If I’ve learned anything in 17 years as an overnight camp director, it’s this: the way we welcome our staff sets the tone for their entire summer.

My name is Danny Herz, and I have the privilege of serving as executive director at Camp Barney Medintz, an overnight Jewish camp tucked into the beautiful woods of Cleveland, Georgia. Each summer, we welcome about 1,350 unique campers and a dedicated team of roughly 460 staff members, including more than 160 incredible individuals who travel from around the world to join our community.

These staff members come from Israel, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, England, Scotland, and beyond, and are not just “extra hands.” They are educators, mentors, culture-bearers, and role models. They expand our campers’ worlds while becoming an essential part of the heartbeat of camp.

Over time, our approach to welcoming staff has evolved from “figuring it out as we go” into a thoughtful, coordinated system. We’ve learned that structure, language, and intentional hospitality do more than ease jet lag — they set the foundation for stronger social bonds, smoother training, and a more cohesive staff culture. Since refining our process, we’ve seen both domestic and international staff retention significantly improve over multiple summers.

Here are a few strategies that have helped us create a better welcome for our team members — practices that can work at any camp striving to build a more inclusive, world-ready culture.

Always Welcome During Daylight

If there is one rule we hold sacred, it’s this: international staff should always arrive at camp during daylight.

Years ago, before we formalized our arrival procedures, I arranged a late pickup for a new group of international staff. Their flight landed around dinnertime, and by the time we drove up the long camp road, it was after 11:00 p.m. The woods were dark. The cabins were empty. The lake was invisible. I remember seeing their faces: exhausted, disoriented, and unsure of where they’d just landed.

The next morning, in the warmth of the sun, camp finally made sense to them. A few staff hesitantly admitted that arriving at night had felt isolating and a little frightening. One said, “I knew camp would be dark, but I didn’t know it would feel so alone in the dark.” Lesson learned.

From that summer on, we made a firm commitment: international staff only arrive in daylight. Always.

It may sound like a small adjustment, but it changes everything. Daylight creates orientation and belonging. When staff step off the bus and see the lake sparkling, smell the pine, and hear laughter in the distance, they immediately understand that they’ve joined a vibrant, living community. Their first impression is one of beauty, energy, and welcome — not confusion and fatigue.

Our team works closely with travel partners to coordinate this. If a group’s flight delay pushes arrival past dark, we pivot. We arrange a nearby hotel, help them get a full night’s sleep, and then officially bring them to camp in the morning. We’ll often greet them with personalized welcome signs, photos of camp, and a small local treat — Georgia peaches, sweet tea, something that says we’ve been preparing for you.

A thoughtful arrival like this says:

• You matter here.
• We prepared for you.
• We’re grateful you chose to spend your summer with us.

When staff arrive in the daylight and are welcomed with both warmth and clarity — “Welcome. You’ve taken a big job, and you’re not doing it alone.” — they begin their summer with a powerful combination of excitement and purpose.

Intentionally Calling It a Job

What has become just as important as the timing is the message we attach to that arrival. From the very first interaction, we are honest and clear that this is a job — an important, demanding, deeply meaningful job that matters to children and families. We use the word “job” intentionally in our conversations during interviewing, hiring, and onboarding. Naming it as a job does not diminish the magic; it honors the responsibility.

Every conversation with staff — whether in an interview in January or in a cabin huddle in July — is an opportunity to shape how they see their role. Over the years, we have become increasingly intentional about language. We don’t just talk about “camp” and “experience”; we consistently use the word “job.”

Only focusing on their "experience" sets them up to fail — it implies the job is the "add-on" and not their priority. When the going gets tough (and it will), they may prioritize personal fun over camper safety or team responsibility. By naming it a job from the start, we protect them from that mindset shift.

In interviews, we say things like:

• “This is a job that will ask a lot of you — and will give a lot back.”
• “In this job, your decisions matter to children and families.”

During hiring and onboarding, we reinforce that camp is not a casual commitment. It is a job where showing up late, missing responsibility, or opting out has real impact on kids and colleagues. When staff hear “job” over and over, they begin to approach their role with a healthy level of seriousness, pride, and ownership.

