Outdoor Skills Instructor

At OSC, boys learn how to navigate the world, build confidence in their ability to be independent, and gain more knowledge to keep them safe on their adventures. You’ll be instructing a wide range of ages and skill levels, and helping to foster a love of the outdoors in the next generation.

Boys have the opportunity to work on the five different progression levels in the OSC program, culminating with the achievement of “Warrior”. The goal for campers achieving Warrior in OSC is to have the knowledge and confidence to be self-sufficient on a solo trip in the wilderness. Through the hard and soft skills taught at camp, you’ll be helping boys grow into the best version of themselves.

What’s a Typical Day Like For This Position?

This blog shares a glimpse into a day at Outdoor Skills!

Male camp counselors live in a cabin with one other counselor and eight campers. In addition to their activity instruction, male counselors will have an assortment of responsibilities related to the management of their cabin. Female camp counselors also serve as activity staff, but don’t live in cabins with the campers, and are responsible instead for organizational tasks during the times that male staff are busy with their cabins.

At Falling Creek, campers are free to choose the 6 activities they want on their daily schedule. Even though you might have 8 boys in your cabin who are the same age, you’ll be instructing a variety of ages and skill levels throughout the day in your 50 minute long activity periods. On a typical day, you’ll meet the campers in each activity period at the OSC building by the lower lake, and can either do that day’s lesson at the building or head out across property to explore and learn.

You might practice fire building methods, identify edible plants on a hike, build shelters in the woods, teach different useful knots, give a lesson on map reading, or learn about the wildlife native to this area. You and your fellow OSC instructors will have lesson plans (that you can help build!) that will be tailored to cover all the different parts of the program.

Why Should You Be an Outdoor Skills Instructor?

As an OSC instructor, you’ll play an important role in helping boys be more knowledgeable, confident, and prepared outdoorsmen. Under your guidance, boys can learn about the environment and gain valuable outdoor skills they can use for the rest of their lives. Our goal is to equip boys with the skills to navigate the world – both metaphorically and literally (thanks to the OSC progression system which includes map reading).

As a camp counselor, you’ll be a role model for the boys both in and out of your activity, helping them gain both knowledge and confidence in the outdoors. If you’re majoring in outdoor education, recreation management, agriculture, or teaching, being a summer camp Outdoor Skills instructor will be a rewarding experience that will give you helpful skills for your future career path. Even if your college major is unrelated to the outdoors, you’ll still be gaining leadership skills and networking connections that will give you a competitive edge in the job market, no matter where you’re headed next.

We don’t start you at the bottom and give you busywork; you are directly involved in running camp and helping campers succeed. If you are a male counselor, you’ll be responsible for the eight campers in your cabin, as well as the campers you instruct in your activity(s). Instructing a group of campers will challenge you, but you’ll learn how to be a more engaging and encouraging teacher, better steward of the natural world, and help boys learn new skills that can easily lead to new passions. At the end of the summer your teaching and leadership skills will become more defined and polished.