This summer will be your best summer yet! Working as a camp counselor or Camp Leadership staff can be an amazing experience, full of new friendships, tons of laughter, and amazing adventures. Summer camp is a magical place, and in full transparency, it’s a lot of work! Being a summer staff member at KSS is a rewarding, magical, life-changing experience and it can be an incredibly hard job. Depending on your summer position you can expect to work very long days (15+ hours, 6 days a week).
Apply TodayA Day in the Life
All summer staff will be participating in rigorous training in May and early June, with bonding activities and training in childhood behavior development, risk management, leadership skills and more. Once session one of camp begins, instructors are expected to be engaged with campers for the duration of program hours. Overnight instructors should be prepared to work long hours, as staff are essentially on-call for the duration of an overnight session. Our structure incorporates mid-week breaks for overnight counselors.
Read Blog: Camp Staff, A Day in the Life
The Community
Having a diverse staff is part of the recipe that makes Keystone Science School special. Many instructors have extensive experience in the backcountry, while others have never been camping before! The staff are always close to each other, working together, learning from one another, and bonding during off time. They spend their days off together doing activities like going to concerts and camping, biking, rock climbing, paddle boarding, rafting, hiking, and backpacking.
Camp Activities
Gain experience in a wide range of outdoor and camp activities!

Rafting

Rock Climbing

Backpacking

Archery

Fishing

Horseback Riding

Arts & Crafts

Field Trips

Mountain Hiking

Environmental Science
Housing
Part of the daily routine of being an instructor is of course, where you live. Depending on your summer position, you may be housed in one of several different options. Accommodations include rustic historic cabins that have electricity but no running water, a new modern shared living space, and two historical homes with running water, showers, and toilets. Counselors working Discovery overnight will sleep in the dormitories or Snake River Village. There are always buildings close by the cabins and the canvas tents that have running water (i.e. toilets, showers, etc)
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Meals
We are lucky to have breakfast and dinner cooked and served for staff on all days that camp is in session. Lunch during camp days can be made before breakfast or while preparing camper lunches. On weekends there is access to leftovers & ingredients in the Rives kitchen, as well as access to the two fridges in the Granite Grill in our main office space. (Most cabins/dorms are furnished with at least one mini fridge.) Residents also have access to the staff kitchen. All food allergies and dietary restrictions are considered by our chef, who will have alternatives available each meal & in the kitchen.
Build Your Career
We make a commitment to help our staff grow within each job role and strive to create opportunities for each staff member to grow within the KSS organization. Each staff member has their own unique journey but we want to help each person grow and gain skills for their next step. Being a camp counselor can be a great foot in the door to being a seasonal program staff member, year round program instructor, or even a custom experience specialist or marketing support role. Throughout our hiring process we will share more about opportunities throughout our organization and ways to keep you engaged in the KSS Community.
Beyond KSS, many summer camp alumni have moved into positions within the outdoor and education industries.
What kind of job can I get after working at KSS?
- Teaching
- Ski Industry
- Conservation
- Backcountry Guiding
- Fish & Wildlife
- University
- Nonprofit Education
- Outdoor Retail
Where are they now
- The Nature Conservancy
- NOLS
- Downtown Denver Expeditionary
- Bluebird Backcountry
- Mountain Studies Institute
- NASA
- Tin Mountain Conservation Center
- Performance Tours Rafting
- McCall Outdoor Science School
- REI
- Big Sky Resort
- Sawtooth Society
- Fox Mountain Guides
- Fish & Wildlife Service Division
- Adventure Treks