We are also clear that this is not “just a summer job,” but a job that will stretch their leadership, emotional resilience, communication skills, and capacity for empathy. For international staff, who may be navigating a new culture, this clarity is especially important. It helps them understand that they have not simply signed up for travel and fun; they have committed to a role that comes with real trust and responsibility.

Naming the role as a job also creates a shared language for accountability. When a counselor is struggling, we can say, “This part of the job is hard. Let’s talk about how to do this part of the job better,” instead of getting lost in vague expectations. That clarity is a kindness.

High Expectations, High Support — No Apologies

Alongside intentional language, we are upfront about our philosophy: high expectations, high support — with no apologies.

We are transparent that:

• Expectations are high: professionalism, punctuality, follow-through, and deep care for children are non-negotiable.
• Support is equally high: training, feedback, mental health resources, time with supervisors, and a leadership team that will sit with them, coach them, and stand behind them.

We tell the staff, “We are going to ask a lot of you in this job — and we are going to invest a lot in you, too.” We do not apologize for the standards we hold, because those standards are in service of camper safety and growth. We cannot be afraid to hold people accountable for their actions, and we must train our supervisors intentionally to not ignore behaviors not aligned with those high expectations. Instead, we lean into them with warmth and confidence: “You were hired because we believe you can meet these expectations, and we are committed to giving you the support you need to succeed in this job.”

In practice, that looks like:

• Robust orientation and ongoing training, not just one-and-done lectures.
• Supervisors who coach rather than simply correct — and who address issues promptly.
• Availability of care and conversation when homesickness, culture shock, or burnout show up.
• Honest feedback delivered with respect and a belief in each staff member’s potential.

For international staff — far from home and adjusting to a new environment — this “high support, high expectations” model (that David Yeager so wonderfully discusses in his book 10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People) creates security rather than pressure. They know what is being asked of them, and they know they will not be left alone to figure it out. This model is equally beneficial for domestic staff, providing clear direction and assurance of support, which fosters a more confident and effective team overall.

Small Acts of Kindness That Mean the World

Across all the years of welcoming staff to camp, the moments that stay with me the longest aren’t the big logistics wins. They’re the quiet gestures of care:

• The returning counselor who hand-wrote welcome notes for each new arrival.
• The staff member who volunteered to stay late at the airport to help track down a lost suitcase.
• The spontaneous decision to cook a familiar dish from someone’s home country when homesickness surfaced.
• The way staff rally around a colleague who is missing a holiday back home, finding ways to honor and celebrate it at camp.

These small acts communicate something powerful: You are not just here to work. You are here to belong.

For international staff — far from family, familiar food, and their own languages — that feeling matters. When they feel seen, supported, and valued from day one, they, in turn, pour extraordinary heart into our campers and into our camp community.

Kindness is not only the right thing to offer; it is also our most effective recruitment and retention strategy.

When We Welcome with Intention, the World Comes to Camp

When you bring people from multiple continents together in one place, something extraordinary happens: the world becomes smaller, and camp becomes infinitely larger. Our campers learn Hebrew from Israeli counselors, laugh at British humor in the dining hall, and hear Australian stories under Georgia’s starry skies. Our staff learn from each other, grow together, and carry those relationships far beyond the summer.

When we welcome with intention, the magic multiplies. Camp doesn’t just run; it comes alive in new accents, new friendships, and new ways of seeing the world — and that, to me, is the most beautiful outcome of all.

Photo courtesy of Alford Lake Camp in Hope, ME.

This blog was written on behalf of ACA's Project Real Job, whose goal is to support camps in their efforts to recruit, hire, and retain staff. 

Danny Herz, an ACA-certified camp director, is driven by a passion for creating life-changing experiences for children and teens. As the executive director of Camp Barney Medintz in Georgia, he spearheads a team dedicated to fostering a joyful, safe, and inclusive community where campers flourish in confidence and character. Born in South Africa and raised in the US, Danny brings energy, vision, and a deep commitment to values-based leadership to all his endeavors. He can be reached at [email protected].