Not so Happy Summer Camp

Andrew Azzarello

Marc Bousquet

November 1, 2010

Not so Happy Summer Camp

Welcome to Camp Keystone! A small sign greats everyone as they enter through the giant metal gates towards a day of fun. As the campers show up they are greeted by the enthusiastic camp counselors who always have a smile on their face and are excited to be there. As the day goes on the campers continue through various activities from zip lining to water sliding down a two hundred and seventy four foot water slide. As the counselors take their campers from activity to activity they do so with happiness and smiles until the end of the day. When the end of the day approaches campers start to slowly leave through the gates which they entered to begin the day. All seems perfect as the campers leave for the night to dream of the adventures they will have at camp the following morning. As counselors start to leave for the day they sign out on their time card ready to go back to work tomorrow. But for some counselors signing their time card means more than just how much they will get paid. It means how short they will be on their mortgage payment or how little of food they can get at the grocery store. First reaction is what teenager working at a day camp has a mortgage payment but on second thought is it just teenagers working at Camp Keystone. Camp counselor Jewels will show the world that not just teenagers work at Camp Keystone. Educators needing a summer income and will do anything take a job at camp Keystone.

Jewels arguably had one of the hardest jobs at camp and dealt with the most pressure from the bosses but still received as much money as the teenager receiving minimum wage. The only way to receive higher than minimum wage at Camp Keystone was if you were CPR certified or first aid certified and that in itself cost money to do. Through myself experiencing receiving a low wage I continually think how anyone could even survive for just the summer on such a small salary. Jewels thought the same exact way. On the last day of camp counselors all received final paychecks and were sad that camp was over but were happy that our pockets were now full, in the mind of a teenager. Jewels did was not thinking about how full her pockets were. She was too busy thinking of ways in which she can cover the other part of her mortgage that she still had to pay.

When it comes to the point where you will work at a summer camp and receive the same payment as a teenager just so next month’s mortgage can be met is telling society something. Minimum wage is not universal. Minimum wage for one person is poverty for another. When determining minimum wage it should be determined by the age and situation of a certain person. If a single mother of three children walks in and needs a job her minimum wage should not be the same as the sixteen year old sophomore in high school looking for a simple job to hang with their friends. Who determines minimum? Should not it be the person its pertaining to?