Tuesday, July 27, 2010

I Cheated on You, Smith College: SIG Bryn Mawr 2010


Hey hos! Long time, no update. Oops. Here ya go.

I have possibly the best summer job in the world. Not only do I work in that castle above (as well as other castles), I have the coolest co-workers and even get paid to go to the beach (albeit with 80 children). I work at the Summer Institute for the Gifted on the Bryn Mawr College campus in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, which is about 20 minutes from Philadelphia by train. My job title is "Housemaster" and I am, indeed, the "Master" of a "House" for 3 weeks. Well, girls' dormitory. Anyway. I supervise something like 65 girls from 8-16 years old, Residential Assistants and Counselors, working from 7:30am until 11pm and this was my second year running. It is absolutely crazy and this year was 100 times more stressful than last, but I love it. Basically, I deal with homesick kids, kids that don't listen to their counselors, lead off-campus trips and work in the office (delivering kids to and from classes, calling every parent ever, typing evaluations into Excel, etc.). I also get paid to watch things like this:

Matt and Rasheed helping out Hilby the German Juggle Boy

Back in the dormitory, my role is making sure the chillins' don't go completely batshit insane. This year throwing parties in the middle of the day during Rec Hour and such was The Cool Thing. They even sometimes made these cute little invitations for their counselor group.

Matt's understanding of "being in jail" during Capture the Flag

Off-campus trips meant lots of sleeping on buses on the weekends. We have to catch up on our sleep somewhere! Sorry Jon!

All of my awesome coworkers!


By far the most popular act in the Staff Talent Show this year!

As my job is a residential position and the kids are in class during the day, I spend my days in the office. Thus, I saw a lot of the boys' Housemaster, Jared and the Administrative Assistant, Julia. On one of our 2 days off (in 3 weeks, yes) we caught up on the all-important Grown Up Time.

Favorites! We went on an adventure outside of Hope's Cookies.

Jared and I riding cows. We look equally special.

And I'll leave you with this, to sum up what supervising 70+ kids from some 8 countries and 16 US States leads one to do...

Okay, okay, it was already smashed before it made it to my forehead. Is this an American enough picture for you, oh non-American friends? I tried.