middle School Writing Camp Staff / Counselor

The Middle School Writing Camp staff / counselor position is a youth service position appropriate for individuals with arts education, camp counselor, or youth service experience. Day Eight’s Summer 2025 writing camps will run from June 23 to July 25, Monday through Friday, 9:30am to 4:30pm. There is no camp Friday July 4. The pay is $1,000 per week for each of five camp weeks, $5,000 total. No benefits are provided for this position. Camp staff work as members of a small team providing youth development programming for middle-school-aged writers at the Shepherd Park Library in Washington, D.C. The position requires participation in two, three-hour training sessions (6 hours total) prior to the start of camp and to be held Saturday June 7 and Sunday June 8, 1-4pm, to be paid separately at a rate of $20/hr.

Who We Are:

Day Eight is dedicated to the healing of the world through the arts. Our programming includes a literary magazine, poetry book publishing, poetry events, exhibitions, performances, an arts writing fellowship, and in-school and out-of-school education programming. Diversity is part of Day Eight’s DNA, vision, and values. Our staff brings a variety of perspectives and experiences to our shared work. Day Eight’s Writing Camps serve middle school-aged youth with an interest in the written word. 16 youth are enrolled each week, and on a week-to-week basis. In addition to attending middle school youth, the program employs 3 high school-aged youth as camp staff assistants.

Position Details:

Camp Staff are responsible for direct service to youth at the camp within a detailed daily and weekly calendar and curriculum expectation. Duties and responsibilities for Camp Staff include:

Workshop and Activity Delivery. Camp staff will run morning meetings with student cohorts, daily writing workshops and activities, and support participation of guest faculty. Each week the campers take a field trip on Thursday morning and the camp staff chaperone that trip.

Student Support. In addition to workshop periods, the youth are provided regular “choice” periods to work on creative projects. Staff are responsible for facilitating those independent and group work periods. Staff also supervise lunch and snack periods.

Administration and Communication. As a team, camp staff are responsible for daily sign-in/sign-out of youth, and adherence to all camp policies, including daily student notetaking tracking youth development. Camp staff also provide and collect daily feedback and end-of-week feedback forms to youth, attend daily end-of-day staff meetings, and support public awareness of the program, including representing the camp professionally on and off-site.

Qualifications, Experience and Skills:

• Experience supervising youth as an educator, arts educator, or in a camp setting
• Experience facilitating workshops or educational programs for middle-school-aged students
• Demonstrated ability to work in a creative, youth-focused, environment
• Tech-savvy with computer skills including experience with MS Office suite (Excel, Word) and Google Drive
• Interest in a career in the arts, education, or journalism, a plus
• Bilingual Spanish or other languages, written and spoken, a plus
• Respectful of diverse viewpoints and personal histories
• Organized with an acute attention to detail
• Demonstrated professionalism and punctuality
• Excellent written and verbal communicator with people skills
• Experience working as a member of team
• Familiarity with writing concepts and curriculum
• Ability to lead and facilitate engaging workshops and meetings with student cohorts
• Ability to provide constructive feedback about programmatic and student experiences

To Apply:

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. The application period closes May 1, 2025. To learn more about the camp and the organization please visit: https://dayeight.org/.

Employment in this position will require securing a free DC Public Schools background check for adults working with youth.

To apply, email a resume and brief cover letter to: Admin <at> DayEight.org.