Dear Tevya families,
Welcome to the very first edition of our Summer 2023 weekly blog posts. We’re excited to bring you all the latest updates and highlights from the past couple of days, where the sun has finally reappeared!
Opening Day
There are many things that camp does well. Camp builds confidence and independence. Camp strengthens relationships and community. Camp celebrates personal growth and learning new skills.
Importantly, camp honors the ability to be flexible. That ability was on full display on Opening Day as our staff and families quickly shifted to our Rainy Day plan. Families joined in alongside our crew of drivers and luggage loaders, our Health Center nurses, and our counselors and CITs to host an incredibly smooth drop off. With families “unloading, but not unpacking” everyone could focus on excitedly greeting campers and their families at the bunks. Thank you to all our families for their flexibility and getting us through Drop Off successfully before the rain!
ACTIVITIES UNDERWAY!
Yesterday and today, we ran our two incredible days of programming, filled with laughter, excitement, and unforgettable memories in the making. Our campers have dived headfirst into a wide range of activities, from sports and arts to team challenges and outdoor adventures. We’re excited to share the joy and magic that’s already been happening at camp, in the short amount of time since you last saw your camper.
Value of the Week
Each week on Shabbat we introduce a “Value of the Week” as a focal point for our camp community in the coming days. The value of this past week, which we first introduced with our staff at Shabbat during pre-camp Orientation, was Community.
Special Activities
On the opening night of camp, campers were treated to a fun variety of Department Skits where they learned all about the activity areas at camp. It was exciting to be together as a whole camp community, and you could feel the energy in the air. We closed the night out with our first singing of the Alma Mater and Rad Hayom.
It was a beautiful night last night at Thursday BBQ. This is a weekly event where campers and staff eat outside on the soccer field, enjoying hotdogs, hamburgers, chicken, watermelon and our famous blondies. Last night’s evening activities included…
- Oles: Dutch Auction – each bunk came prepared with a pillowcase full of random items from their bunk. At a Dutch Auction, the MC calls out items, and bunks get points if they have the items in their case. It’s always fun to see what gets called and how creative the bunks get with the items they put in their pillowcase.
- Younger Tsofs: B’nai Mitzvah Games -They played all the popular favorites like Coke n Pepsi
- Olders Tsofs: Club Tsof – It was one big dance party in the Pavilion for our Older Tsofs. Camper and counselors had a great time dancing to the beat and hanging out.
- Bogs: Bonfire – Our oldest age group enjoyed a bonfire at the beach, complete with songs, stories and s’mores.
Upcoming Events
Our Dor L’Dor campers will be departing for Israel on Sunday. A life changing journey awaits them and we can’t wait to hear all about it from their weekly Shabbat letters.
Next week, we’re looking forward to celebrating July 4th all together as a camp community. The town of Brookline launches fireworks from Skunk Hollow, our other beach around the lake where our Water Park is. We can’t wait for the show!
We will be doing Big + Littles, pairing our oldest and youngest campers together. They will have opportunities over the session to hang out both formally and informally. This is always such a sweet tradition and the campers remember their Bigs + Littles for years to come.
We have Royalty this week. Royalty is a longstanding camp tradition dating back to 1960/1961 where the oldest campers choose a King or a Queen, and the youngest campers choose a Prince or a Princess. They are revealed to the whole camp in a fun ceremony in the dining hall. These royalty are staff members who are chosen by the campers as individuals who would be fun to hang out with and get to know more. They will have some special time built into their schedules for King/Queen/Prince/Princess time.
Shabbat Shalom,
