Leadership

A caring, supportive staff member is often what a child remembers most from a summer camp experience. Onondaga’s training and ongoing guidance for staff members reflect this belief. The majority of Onondaga’s staff has grown up at the camp, and continue to foster a comfortable and supportive camp environment. Staff are hired for their passion in working with children, judgment, and their commitment to being strong role models.

Our two-year Leadership-in-Training program provides former campers the opportunity to learn valuable skills to become Onondaga staff, while earning Ontario Secondary School course credits.

The Camp's director, Duncan Robertson, has over 24 years of camp experience as a camper, staff member, and director. Duncan works full-time in the Toronto office during the off season and is at camp during the summers. Duncan has been actively involved with the Ontario Camping Association, serving as a Board member for four years. He is a current Board member of the Society of Camp Directors and has made numerous presentations at camping conferences.

Duncan is supported by a board of directors lead by David Lever and David Hadden. Both have been former directors at Onondaga and provide strong support and guidance for the camp.

Leadership Program

To enable us to provide consistent and strong leadership we have an in-depth Leadership-in-Training (LIT) program. When our campers reach the age of 16 they can start the process of becoming a counsellor. The LIT course is a two-year program that teaches both the skills both in the hard activity skills and the soft people skills. To be a leader in camping for over 90 years requires this ongoing commitment to train and hire the best leaders and role models.

To enhance the Leadership Program further, we set out in 2004 to establish Onondaga as a private school so that we could offer credits for our program. We realized that there was a direct connection between the Leadership-in-Training Program and the Ontario Curriculum established by the Ministry of Education. Our first year of the credit program was a great success and has further set apart Onondaga's Leadership program from other similar programs. We are proud to offer participants in the program an opportunity to obtain Ontario credits that can contribute to their Ontario Secondary School Diploma (O.S.S.D.).

Find out more about the credits we offer: Credit Courses