Help make SI magic happen while reducing your costs. We are blessed with a community of talented people willing to share their gifts. The community acknowledges this by awarding ‘camperships’ for those who work at SI. (e.g. Seminar leaders, Golf cart drivers, RE teachers)

Camperships are not designed to cover all of your costs.  If a campership does not cover enough to make your attendance feasible, you can also apply for a scholarship. Value of campership is determined based on items like time required before SI, opportunities missed at SI, and time required at SI.

What is a Campership?

A campership is a discount off SI cost for some of the larger volunteer positions. Camperships are different than community work shifts (small, one-time jobs everyone signs up for as a service to our community.) Camperships are also different than scholarships (given based on need and funded by donations.)

Camperships are our way of acknowledging that you are giving up some of your vacation time to co-create SI magic.

Part of the deal – Background Check: As safety is a priority, all campership recipients have submit info for background check.  Once background check completed, you will be given the information you need to register: campership # and value of campership.  You must register before April 1st.

How Can I Get Campership?

1) Apply for a Job

Many jobs are required to make the magic happen. Some job are perfectly suited to a first-timer while others can be involved and take time to learn. Some jobs are awarded for a single year, others for 3 years at a time.

Review available jobs available and apply today! 

2) Submit a Proposal for a Morning Seminar or Afternoon Workshop

One big way you can help make CERSI awesome is to help offer strong programming that will appeal to a range of people. The leader of a morning seminar or afternoon workshop will receive a campership/fee waiver of $300.  Two or more leaders may split the campership. Questions should be directed to the workshop coordinator at [email protected].

If you have an idea or passion you’d like to share, please submit a proposal.  Use the same application form for both Morning and Afternoon proposals. Applications usually close Oct 30 of preceding year. 

Morning Seminars

Morning seminars meet Monday to Friday for 75 minutes.  They can be learning-based or activity-based, and topics might be spiritual, practical, physical, intellectual, gustatory, artsy, musical, or more!

Morning seminars are intended to be attended by the same people all five mornings, and therefore can support a curriculum that builds upon itself each day. When writing your proposal, consider the ways in which your seminar may appeal to a variety of attendees, support the SI Covenant, and affirm and promote UU principles and values. Also, please think about the space. Will your seminar work well in a classroom setting? We will reimburse expenses up to $50.

During registration, adults pre-register for their top 3 choices for a morning seminar.  If not enough people register for your seminar, it may have to be cancelled.

Afternoon Workshops

Afternoon workshops at Summer Institute are intended to be drop-in events that people can attend anywhere from once to all five days. Because afternoons are inter-generational, afternoon workshops can be designed for children, all ages, or adults. As a general rule, workshops tend to be more casual than morning seminars and are often sports, games, and crafts, although they are by no means limited to these options. Do you have a creative idea for ways that the community can play, explore, or learn together? We want to hear it!

When writing your proposal, consider the population and age group to whom it is likely to appeal. It can be designed for outdoor or indoor spaces. The budget is limited to $50.

Applications usually close Oct 30 of preceding year.