Our Staff

Camp Kodiak is located about 25 minutes northeast of Parry Sound, near the town of McKellar. We are on a 425 acre site with approximately 2.5 miles of waterfront on Moffat Lake.

Kodiak campers range in age from 6-18 and include children & teens with and without Learning Disabilities, ADHD, & high-functioning ASD. We have boys and girls that come from Canada, the USA and around the world.

Our staff go through a multi-step interview process before being hired. We hire professionals who are working in a related field (teachers, child & youth workers, speech pathologists, early-childhood educators, etc.), as well as university and college students. 

Staff go through an intensive training period that is led by instructors who have experience working with our population of campers in their professional lives as well as at Camp Kodiak.

All staff are required to complete a criminal record check prior to arrival at camp.

Staff members live in cabins with campers and are responsible for their physical, emtional and social well being. Counsellors are also responsible for teaching sports and/or activities. All of our counsellors have an opportunity to work with their cabin group as well as teach activities, based on their skills and experience.

As we employ counsellors who are experienced professionals as well as college and university students heading towards a profession working with children, qualifications in these areas are certainly an asset. Professionals, such as teachers, child & youth care workers, speech pathologists, etc. are given special consideration when applying.

Also, applicants who have camp-related certifications are strong candidates for employment. Certifications in lifeguarding, swimming instruction, boat-driving (pleasure craft operator), canoeing, sailing, etc. are an asset.

All of our camp activities are planned with a view to teaching skills, building confidence and improving self-esteem. We achieve this by carefully structuring all of our activities to ensure success. Teaching is done by skilled instructors who break tasks down into manageable chunks and present them in a logical sequence. This way, we can be sure that our campers will achieve success. We acknowledge every accomplishment, and never miss the opportunity to provide positive feedback and recognition.

Our athletic instructors de-emphasize competition, stress co-operation and sportsmanship, and model appropriate behaviours and attitudes.

The days are long and jam-packed for our staff, yet they are also very rewarding.

Our staff wakes up before the campers (around 7 am) to prepare for the day. After a cabin clean-up, the group heads to breakfast. For the morning there is an academic period and two activity periods, where staff members are either accompanying their cabin group, or teaching the activities.

After lunch there is a rest hour, a camp-wide swim and then a third activity period. Before dinner there is an hour-long choice period, where campers have selected an activity to attend for an entire week, and a cabin bunk time, where campers and counsellors read mail, relax and socialize in the cabin.

After dinner there is a camp-wide free period, where campers and counsellors socialize around the main-camp area. There is a camp-wide activity at the end of each day – this changes each day, and could be a campfire, dance, movie night or camp-wide game. Younger campers head back to prepare for bed around 9pm, while the older campers have time to socialize together. All campers are in the cabins and lights are out between 9:45 and 10:45 pm.

Kodiak staff live in a cabin with 9 campers and two other counsellors. The cabins are large, modern log cabins, with full bathrooms (including showers) and a large porch that overlooks Moffat Lake.

Internet access is very limited at our camp location, and therefore it is generally reserved for office use. However, we do provide internet and computer access for staff on time off when they need to complete school registration, pay bills, connect with family or other business that requires the internet.

Staff training begins towards the end of June, and our camp sessions run through until around the middle of August.

Our Accessibility Policy can be viewed here.

Our Multi-Year Accessibility Plan can be viewed here.

Our staff are paid competitive camp salaries, with experience and qualifications as considerations. For more information, please contact the Camp Kodiak office.