Portland, Oregon Counselor in Training Camp & Program
Become a Counselor In Training
Ages 14-18 The Trackers Counselor in Training Program is 1-week of leadership and traditional skills training followed by 3-weeks of camp leadership experience as a Counselor in Training with younger campers.
Free Informational Evening
December 1, 2011 6:30pm-7:30pm Learn more about the Trackers Counselor in Training Program. Meet the program directors and develop a deeper understanding of the how the program works.
Contact Us to RSVP 5040 SE Milwaukie Avenue, Portland, OR
Leadership Training
The Trackers Counselor in Training Program is your opportunity to work with some of the best educators in the outdoor field while developing key leadership skills. This may come as a wilderness survival scenario, designing a garden plot or working with your team to ensure that campers feel comfortable, safe and happy.
Signing up for this program comes with a 3-week commitment to apply what you learn at our summer day or overnight camps as a Counselor in Training (CIT).
Returning CITs take more of a leadership role and receive a discount on the program. Current Adult and Child CPR certification is a prerequisite for all students (we can tell you where to get this)
Choose Your Guild
When you register for the Counselor in Training Program you learn with our Trackers Guilds. Through intensive training in the skills specific to that Guild, you help sharing their arts throughout our day and overnight camps. Skills of each Guild includes...
The Rangers Guild Wilderness Survival, Wildlife Tracking & the Curriculum of Shadows: Nature Awareness & Stealth
The Wilders Guild Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants, Homesteading Crafts and The Wilders Garden: Permaculture and Beyond
The Mariners Guild Canoeing, Fishing and Sea Harvest and The Watercourse Way: Marine Ecology and Ocean Life
The Artisans Guild Fine Folk Craft, Theater Production Arts and The Remembering: Place-Based Education
Locations
Training Week & Overnight Camps Sandy, Oregon at Aschoff Ranch in the Marmot Valley. This beautiful 40-acre woodland site includes the Trackers Homestead where your will find free-range chickens, milking goats, abundant wildlife and one of the most epic forests this side of Middle Earth. It is adjacent to the Audubon Society of Portland's 60-acre nature sanctuary and miles of national forest.
Day Camp Weeks 5040 SE Milwaukie Avenue, Portland, Oregon Within minutes of most Portland neighborhoods, right next door to the 140 acre Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge where we find birds, deer, bike paths and much more!
2012 Early Registration Discounts
Super Early Bird Discount Register before December 14, 2011 and receive 20% off the regular tuition
Early Bird Discount Register before February 22, 2012 and receive 10% off the regular tuition
Register for Leadership Training Program
| Apply Now |
Ages 14-18
$445
includes 10% early bird discount Training Week: Option 1 June 17-22, 2012 plus 3-weeks as a CIT, Overnight |
| Apply Now |
Ages 14-18
$445
includes 10% early bird discount Training Week: Option 2 July 29-August 3, 2012 plus 3-weeks as a CIT, Overnight |
| Contact Us to learn more |
Ages 14-18
Overnight camp is by appointment only. Contact Us for more information Day or Overnight Camp Counselor in Training June-August 2012 8:30am-3:30pm |
Tuition & Payment Plans
Tuition includes a 1-week of overnight training in leadership and traditional skills. Plus a 3-week commitment as a Counselor in Training in Trackers Summer Camps.
Training Week $395 with super early bird discount ending December 14, regular tuition $495
Summer Day or Overnight Camp Counselor in Training No additional charge See below
Scholarships We have scholarship awards available of up to 10%-80% or tuition. Due to limited funds of awards we recommend you apply early to increase your chances of acceptance. Submit a scholarship application
Coming from Out of State?
Are you coming for out of state and staying for more than one week? We may be able to set you up with a host family who is vetted and background checked. Contact Us to let us know your interest. There is an established administration fee for making these arrangements.
Commitment
After the 1-week Leadership Training, you share your skills for 3-weeks during the summer either as a Student Leader at our Summer Day Camps or the Camp Trackers overnight program.
