Trip Leaders/

June 5 - August 8, 2025

the midst of campers who are on some of their faces. for advice, friendship and so much more. Who influenced you in your younger and teen years? This is your opportunity to grow your skills and make an impact. Join us! We are focused on the growth of our staff and campers and after 75 of years of operation, we have quite a network of successful alumni looking for young talent.

We are  in Minnesota with distinctive Daily offerings of results in Tbird hiring about  for 160 campers. Staff come from 25+ states and 12 countries across the world. 

Campers join us for either 4 or 8 weeks at a time and typically start at age eight and stay with us to be staff members. Whether you are with us for one season, or ten, the friends that you make at Thunderbird are the ones you can call on a moments notice and pick up right where you left off! 

As campers grow, they often seek new challenges. These challenges come in many forms: new activities, higher skill levels, or a completely new set of opportunities like our Expedition Programs. ​​​​​​

Young campers (8-11 years of age) who have an interest in wilderness travel are able to explore this throughout their camp years. These trips typically range in length from one to four days and include biking, climbing, fishing, kayaking, sailing and canoe. 

At 13, campers interested in participating in our , launch into our more advanced wilderness programming which involves furthering their wilderness skills and partaking in 3, 5 and up to 9 day Campers participating in these experiences have the best of both worlds, activities and wilderness trips. 

Our adventure programming is truly unique. Only Thunderbird offers campers the opportunity to transition into a  experience so they never leave their camp friends or community. Campers completing that start and finish at Thunderbird. You can’t beat the excitement of experiencing new challenges in some of the United States and Canada’s most renowned places with their friends and counselors from T-bird! 

Pacific Northwest, Wyoming, Idaho, New England and Canadian territories such as Banff, Jasper, Quebec. Canoers enjoy a 3-week Canada Canoe Bloodvein River or a two week+ Boundary Water Canoe. Visit our adventure page website to learn more. 

Facilities, Our Lake and More

If you're ready to make connections with other college age+ staff and have the summer of your life, then Thunderbird is the community for you. Who knows, maybe you will become one of those people who find work for nine months so they can return to Thunderbird for three!

Think you have what it takes to be a Camp Counselor or Trip Leader at Thunderbird? Our staff members are high-energy, fun, nurturing and compassionate. They care about kids and love to have fun and be silly. A camp job is hard work, but our staff are ready to work hard to meet those challenges. They're also great role models; counselors are often like superheroes in their campers' eyes. Most of all, our staff are focused on ensuring that their campers have an amazing, safe and memorable camp experience.

All staff live in comfortable, spacious cabins. Cabin Counselors and Trip Leaders live in cabins with 6-10 campers, but enjoy a separate living space.  All of our cabins have electricity. At Boys Camp, each village has a central washhouse. At Girls Camp, in addition to the village shower house, each cabin has its own bathroom. Staff without cabin responsibilities live in communal buildings in either individual or shared rooms, bathrooms and showers. Older staff, cooks, office staff live either in housing with other staff or on their own with electricity and bathrooms. Internet is available in designated areas and phone reception for most carriers is solid. 

We believe that our staff work hard and therefore should have the time to relax. All staff receive each week: one 7 am-7 am day off, one 5 pm-7 am evening off and one 10 pm-12 am evening out.  In addition, there are opportunities to participate in many of the activities that we offer to campers. And, if you are coming to summer camp to make meaningful connections with your peers AND our campers AND fully experience a camp community, we offer all of that as well! You are our frontline workers and your happiness is critical to our community. Join us!

We offer a shuttle to and from the Minneapolis airport on designated travel days. Or, you are welcome to drive to Bemidji, it is four hours north of Minneapolis.  

Once at camp, we offer shuttles on days and nights off to those staff who need a ride.

At Thunderbird, we believe that staff work hard and need to play hard to stay fresh and engaged. We offer other times of the day when staff can take a break and check in with friends and family, go for a run or sit and read a book. In addition, we offer cross-fit classes, yoga, dodge-ball games, game nights, water fights and other super fun ways to hang out with your peers.