2025 Camp Connect Facilitator

At Caldera, we believe in the power of creativity. Our mission is to inspire and support youth from underserved rural and urban communities by awakening the potential of their creative voice. We do this through a unique fusion of art, environment and mentorship. Our Youth Program provides students from Portland and Central Oregon with long-term relationships with caring adults, which nurtures individual creativity, beginning in sixth grade and continuing into young adulthood.

As part of Caldera’s summer learning team, you will gain leadership, communication, and collaboration skills and unparalleled resiliency while building meaningful relationships with young learners and adults. You’ll have daily opportunities to expand your own creativity and sense of adventure, upheld in a supportive community full of networking opportunities. During your time off, you’ll be centrally located in Oregon’s playground for play in the Cascade Mountains, sampling local flavor, or simply relaxing on Caldera’s 116 acres of awe-inspiring property.

Position Title: Connect Facilitator

Supervisor: Adventure Team Supervisor

Compensation:

• Salary/Rate of Pay: $154/day, with 1% increase for each year of experience working at Camp Caldera (not to exceed 7%); plus one planning day added to first check upon curriculum submission
• Training Salary/Rate of Pay: $50-75/day
• Room and board provided during days with programming; room only during non-programming days. A light dinner will be provided on staff arrival days. Brunch is served on the last day of each session.

Location: This is a seasonal position at our Arts Center- 31500 Blue Lake Drive, Sisters, OR 97756 (transportation not provided).

Choose one or more sessions; placement is dependent on availability & scheduling (must be available for all dates in session(s) chosen). Must be available for training dates and on the following dates and times to start each session:

• PORTLAND Staff Training June 23-26
• SISTERS Staff Training July 1-2
• Arrive between 1:00-2:00 pm July 6* for the Immersion 1 (High School) session July 7-16
• Arrive between 4:00-5:00 pm July 19* for the immersion 2 (High School) session July 20-28
• Arrive between 4:00-5:00 pm July 31* for the Discovery 1 (Middle School) session Aug 1-8
• Arrive between 4:00-5:00 pm Aug 11* for the Discovery 2 (Middle School) session Aug 12-19
• Indicates Half day compensation

Sample Daily Schedule:

8:00 Breakfast

8:40 Facilitate Community Circle

9:30-12:25 Break

12:25 Kitchen Prep

12:30 Lunch

1:20 Staff Meeting

2:00 Class Prep

3:10-6:20 Teach Classes

6:30 Dinner

7:45 Capture the Flag or Other Evening Activity

8:45 Campfire

10:30-11:30 Night Duty (once per session)

Position overview:

The Connect Facilitator develops and implements curriculum in which campers can explore making deeper connections with their peers, learn life skills, and process their life and camp experience with others. Connect class offers an excellent opportunity for youth to engage in meaningful discussions about pertinent, youth-driven topics such as peer pressure, cliques, and conflict. The Connect Facilitator incorporates program goals into facilitation and encourages campers to set goals, take positive risks, and challenge personal boundaries while at Camp Caldera. Ideal candidates for this position will be dynamic facilitators who stimulate conversation that makes lessons learned in Connect class relevant to campers’ home and camp lives.

Specific Responsibilities:

• Submit initial lesson plans, adjust based on feedback, and complete detailed, final plans prior to each session
• Provide supply lists and other requested information by designated deadlines
• Facilitate community building activities suited to the dynamics of each Connect group, adapting submitted lesson plans as needed with guidance from supervisor
• Plan and facilitate daily, all-camp Community Circle activities that are relevant to the needs of the camp community
• Collaborate with Youth Advocates assigned to the Connect class around student needs and issues to ensure smooth delivery of instruction
• Alert supervisor to relevant camper issues
• Encourage a culture of appreciation, create appreciation board including an envelope for each camper and staff member
• Other duties as assigned

General Responsibilities:

