Director of Summer Camps

Applicants should submit a resume and cover letter.

Students who attend Chicago Jesuit Academy (CJA) will be the next generation of leaders in the City of Chicago. Talented people who wish to be employed by Chicago Jesuit Academy must demonstrate a past and continued commitment to academic excellence, professional development and the Jesuit ideal of being people for others. Strong candidates are disciplined workers, compassionate listeners and tireless advocates for the children they serve.

Most importantly, they recognize that Chicago Jesuit Academy will ask them to approach their work as a vocation and make substantial contributions of their time and talents in the service of the students, alumni and families of CJA.

Reporting to the Vice President of College & Career Persistence, the Director of Summer Camps serves as a member of the College & Career Persistence Team and the High School Bridge Team. The Director of Summer Camps oversees the relationships with summer camps, cultivates opportunities for CJA students and alumni and High School Bridge students and alumni to attend high quality sleep away and day camps, develops processes for evaluating best-fit camp opportunities and enrolling and supporting CJA students and HSB students attending those camps.

A successful candidate will ensure that the team and families have clear, succinct, and distilled processes for camp applications, admissions and enrollment so that students and alumni have access to best-fit summer opportunities.

Essential functions:

• Create the vision and mission for summer camps across the institution to ensure that CJA students and alumni and High School Bridge students and alumni have equitable access to high quality summer programs in partnership with the Vice President of CP, the Head of School and the Directors of College & Career Persistence and High School Bridge.
• Own the process for vetting and building relationships with day camps and sleep away camps.
• Oversee the recruitment and nomination process for CJA students and alumni and High School Bridge students and alumni applying to and attending summer camp each year.
• Visit the camps as necessary.
• Oversee and coordinate the summer camp budget, camp transportation logistics and communication and marketing.
• Lead and manage a team of 20+ counselors through clear processes for stewarding camp relationships and ensuring students are enrolled and have successful camp experience.
• Steward the relationship with at least three camps from evaluation to enrollment to debrief.
• Support a small caseload of CJA students by actively communicating and engaging with students, alumni and families and coordinating services and supports for various student/alumni issues.
• Update and maintain interactions with alumni confidentially in the Salesforce database.
• Execute other duties as assigned.

The ideal candidate should:

• Have a bachelor’s degree and at least 3-5 years of experience in education, social work or non-profit including direct work with youth from disinvested communities.
• Have a sincere commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion with a belief that all children deserve equitable access to a high-quality education.
• Possess strong relationship-building skills including the ability to navigate challenging conversations across lines of difference and to listen sincerely and effectively.
• Be detail oriented with exceptional organizational skills.
• Be willing to admit a mistake, ask for help and receive feedback.
• Actively engage in the life of the school and community.

Mission
:
Chicago Jesuit Academy is a loving and academically rigorous tuition-free Catholic elementary school for students and families from resilient communities impacted by historical disinvestment. We accompany our students and alumni from enrollment through the start of their careers as they develop their gifts and grow as men and women for others.

Means
:
Located in Austin on Chicago’s West Side, CJA admits students to all grades in our lower and middle school without regard for their race, ethnicity or religion, and CJA enrolls 3rd-, 4th- and 5th-grade students without regard for their past…