HEBRON – Junior Maine Guide program Director John Curtis said he chose the teaching profession because of his experience as a counselor in wilderness instruction at Winona Camps in Bridgton.

Hebron Academy’s middle school chemistry teacher has directed the program for 30 years after being a camper and becoming a junior guide and Maine Guide.

“I think the reason I’m in teaching is that I loved being a counselor so much,” he said. “Teaching’s the only job I looked at.”

Curtis described both chemistry and the Junior Maine Guide program as requiring thinking ahead, and using a body of knowledge to answer questions. He said both the participants in the program and the students he’s taught have shown the same focus and effort toward self-improvement.

And his work with youth is also good for his own well-being, he said.

“I think it keeps you sharp. I like being part of their youthful energy.”

The Junior Maine Guide program has been offered since 1937 at the camp.

A joint effort of the Maine Youth Camping Association and the state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, the program is designed to teach outdoor skills to children ages 9 to 18.

“It’s probably a stepping stone,” Curtis said. One cannot become a Maine Guide until the age of 18, so the program will help prepare younger people for that goal, he said.

According to the Maine Youth Camping Association’s Web site, the program is divided into three levels based on age group. Participants take written and practical tests in areas such as outdoor living skills, fire building, first aid and compass skills.

The final exam is a five-day camping excursion at the Steve Powell Wildlife Center on Swan Island near Richmond.

Curtis said this exam requires campers to prepare for their entire time on the island. The group, along with a staff of 10 testers, arrives at the island on Monday and departs Friday. Among the tests given to prospective junior guides are canoeing, splitting wood, building a fire in wet conditions, and cooking.

“I think the greatest thing for these Junior Maine Guides is that they’re independent,” Curtis said. “It’s great to see the interest that the candidates have in the outdoors.”

Curtis himself was both a camper and counselor at Winona Camps. He became a Junior Maine Guide in 1964, and went on to become a Maine Guide in 1977. He said he was asked to take over the program by Bob Whiting, a counselor at Winona Camps, before Whiting’s death in 1977.

“He’s a very knowledgeable outdoors person, very enthusiastic,” Alan Ordway, owner and director of Winona Camps, said of Curtis. “He’s certainly someone who’s carried the program along through thick and thin.”

After graduating from the University of North Carolina, Curtis taught at a Connecticut school for four years before moving to Maine to teach chemistry at Hebron Academy.

While he said the outdoor environment with the prospective guides was more relaxed than the chemistry lab, he also noted similarities between the jobs.

“You’re still teaching individuals to learn and to pick up a new skill,” he said.

In addition to his work with the program and the school, Curtis coaches the academy’s football team and helps with the alpine skiing and lacrosse programs. He said he used to assist with the school’s outdoor trips until his two daughters joined the Colby College crew team, whereupon he became a spectator of their competitions.

Curtis, who lives on campus with his wife, Trish, said he’s not sure what the future will hold for him.

“I like what I’m doing,” he said, “and who knows when you’re ready to change gears?”