• Serve as mandatory reporter, working with Youth Impact Manager to report instances or suspicion of child abuse. Caldera has a zero tolerance policy around child abuse, and any negligence will result in immediate dismissal
• Promote program understanding and involvement through Caldera’s goals and agreements, participation agreement, and responsibility process
• Actively participate in all aspects of camp life including: camper orientation, community meetings, evening activities, campfire, free time, etc.
• Model appropriate camper behavior at all times
• Perform duties with consistency and integrity
• Set and respect personal boundaries while acting as mentors, guides, and allies to campers
• Oversee health and safety of charges in fire drills and emergency procedures
• Maintain cleanliness of living and common areas and help with clean-up at the end of each session

Qualifications:

• Two years of lesson planning and facilitation experience with middle and/or high school youth from historically underserved communities
• Ability to discreetly and effectively handle information of a confidential or sensitive nature
• Familiarity with culturally responsive and anti-oppression frameworks and experience working with racially and ethnically diverse staff and youth
• Familiarity with social-emotional learning and strong classroom management skills
• Strong communication with youth and adults and experience facilitating groups of varying skill levels
• Ability to design sequential lesson plans that build creativity and youth voice
• Ability to understand our racially diverse student population’s perspective, either through lived experience, previous qualifications, or work experience
• Ability to navigate through potentially triggering and challenging conversations and situations while maintaining focus on the wellbeing of youth
• Excellent time management and organizational skills
• Ability to set appropriate boundaries in a proactive and positive manner
• Bilingual and/or bicultural skills highly preferred
• Must pass a background check. Caldera considers systemic injustices when investigating findings
• Willingness to live in a camp setting and work irregular and long hours. Additionally, you must have the ability to deal with limited cell and internet service and daily exposure to outdoor factors such as sun, heat, bugs, bats, snakes, etc.

Living Conditions:

• Requires on-site living in shared staff quarters.
• A vegetarian option (that may include eggs and/or dairy) will be available for all meals. We do our best to accommodate other dietary restrictions; however, employees with special dietary needs should plan to bring food to supplement or replace provided meals. Please address specific needs with your supervisor.
• Typical days are 10 hours in length, with sessions that make for up to 10 straight days of work without a full day off. Each staff member will have at least 1 night off per session.
• Alcohol and drugs are not permitted on campus, even in personal living quarters.

Working Conditions:

• Must be physically able to move around 116 acres of camp property with varied terrain
• Must have visual, perceptual, and cognitive ability to recognize and respond quickly to health and safety concerns of students and appropriately re-direct any behavior that is misaligned with Caldera agreements
• Employee must carry out their duties regardless of inclement weather, which can include but is not limited to, heat, rain, wind, cold, and smoky or dusty conditions.
• Moments of quiet and non-activity are few and spread out
• Creating a cohesive staff environment round the clock can be challenging. It is crucial that staff see youth and adults through a strengths-based lens and prioritize creating the best possible youth experience at all times, despite what challenges may arise at the staff level
• Physical Demands (which can include bending, stooping, hiking, climbing and stretching) are: 30% Sitting, 40% Standing, 20% Walking, 10% Lifting/Carrying/Pushing/Pulling Pounds 5 -80 lbs.

To apply: Complete the application and questions and provide a reference, ideally from each of the following categories: a youth serving organization, a family member, and one other professional reference. Please also submit a sample lesson plan.

Equity & Inclusion

We recognize that Caldera communities face many societal inequities. We recognize the history and ongoing impacts of racism in our country, state, and institutions. We acknowledge that we will always have room to grow as an organization and as individuals in our understanding of racism and oppression.

We commit to continually examining our role in both perpetuating and combating institutional racism. We also commit to ongoing alignment of our policies and practices to advance racial equity, inclusion, and freedom of expression.

We commit to integrating equity and inclusion into all areas of our work to better serve our mission; when we do, we get closer to the world that we want for our youth. To ensure our own accountability, we will 1) seek deeper relationships with and feedback from our larger community; 2) use our Equity Plan to guide ongoing work; and 3) apply our Equity Lens to decision-making. We will also seek inspiration from artistic and cultural traditions.

Caldera is an equal opportunity employer encouraging applicants of all backgrounds and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations.

We encourage people of color and Caldera community members to apply.