I’ve written about former campers and where they are now, whether it is up at Shamu stadium as a trainer or working with sea lions or in the Florida Keys on a lobster boat, but this story may be the best yet. A few weeks ago, one of SeaWorld San Antonio’s first campers brought her own family back to camp. Julie was a part of our first day camp group in 1992 and part of the first resident camp in 1994. She then came back as a camp counselor in 1996 & 1997, the years that I was a camper.

Now that summer is in full swing, the SeaWorld Education and Conservation Department is busy as ever. Walk through the park, and you’re certain to see our Day Campers in their “buddy lines”, singing cadence songs as they head to their next activity, Career Campers shoveling snow at the Penguin Encounter or helping out during an Azul show, and if you look close, you’ll probably see a few tour guests on their way to another

Last year, the American Camp Association (ACA) launched a campaign entitled “Because of Camp…” With YouTube videos and bill boards, it got people thinking about the benefits of camp: friendship, responsibility, skill development, self confidence, etc. People from all walks of life can experience camp and I think no two people get the same thing out of the camp experience.

I’m usually the type of person who waits until the week of Christmas to do all of my shopping. I don’t know if it’s because all my family is out of town and I don’t like travelling with presents or that I’ve never gotten into shopping online and having stuff shipped (except for last year), but that’s the way I do things. I make my list, plan my route and am done within a few hours.

I've posted before about our great camp staff and our intensive staff training, but a question I find myself answering a lot is, “What do we look for in a camp counselor?” Since the beginning of January, the resident camp supervisor, Brittany, and I have been interviewing a long list of applicants to join our teams this summer. Last I checked the list was at well over a hundred.

So what do we look for? Two key ingredients:

First, a love for working with children.