Sanibel Sea School is excited to welcome five summer camp counselors to the staff roster to help with summer camp this year. The team at Sanibel Sea School will host multiple weeks of camp beginning on June 7th at two locations on Sanibel.

Our camp counselors play an integral role in summer camp by keeping campers safe, leading day groups, and facilitating a memorable ocean experience for the kids. Summer camp counselors are typically high school graduates or currently enrolled in college. Many camp counselors have backgrounds in early childhood education or marine biology, and all have a passion for working with kids.

Hannah Galbreath, Harley Berges, Mary Buerer, Alex Polk, and Jaden Cabrera will join the ranks of the red shirts this summer and are all looking forward to being on the water with kids. Polk and Cabrera are veteran Sanibel Sea School campers, having grown up in the program, and are excited to share similar experiences with new campers this summer.

Buerer was slated to be a summer camp counselor last summer before the pandemic and when summer camp was cancelled, she was able to continue through the summer as an education intern. Galbreath and Berges are brand new to Sanibel Sea School and have strong interests in environmental conservation and teaching children about the ocean.  

The summer camp staff begins working two weeks prior to camp to undergo extensive training and preparation. The training kicks off with a weekend course in lifeguarding, then, the two weeks before camp begins the counselors finalize camp activities, prep the grounds for camper arrival, and put the last-minute touches on each week of camp.

“We love having our staff grow in the summer with the addition of the summer camp counselors,” said Education Programs Manager Shannon Stainken. “It is so nice to have some extra hands on deck, some new energy and personalities, and having more colleagues who are just as passionate about sharing the ocean with others.”

The summer camp counselors will work at Sanibel Sea School’s Flagship location and at The Bailey Homestead camps through August.

Click below to read a little bit more about each of our counselors!