Full Day Camp Counselor: Middle School Summer Writing Camp

The Writing Camp Counselor position is a youth service position appropriate for individuals with arts education, camp counselor, or youth service experience.

Day Eight’s Summer 2026 writing camp will run from June 29 to July 31, Monday through Friday, 9:30am to 4:30pm. The pay is $1,000 a week for each of five camp weeks, $5,000 total. No benefits are provided for this position.

Counselors work as members of a small team providing youth development programming for youth ages 9-15 at the Shepherd Park Library in Washington, D.C. The position requires participation in two, three-hour training sessions (6 hours total) prior to the start of camp and to be held Saturday June 20 and Sunday June 28, 1-4pm, paid separately at a rate of $20/hr.

Who We Are:

Day Eight is dedicated to the healing of the world through the arts. Our programming includes a literary magazine, poetry book publishing, poetry events, exhibitions, performances, an arts writing fellowship, and in-school and out-of-school education programming. Diversity is part of Day Eight’s DNA, vision, and values. Our staff brings a variety of perspectives and experiences to our shared work. Day Eight’s Writing Camps serve middle school-aged youth with an interest in the written word. 16 youth are enrolled each week, and on a week-to-week basis. In addition to attending middle school youth, the program employs 3 high school-aged youth as camp staff assistants.

Position Details:

Camp Staff are responsible for direct service to youth at the camp within a detailed daily and weekly calendar and curriculum expectation. Duties and responsibilities for Camp Staff include:

• Workshop and Activity Delivery. Camp staff run morning meetings with student cohorts, daily writing activities, and support participation of guest faculty. Each week the campers take a field trip on Thursday morning and camp counselors chaperone that trip.
• Student Support. In addition to workshop periods, campers are provided daily 'choice' periods to work on creative projects. Counselors facilitate those independent and group work periods. Counselors also supervise lunch and snack.
• Administration and Communication. Counselors are responsible for daily sign-in/sign-out of youth, adherence to all camp policies (including daily note-taking tracking youth development) and collection of youth writing for publication. Counselors collect daily feedback forms from campers, attend daily end-of-day staff meetings, and support public awareness of the program, including representing the camp professionally on and off-site.

Expected experience and skills:

• Experience supporting youth as an educator, arts educator, or in a camp setting
• Experience facilitating programs for middle-school-aged students
• Demonstrated ability to work in a creative, youth-focused, environment
• Computer skills including MS Office suite (Excel, Word) and Google Drive
• Interest in a career in the arts, education, or journalism, a plus
• Bilingual Spanish or other languages a plus
• Respectful of diverse viewpoints and personal histories
• Organized, with demonstrated attention to detail
• Demonstrated professionalism and punctuality
• Excellent written and verbal communicator with people skills
• Experience working as a member of team
• Familiarity with writing concepts and curriculum
• Ability to lead and facilitate engaging workshops and meetings with student cohorts
• Ability to provide constructive feedback about programmatic and student experiences

To Apply:

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. The application period closes May 20, 2026. To learn more about the camp and the organization please visit: https://dayeight.org/.

Contract for this position will require securing a free DC Public Schools background check for adults working with youth.

To apply, email a resume and brief cover letter to: Admin <at> DayEight.org.