Leader-in-Training (LIT)

Do you want to find out what you’re actually capable of?

Do you want to stop just thinking “that person’s a good leader” and start knowing exactly what they’re doing that makes them one?

Do you want to learn how to set and achieve meaningful goals?

There’s a big difference between knowing and doing. LIT is built to close that gap: specific leadership techniques, high standards for using them, and real support while you figure out how.

This isn’t a program your parents sign you up for. It’s one you choose.

What You’re Signing Up For

LIT will push you past what you think you can handle, and that’s the point. Self-mastery doesn’t happen by accident. It’s built through technical skill, emotional control, the confidence that comes from surviving something hard, and the judgment you only get from actually being tested. At Deer Crossing, you get all four in four weeks instead of years.

Your body gets tested: long open-water swims, lifeguard training, off-trail backpacking, a stretch of fasting during survival training. Your mind gets tested, through first aid, wilderness survival, and leadership psychology sessions that run late into the night. And your attitude gets tested the whole time, because staying positive through fear, fatigue, and frustration is its own kind of skill.

By the end, you’ll walk away with people skills that change how you show up with family, friends, teachers, and employers. You’ll understand your own personality well enough to start shaping it on purpose. You’ll have real, tested self-confidence, not the kind you talk yourself into. You’ll hold American Red Cross certifications in lifeguarding, first aid, and CPR, ones that qualify you for actual outdoor jobs. And you’ll leave with a Deer Crossing LIT certificate that shows you took on this challenge and completed it.

“Through the process of becoming a LIT, my whole perspective and view of the world has changed. The late-night psychology classes have given me many attitude ‘positactics.’ I have learned to push my limits and expand my envelope.” — Julie M, San Jose, California (7 years as camper, LIT, WGIT, quoted before 4 years as Instructor and then Asst. Director)

Where You’ll Spend Your Time

You’ll still be part of camp life, but most of your waking hours go into LIT-specific training built around your group’s strengths that particular summer. Expect to work on:

• Using self-esteem as a motivational tool
• Making real, lasting changes to your habits and personality
• Giving presentations, sometimes reviewed on video
• Developing a skill of your choice: rock climbing, windsurfing, canoeing, kayaking
• Wilderness guide training and orienteering
• Creative problem-solving methods
• Goal-setting techniques
• Wilderness survival training
• Learning-style analysis
• Group facilitation
• Wilderness First Aid scenario training

“When I was a LIT, my limits were being constantly pushed. It taught me how to dig deep and overcome any challenge that came my way. I use what I learned every day of my life.” — Nick B, Lake Oswego, Oregon (8 years as camper, LIT, WGIT, quoted before 3 years as instructor)

You won’t be responsible for campers while you’re a LIT, though you might help teach a class here and there. And finishing LIT doesn’t guarantee you a job at Deer Crossing or anywhere else. But it’s a real mark in your favor when you apply.

Many of our LIT graduates go on to our WGIT (Wilderness Guide in Training) program which builds further strength in all these areas.

Do You Qualify?

Only four to eight campers get in each summer, and the bar is real. Here’s the bar you’ll need to clear:

• Age 15–17, with older applicants given preference so they don’t age out before they get the chance
• A regular exercise habit, like after-school sports, at least three times a week
• The ability to swim 500 meters freestyle, non-stop
• B average grades or better
• Real involvement in something outside class: drama, debate, scouting, electronics club, student government
• A record of community service
• A stable, positive attitude and an actual love of being challenged
• Prior experience at Deer Crossing, including feedback from staff. Not required, but it helps since you will have knocked out the first-time camper requirements.

Getting in means enrolling and paying the deposit, filling out the LIT application, doing a Zoom interview with the Camp Director, and lining up two written references from adults who know you well, like a coach, teacher, or employer. The director might ask you to do some prep work before you arrive: community service, swim conditioning, raising a grade, whatever’s going to set you up to succeed.

Applications open in September and get reviewed as they come in. The program usually fills in October, with interviews running late October into early November. Check Dates & Rates for what’s open right now.

Not sure you’re ready for four weeks yet? CIT is a two-week way to find out first, and a lot of LITs started there.

“The LIT program impacted my life for the better. I left a stronger person who now understands just how far I can push myself and just how much I can accomplish. It provided me with the tools to accomplish the many goals I would like to achieve in my lifetime, as well as the tools to help change the world for the better.” — Hannah H, San Francisco, California (9 years as camper, LIT, quoted before 5 years as instructor and then Asst. Director)

If You Want to Convince Your Parents

This isn’t a four-week vacation with a leadership label slapped on it, and that’s the argument you need to make.

Start here: an internship gets you coffee runs and a line on a resume nobody reads closely. LIT gets you real, nationally recognized certifications (Red Cross Lifeguard, first aid, CPR) that qualify you for actual paid work. That’s not a summer activity. That’s a credential.

Then there’s college. Selective schools aren’t just filling seats. They’re building a class of people who’ll go on to lead things, and eventually give back to the school that helped them do it. A program that pushed you through real physical and psychological challenges, that you chose for yourself and finished, says more about your leadership potential than another club membership ever will.

And it’s not a hypothetical. Many of our instructors and leadership team members came up through our CIT, LIT, and WGIT programs. That’s the actual trajectory: campers who took on something hard to adults who ended up running the place.

Four weeks. Real certifications. Proof you can lead, not just a claim that you can. That’s the pitch to your parents.

See Dates & Rates for session dates.