Do you love to work outside, have a sense of humor, and enjoy working with children? Spend a season in the sunny Carolinas as a Program Instructor with YMCA Camp Thunderbird! Located just south of Charlotte, NC on beautiful Lake Wylie, Camp Thunderbird’s Environmental Education Center and Conference & Retreat Program provide unique learning experiences for school groups and community groups. Instructors teach classes during the week for our EE Center, which sees over 14,000 school children each year. Our curriculum of 20+ classes range in topics from aquatic, forest, and wildlife ecology to astronomy, pioneer study, canoeing, teambuilding, and high ropes. Two evenings a week, instructors lead meals and evening programs.

Instructors also work one weekend a month for our Conference & Retreat Program. Previous experience working with children is highly recommended.  Our Fall 2019 season runs from August 12 to December 8.

Here is what some of our recent staff have said about working at YMCA Camp Thunderbird (located in Lake Wylie, SC).

“Being an EEC instructor allowed me to create my own teaching style and express what educational creativity I have. I had the opportunity to work along a team and develop critical interpersonal skills. As an EEC instructor, you are led by a team of supervisors who care about you and push you to be better. I had the opportunity to be educated on the operations, financial, and marketing side of how a camp runs and that experience was very valuable.” ~James Kelley

“Camp Thunderbird provides a wonderful space to learn and practice so many new skills every single day-- from team-building and classroom management to lesson planning, public speaking, high ropes facilitation, lifeguarding, and so much more, I can promise that every day is a different adventure! Working here for three seasons made me so much more confident in my abilities to lead both small and large groups, teach on a multitude of topics, and be ready with back-up plans at the first clap of thunder. Thunderbird even provided me personalized opportunities for professional development through hosting our annual Environmental Education mini-conference and through Greater Charlotte YMCA training courses! The beauty of Camp itself, the wonderful people that work there, and the awesome folks that come through the gates every week make it such an incredible place to work!” ~Susannah Bryant