For Campers / CITs

Each summer, 16/17 year-old youth from around the world travel to Temagami for Camp Wabikon’s excellent Counsellor-in-Training, or ‘C.I.T.’ Leadership program. The six week program is carefully planned and designed to lead its participants through an educational, challenging, exciting and fun adventure that will help them bridge the gap from Camper to Staff and help prepare them for their future, both within and outside of the camping world.

Through various leadership development activities, counselling assignments, activity/program assignments, skill development opportunities and evaluations, participants in the Wabikon C.I.T. Leadership program attain personal growth, learn valuable skills, receive qualifications, become more confident leaders and most importantly, have the summer of a lifetime!

The program is led, under the supervision of the Camp Directors, by the C.I.T. Director(s), a senior, experienced Staff member(s) whose wish is to work with an enthusiastic group of young leaders and counsellors-to-be. Often this person(s) has been at Wabikon for a number of years and has held a variety of key Staff positions. The C.I.T. Director(s) has full aquatic qualifications and possesses a high level of leadership and camping experience.

To ensure comfort for each participant, the first week is primarily focused on team unity and group development. Through various activities, games, challenges and discussions, all carefully facilitated by the C.I.T. Director(s), each C.I.T. will gain a clear understanding of his/her role in camp, the expectations and adventures that lie ahead, and form a close bond with his or her fellow C.I.T.s. Following this initial team building week the focus for the following two weeks will be critical in the transition from Camper to Staff as C.I.T.s are assigned to observe, learn and assist (where possible) Staff members during regular teaching and counselling times. Group lessons, teaching sessions and skill development opportunities will also take place during this time.

Within the first 3 weeks, C.I.T.s will learn various canoeing and tripping skills under the careful instruction of Camp Wabikon’s Head of Tripping. Midway through the program, the C.I.T. Canoe Trip is an opportunity to put these skills to use. C.I.T.s will be involved in pre-trip planning and organization, and focus on the development of personal confidence in a canoe trip setting.

Upon return from the C.I.T. trip, having now completed just over half of the program, the C.I.T. group will once again participate in Cabin Counselling and Activity Placements, where they will now be expected to assist counsellors and/or activity staff with the daily program and attain skills and levels where possible. As well, with the assistance of constant feedback from themselves, the Staff and the C.I.T. Director(s), the focus will now be on leadership initiative and working as a team to develop, organize, and run small and large scale camp programs with the assistance of our Staff.

Included in the Wabikon C.I.T. Leadership program are opportunities to attain and/or upgrade qualifications in many important areas such as Canoeing (O.R.C.K.A.), Sailing (C.Y.A), Coaching (N.C.C.P.) and Swimming/ Lifeguarding (L.S.S.). Camp Wabikon is also very proud to offer its C.I.T.s a truly unique team building and personal development workshop through its partnership with Pursuit Development Labs Inc., a professional strategy and development company which has created a program specifically designed for Camp Wabikon.

By the final week of the program the C.I.T.s, along with their Director(s), have a clear understanding of their likes and dislikes, their strengths and weaknesses, but most importantly a strong feeling of accomplishment, personal growth, team unity and friendships that will last a lifetime.

Simply put, Camp Wabikon’s C.I.T. Leadership program is a unique opportunity to learn and develop a wide range of skills, attain qualifications, grow and mature as an individual… and have a ridiculous amount of fun in the process!

Former Wabikon C.I.T.s are always eager to share their experiences. Should you wish any further insight into our C.I.T. Leadership Program, please feel free to contact us for a reference.