Beyond our excellent facilities and beautiful location in the Catskill Mountains, the heart of Camp Lakota is our people: our campers and our outstanding staff. If you’re passionate about working with children, committed to being a role model, and ready for a summer that’s as challenging as it is rewarding, we’d love to hear from you.
As an ACA-accredited camp, we hold ourselves and our staff to nationally recognized standards. That means you’ll be joining a team that takes child development, safety, and community seriously.
Every member of the Camp Lakota team is guided by three principles:
Our counselors are passionate about children, exceptionally patient, and dedicated to their roles. Most are college-age, and many are former Lakota campers themselves who want to give back what camp gave them. We welcome applicants from across the United States and internationally; past staff have joined us from Great Britain, Scotland, Australia, and beyond.
Working with children is profoundly rewarding. At Lakota, the rewards are real, but they are earned through genuine dedication and hard work.
We hire for a range of roles, from bunk counselors to activity specialists to support staff. Visit our Staff Positions page for the full list of openings and role descriptions.
Staff live on campus alongside their campers throughout the session, immersed in the full Lakota experience. You’ll receive a week of orientation before campers arrive, covering everything from child development to emergency procedures to how we run daily schedules. After that, you’ll have one day off per week to rest, recharge, and explore the area.
For more detail on what a typical summer looks like, visit our What to Expect Working at Camp Lakota page or read through our Staff FAQs below.
We’d love to have you on the team. Click below to submit your application, view current openings, and meet the people who lead Lakota.
Early Staff Arrival day for Orientation is about a week before camp starts.
Staff orientation takes place the week prior to camp and every counselor is required to be there from start to finish. Orientation is very structured and includes fun get-to-know-you activities, games, team building and lots of training. Most important, you’ll meet and get to know all of the other counselors and staff members that will become like your summer family. Additionally, you’ll learn your way around camp, you’ll become very familiar with our program and you’ll learn the most important “skills” of being a counselor. Bring your energy and your smiling face and we’ll do the rest to make sure the week is informative and a blast!
Lakota provides each Staff Member with 6 shirts that are worn everyday. After dinner, staff members can dress in casual clothing, appropriate of course.
Generally the weather is in the mid 80’s, but come August it can get chilly in the evenings, sometimes in the 60’s, so bring some warm clothes as well.
Staff will have 1 day off each week except the first and last weeks (during the time the campers are in attendance). This totals 5 days throughout the summer. Days off are not cumulative.
Counselors live in our Bunks with the campers to supervise and guide campers at Camp Lakota!
Each staff person is carefully screened before being hired. The process includes an application, extensive reference checks and a criminal background check. We truly believe that we hire the ‘cream of the crop’ as your child’s safety and personal welfare is of our paramount concern. Many of our counselors are returnees and many were former campers. It is our goal to hire counselors with abundant experience in their area of expertise. For more information please email us at info@camplakota.com or fill out an online application.
If you are interested, submit your application or contact us at info@camplakota.com
Camp Lakota is located in Wurtsboro, NY in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains. The Camp is approximately 15 minutes west of Middletown, New York. We are just 90 minutes from New York City.
The majority of our counselors come from across the U.S. and many of our counselors were once campers. We do much of our recruiting on college campuses. In addition, we have a small group of counselors who come from Great Britain, Scotland and even Australia