Program Description

Beyond Akeela is an overnight teen program that supports and develops the social-emotional, organizational, and independent living skills of teens preparing to transition to college. Set on a college campus, Beyond Akeela teens gain experience with dorm living, navigating a college campus, and managing their daily schedule with coaching and mentorship from an experienced group of young professionals.

Daily activities include community service opportunities, traditional camp activities, dedicated exercise time, teen talks, and exciting day trips. All the while they’ll be cooking for each other, doing their own laundry, managing budgets, developing meaningful peer connections, and having conversations about teen appropriate topics to reflect on their readiness for college.

Job Description

The Beyond Akeela Advisor plays an essential role in the life and social development our program’s neurodivergent teenagers. They are an integral member of a small team that is responsible for the safety and well-being of 15 teens over the course of the camp session. They help the campers navigate new life experiences, such as exploring urban environments, outdoor adventure, independent traveling, and group living arrangements. They are integral in managing behaviors of campers and coaching them through various social situations. They work with the Head Advisors to integrate a life and social skills curriculum into these new experiences. They facilitate discussions on relevant topics such as healthy living, nutrition, sex, college, job searching, and others. Some Advisors also facilitate some traditional camp activities, such as arts, music, outdoor adventure and sports. They will also help facilitate skill building in areas like executive functioning, self-advocacy, and time management.

Key Responsibilities:

• Camper Social Experience: Advisors are responsible for creating social opportunities and scaffolding for teens in their cohort that promote taking healthy social risks. They. They will work with Advisors and Directors to come up behavior plans as well as address group dynamics and camper concerns as appropriate.
• Individualized Coaching: Each staff member will be a coach for 3 campers. They will have conversations with their campers about specific skills their campers would like to practice more at Beyond Akeela, and help teens develop strategies to build in their confidence in the skills.
• Group Leadership: While each cohort has a Head Advisor who acts as a group leader, all Advisors take on group leadership responsibilities at times throughout camp. This occurs on trips, during community service outings, and cohort huddles.

A Qualified Advisor…

• Possesses or is working toward a bachelor’s degree in a field related to youth development or has related experience.
• Has work experience with neurodivergent youth.
• Possesses verbal communication skills and is a proven team player.
• Is comfortable balancing a variety of tasks and responsibilities.
• Is comfortable leading and facilitating conversations on topics such as nutrition, healthy relationships, college social life, etc.
• Has the ability to live and work in a stimulating and high stress work environment with irregular hours including early mornings and evenings.
• Must be willing to live in a communal dorm environment with teen campers and young adult staff members, including sharing bathrooms with ample privacy for showers and toilets.
• Must be comfortable working on feet for extended periods of time.

Compensation / Benefits

• Meals and housing fully covered for duration of term. All staff members live on site for their term at camp.
• $2200-$2500 salary, based on years of college completed.
• Travel stipend for assistance getting to/from camp.
• Unparalleled hands-on experience with neurodivergent students in residential setting.
• Membership with American Camp Association, including discounts at outfitters like Chaco, Keen, and others.
• An opportunity to grow your professional/personal network of like-minded professionals working in related fields.

Interested candidates should send their resume and any questions to Kevin Trimble, director of Beyond Akeela, at kevin@campakeela.com