Feedback to Grow By
At the end of each week the Program Mentor gives the Counselor in Training a written evaluation of their performance. We cover how the student was able to teach basic to complex outdoor educational skills, plus their leadership accomplishments for the all important social structure of the camp. Our staff makes signed copies of each evaluation available for use in portfolios for college admissions and other learning and professional goals. Our curriculum and rubric for evaluation addresses many of the essential skills outlined for high school graduates from the Oregon Department of Education
Leadership Options
There is no other outdoor program like our camps. It is one of the highest levels of experience you can get in education and the outdoor field. From School Bus Time Machine to Camp Trackers, being a Counselor in Training at a Trackers Earth camp is like falling down the rabbit hole or stepping through the looking glass. Choose to be a Counselor in Training for either our day, overnight or a combination of to two...
Day Camps Trackers Summer Day Camps are epic adventures. They raise the bar for how a day camp runs. Our themes are always intelligent and engaging, weaving savvy social commentary, nature and great theater into fun and engaging experiences. If you ever assisted at any other day camp, be prepared for something completely different at Trackers. Our Summer Day Camps offer direct mentorship from a Program Mentor (Lead Instructor). Together you are team. Program Mentors guide you through their curriculum planning process while also setting you up to lead key activities.
Overnight Camps Because of the intensive nature of our overnight camps, this coveted learning opportunity is by invitation and appointment only. If you are returning CIT, than let us know about your interest in our overnight camps. If you are new to our program, please Contact Us if you feel you are good fit to learn as a Counselor in Training in our overnight program.
Application and Standards
This program strives to be as fully inclusive as possible and we must insure that participants can meet to physical and emotional rigors of the course. Also, since the Counselor in Training Program entails teens interacting with younger campers we insist on a requisite background assessments that meet our high safety standards.
If any Counselor in Training Program registrant does not meet these standards we reserve the right to refuse service and a full refund is given. If there are discipline issues with Counselor in Training Program students, we will remove the camper from the program with no refund.
The Legend of the Ranger
The Rangers are hunters and scouts for the village. They are versed in the arts of wilderness survival, tracking and awareness. In their listening they find a silence, one that compels them to protect what is Wild.
Flow is the Way of the Ranger. They follow the trail of the cougar, deer and other animals. With finely honed senses they become the eyes and ears of the village, living completely with the land and tending to it as if an invisible ghost.
The Remembering is here. There was a time you forgot who you were, how it feels to release an arrow, the music of the bowstring resonating, the route of your blood, the path of those who came before. You felt you were asleep for a long while. The world engined on. And then, one day, you woke up.
The Way of the Wilder
The Wilders are caretakers. They tend to the balance of their village. They listen to the land as they help abundance flow. They guide the needs of the people into harmony with the needs of all life around them.
The tools of a Wilder is remediation through mycology, animals, plants and life itself. They change the land by asking and courting certain ways of life to grow and take root.
The Remembering is here and its time to ask ourselves the question: Do we own the land or do we belong to it? A place can be like our family, familiar and sewn into the day to day of our lives. As people we can define ourselves by how we care for that family and village. This kinship is reflected in how we tend to the Earth and the Wild that sustains us.
The Tale of the Mariner
The Mariners run the waterways. They build boats, fish and connect our world by wind and sea. A Mariner charts their course by the stars. By trade and salty wisdom they demand respect for the rivers and oceans and all the life in their depths.
Wind on sail powers their movements across nearly three quarters of our planet. Paddle by muscle takes them up rivers, on lakes and the all water veins that run through the mountains to the valleys. They hold law for those that bring ruin to the waters, recognizing the sea as the source of all life on Earth.
The Remembering is here. We have forgotten about the ocean. It has lost an awe and mystery to us. Though, the vastness of its depths weather you in a way unmatched by any force on this Earth. By storm and calm, by power and emptiness, the sea changes you.
The Story of the Artisan
The Artisans are theater, music and fine crafts folk. Their trade and circus opens our eyes to both noble purpose and subtle, quiet reflection. They carry the stories that remind us of where we've been. They tell the tales that reveal to us who we truly are.
The Artisans are our Storykeepers, travelers bare-of-foot, walking and sleeping under the twilight sky. They evoke drama and humor born by living root in the land. They recall a timeless grief and praise from the very stars above. Their gift is played in celebrations marking the seasons for the children in our stead, asking the moments between these festivals to be filled with a fantastic passion for the day to day of life.
The Remembering is here. Our Story is one of love, forgetting, and an unknown future. This haze we walk through must be assailed. These fears with which we burden ourselves must be shaken loose. At center stage is our very survival, and the choices we make will soon become the Story we Remember.
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