Program staff positions require a ten-week commitment, from June 14th through August 19th. The nature of the job -- working with 84 hard-working and appreciative boys in a challenging island setting -- requires maturity, patience, dedication, a love of the outdoors, a willingness to learn, a good sense of humor, and the ability to work well with others.
Spending a summer on Mayhew Island requires an absolute commitment to the boys. There is limited free time and even less time for socializing outside of the program; there are very high expectations for personal behavior and conduct; and the work can be fatiguing and emotionally draining. Yet the remarkable efforts of the boys, the camaraderie of the whole community, the sharply focused sense of purpose, and the overwhelmingly good feeling of contributing to a very positive and meaningful experience for the boys is rich beyond measure.
Salary includes room and board on a beautiful island and lots of great home cooking served family style. Work/study and for-credit options are negotiable.
Deciding Your Position
When the boys come to the island, they make a commitment to put the community first. Often times, that means putting aside their own personal desires for the greater good of the group. We expect no less of ourselves as Mayhew Staff, and are therefore looking for people who are willing to take on whatever challenge the community asks of them. With this in mind, every staff member (new or returning, summer or full-time) enters staff week ready to fill whatever position is required of them. Only a few members come to the Island knowing exactly what role they will fill (usually those who are certified swim instructors, lifeguards, or medical personnel), and even they may end up doing a different job than they expected. There is also the possibility that one's job will change during the summer as needed.
That being said, we will work hard to make sure that each staff member's skills are put to the best use for the boys. Please, look over the positions below and let us know if you think you have more to offer in a certain area. And don't worry if you're not an expert in any one field. The staff community always has a mix of many different talents, and the greatest asset a Mayhew staff member can possess is simply the willingness to go wherever he or she is needed.
Excerpt from Mayhew Staff Handbook:
On Creating an Atmosphere of Respect
We are fortunate to work at Mayhew, which stands as an exception to many contradictory and sometimes self-destructive rules and behaviors that guide our society. We always work to support one another, to note the positive, and to work together in the areas that need attention. We, as a staff, model respectful relations with one another -- both to demonstrate this for the boys, and to remind ourselves that we are fragile beings who need positive reinforcement.
Mayhew is a place where staff members do extraordinary work in an atmosphere of extraordinary mutual support. It's a case, really, of some very fine people accomplishing phenomenal things. The whole is more than the already substantial sum of the parts. One of our visitors to the island recently shook his head in wonder as he left: "What an unbearably positive place!" It is very different, it's very wonderful, and it takes some getting used to. And it is you and all of us who help create this environment. In the end, or perhaps the beginning, we are a community with the common goal of supporting the success and growth of each individual.
We on the Mayhew staff are both pragmatists and idealists. A lot of this handbook is filled with hints and procedures on the nuts-and-bolts of working on Mayhew Island -- the practical, tactical stuff that helps make the summer more efficient and manageable. But it is our idealism that carries us, and which raises the program to ever-higher altitudes. Being fair and calm with the kids three out of four days is not good enough on Mayhew Island, even if that far exceeds the national average. Drinking and carousing less frequently than typical young males is not good enough. We strive always to be fair, always to be calm, always to be sober and focused and giving our all for the boys and program. And we strive to support one another in pursuit of a common goal: the most significant possible experience for the eighty-four boys under our care. We need to create and support an atmosphere of respect.
If we can do all of that for the time we will be on Mayhew Island this summer, then we'll find ourselves evaluating the staff at summer's end as, indeed, "some very fine people accomplishing phenomenal things." We will know we were successful in creating an environment where all the boys learned about themselves and developed more positive ways to get along with each other. For the foundation of a successful program is built squarely on respect.
Each Mayhew boy makes a commitment to try his hardest, to try everything, and to try to get along with others. We do the same, and more. We also pledge to support each individual and ensure the boy's safety. And we commit ourselves to cherishing the uniqueness and promise of each boy. And though our time on island with the boys is fleeting, our collective success, boy and staff alike, goes far beyond the island and our time together. The effect will last through all of our lives, and by extension, forever.
