camp counselor

instructor

summer intern

teaching assistant

visual arts instructor

Interlochen Center for the Arts

Interlochen is, for some, a dream job. There are  many incredible people there who have devoted their working lives to Interlochen, and many employees retire after 20 to 40 years. Interlochen is one of the largest employers in Grand Traverse county, and is a very labor~intensive school. For me, though, it was a very difficult environmet. I was an hourly worker there and my criticisms here are mainly focused on those workers doing work which, although essential, is often not seen as comparable in status to teaching or management. There are some problems which Interlochen should attend to if they hope to draw employees and keep them. Interlochen pays less than many jobs do now, and working conditions (a lot of which could be fixed at little ot no cost) make finding employees an almost insurmountable challenge. Working at Interlochen was tough for me, but I stayed long past the time I no longer enjoyed the work.  I have met several people who moved to other jobs and have reported better pay and more satisfaction compared to ICA.  Interlochen needs to come to terms with the reality that they are not going to attract the many hourly workers in areas such as food service, housekeeping and mainterance by talking about "Interlochen magic" or offering a free ice cream cone per shift. There are a lot of employers looking for employees who pay more and have better working conditions. I am interested in seeing how Interlochen is going to solve this problem but at least in my opinion, they have yet to come up with any substantial solutions.

The campus of Interlochen overflows with hundreds of talented students with majors ranging from Music to Motion Picture Arts. 

A typical day would begin at 8 am and end at 1 am the next day consisting of seeing students leave the residence hall in the morning on their way to classes, if you're not substituting a class. Having office hours to answer phone calls, and be a presence in the building. Monitoring meals, tutoring, and planning student activities. Lasting sitting desk in the evening making sure all residents are accounted for and in their rooms by curfew. 

I've grown professionally in fields of management, communication, and disciplinary actions. Its an absolute joy to be hands on with student affairs. 

The staff of Residence Life & Housing has to be close knit and a unbreakable team. You live, work, and play with them. 

The most complicating part of this job was not having a social life with those outside of work. 

I enjoyed most being an important component to all students academic, and social life while perfecting their art.

The job was lovely, but it was also extremely stressful at the same time. Management was extremely disorganized, unprepared, and it was immediately apparent that not all employees were valued and treated equally. The culture is very inclusive, but kind of cult like where you have to assimilate and take what's thrown at you to survive.  You are essentially these kids' parents for the summer, getting them up, caring for them, playing with them ect etc. With taking care of the youngest group, I did not have much free time to manage myself or sustain my health,  as we were doing things all day long without breaks, and I was sick or in long-lasting chronic pain the entire time I was at camp. I am still dealing with this pain, from being overworked, asked to do several jobs at once, and expected to assume position regardless of how little preparation or notice we were given at the time. Many counselors from my season had similar experiences, and like myself, chose to leave early as a result.

I worked here for two summers, and the campers are amazing! The work is 24/7, and the pay is a little low for the amount of work, but it is  rewarding. I would say since you will work with the campers, and do other jobs around camp such as working in the office, it is quite a lot on counselors. However you do get one full day off away from camp which is really nice, but you really need a car if you are going away for the summer or days off become really difficult to navigate. The uniforms are fine, though I would say a stricter on the female identifying campers/workers. Intermediate Meadows is one of the most organized and fun locations to work in at camp, and for me the enjoyable part was getting to know the campers. I would say the hardest is the amount of hours and emotional energy; it can be really draining and there isn't much escape for yourself. But expect the food to be not so great, for the whole summer, and coffee can be hard to find.

There are those leaders with values and those without. leadership in Health Services is extremely poor, true colors are hidden to greater leadership structures of the organization. HS Leadership gossips, controls and manipulates others and causes mayhem and thrives on negativity. The organization should set a zero tolerance policy for toxic behavior. This could be a potential lovely job however, the current leadership has caused a great deal of grief to many good people who make it impossible to enjoy your job. Many have either decided to leave or once you proclaim you won't share those negative values, you're eliminated one way or another by leadership and  HR (which is a joke as well). Need something done soon. Would not recommend to friends,  but can't say anything to HR because they only side with HS leadership without investigating.

It's been some years since I worked here. It wasn't a terrible experience, however, there were some issues with the division of the workload (multiple people with the same job and title having less responsibility than others, with no difference in pay. This was an issue for me so I tried to negotiate a change in work or pay and was declined so I left. 
The kids are great, they are the reason to work here.
If you like the outdoors this could be a dream job. If you don't you may struggle. There isn't much of a community, at least during the academic year. the nearby city has a few basic things, it really lacks diversity, though. there really isn't a nightlife. 
Now, I could be wrong, it was several years ago. but I'm pretty sure there are bear near campus and the area is just as conservative as before.

If you are someone who is friendly, patient, and willing to be criminally underpaid for around the clock work, Interlochen is the place for you!  I really enjoyed my time working at the camp, but it definitely takes a certain type of person.  As a cabin counselor, you are at the camp for 7 weeks.  You are given one day and one night off a week, but other than that you are at the camp constantly.  You live with campers, which means that you have to be patient and professional CONSTANTLY.  There is some down time during some days.  The culture is lovely, everyone is respectful and it is very inclusive.  The hardest part of the job is building trust and respect with your campers, but it is also the most rewarding and enjoyable.

There were many fun experiences but a lot of stressful days.  There was a level of disorganization from the administrative staff that frustrated most of the counselors .There would be last minute changes not properly communicated and the staff would be blamed for not knowing these changes.  There were many things that made it clear that staff were not prioritized such low pay and alarmingly low number of staff cabins for days off. A lot of staff were not prepared for the stressful environment and 5 counselors quit in the first week of camp and many were on the verge. I would say don’t go in with an overly romantic view of being a camp counselor and rely on your fellow counselors because ad staff rarely will have your back. 


Interlochen Center for the Arts is dedicated to the arts and the chance to give students the opportunity to grow and learn in a safe environment. As a front-line employee, I enjoyed introducing prospective parents and students into the journey of a lifetime to see if it was the best fit for their family. As an employee, this was also a safe work space where people from all areas could come together to make art happen. The hardest part of the job was learning in a short amount of time, but it was a fun and exciting challenge at the same time. It was rewarding to have been able to help so many families gain an opportunity that would help their student be set up for success for the rest of their lives.

To be fair: I never worked on-campus for Interlochen (Good timing, too. - I got acclimated to working form home right before Covid hit). I was a contract employee for a long time, doing everything they needed me for remotely. Nonetheless, I know for a fact what a great place to work it is - something obviously drew me to the job in the first place. There's nothing quite like working with and for other people who truly care about what they're doing - AND being compensated fairly for it. If my contract had not run out, and I wasn't getting into a new field, I would've gladly stayed at that job indefinitely.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Camp counselor 23 salaries reported	$2,941 per month
Instructor 8 salaries reported	$2,906 per month
Summer intern 4 salaries reported	$2,027 per month
Teaching assistant 2 salaries reported	$1,500 per month
Visual arts instructor 5 salaries reported	$3,600 per month

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