During this past February break, I had the wonderful opportunity to volunteer as a camp counselor for second graders at the Umbrella Arts Center in Concord, MA. This establishment is often looking for volunteers throughout the year in various art roles, and is great for individuals seeking community service hours.
About the Umbrella Arts Center
The Umbrella Arts Center offers a diverse range of art classes with something for everyone. Be it drawing or painting, ceramics, performing arts, and even woodworking, it’s a great place to explore new or pre-existing hobbies.
Not good at art? No problem!
The nice thing about the Umbrella Arts Center is that individuals seeking volunteer opportunities do not have to be good at art to be able to join. Volunteers are often seen as a second pair of hands to the art teachers who already have the lessons planned out.
Roles and Responsibilities of a Camp Counselor
There are multiple age groups of kids (kindergarteners to teens) who attend the camp. To assist teachers with the campers, volunteers will get assigned to specific age groups. As a volunteer, I was assigned to look after a group of second graders and was responsible for being their “role model” and leader.
The expectations and the daily routine of a camp counselor were pretty simple. Volunteers had to arrive 30 minutes earlier than the campers to set up for the day. When the campers started to arrive, the volunteers took them to their assigned classrooms and handed out name tags. Throughout the day, the counselor’s jobs were to bring the kids to different classes, and help the art teachers hand out or clean materials during classes.
Some additional information an individual should know about the Umbrella Arts vacation week volunteer opportunities is that there are at least two high school counselors for each age group, and the volunteers get one break off during lunch. Also, when signing up to be a camp counselor, there are two options one can choose from: full-day volunteer or half-day volunteer. The hours of the full-day volunteers is from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM, and the hours for the half-day volunteers is 8:30 AM – 12:30 PM.
My Personal Experience
Before attending, I was nervous about volunteering at the Umbrella Arts Center because this was my first time serving as a camp counselor for younger children. However, I quickly realized just how much I loved spending time with the kids and getting to know the other camp counselors. It was also much less stressful for me to serve more so as a helping hand, as opposed to a teacher who was in charge of the lessons and activities for the day. This made the experience feel far less intimidating. Overall, I truly liked being a full-day volunteer, especially since it gave me more time to connect with the kids.
Tips for Future Volunteers
Connecting with the kids may be difficult at first, but I would suggest learning the kids’ names and learning what they are interested in. Listening and observing is very important, so that one can understand the children in order to really help them. I highly recommend this opportunity and would definitely volunteer here again!
How to Get Involved
To sign up for this great opportunity, one should visit the Concord Carlisle High School website and look out for the Umbrella Arts volunteer opportunities in the community service section. Or, individuals can go directly to the Umbrella Arts Center website for more information: https://theumbrellaarts.org/about/volunteer
The Umbrella Arts Center requires volunteers to fill out a quick form mainly on why they are interested in the opportunity. Once a staff member receives the applications of the high school volunteers, they reach out to individuals with a few more forms that are necessary to fill out. Finally, a week before the camp begins, there is a mandatory zoom meeting for the volunteers, where a staff member explains everything one needs to know about being a counselor. Throughout the vacation week, if an individual does need some help looking after the kids, the staff and teachers there are always more than willing to assist.
