Dear Tevya families,
When you think about it, “Week 2” is really the first full week of camp. Week 1 is all about the excitement of being back in your summer home with your best friends, or the anxious anticipation of coming to a place you’ve never been before with people you are meeting for the first time. Week 1 is about getting acclimated to your surroundings and getting your bearings. It’s the feeling of taking off for a long flight.
Week 2, however, is when the captain comes on the speaker and announces that we’ve reached our cruising altitude and hopes everyone can sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight. When camp reaches its cruising altitude, there is no better feeling.
There might be some minor bumps and turbulence along the way, like pouring rain one day followed by 90 degree, humid heat for the next three days, but when camp is at its cruising altitude, we always level out with the help of our cabin crew – our Staff and CITs. Things like rainy day indoor Gaga in the Pavilion and setting up a mini water park on the Tsof Field with a Slip and Slide help keep camp cruising along smoothly through the bumps.
A true sign that camp has reached its cruising altitude was Thursday night’s Birya and Tel Chai’s (BTC) Spirit Carnival. This special group of oldest campers prepped all Wednesday night for an all-camp carnival evening activity on Thursday night after BBQ. The carnival included activities both inside and outside.
After BBQ, we got a surprise 30-minute thunderstorm, sending all campers and counselors back to their bunks. BTC weathered the storm and the bumps, shifted some of their activities with excellent teamwork and communication, and kept camp cruising along for a PHENOMENAL evening activity that the whole camp enjoyed. We’re excited to keep you updated as we keep cruising through the summer.
Value of the Week
The value of this past week, which was introduced last Friday at Shabbat, was Courage. Campers and counselors were asked to keep their eyes open throughout the week and nominate people around camp who were demonstrating the value of Courage.
Camp Activities
On Saturday, our Yavneh and Dalia campers received their Big Brothers and Sisters. We love this tradition! Our youngest campers get to build special relationships with our oldest campers, and our oldest campers truly get to demonstrate the power of being a positive role model.
On Saturday night, we had MTV Night as our first all camp evening activity. Campers had a blast learning their routines and performing them for all of camp. We hope you enjoyed seeing some of the pictures that we posted from this fun event.
We celebrated the Fourth of July in fashion, dressed up in red, white and blue. We had a festive Shira (song) session after lunch, a special BBQ dinner, followed by a Fourth of July social. The fireworks display was postponed until tonight due to the rainy forecast, and we’re hoping we can end today watching fireworks over Lake Potanipo.
This week also marked the crowning of our Tel Chai Queen and Birya King. Congrats to Queen Shaina Lieberman and King Jack Borden! 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.
Yesterday was our first Game Day of the summer. We competed against Camp Tel Noar as Tevya hosted Bog Softball and Ole Newcomb, and Tel Noar hosted Tsof Softball and Bog Volleyball. We won some and lost some, but Game Days are always spirited competitions where the most important part is competing with sportsmanship and having fun with your friends and teammates.
Evening Activities this week included…
- Oles: Rainy Day Games, Scavenger Hunt, Just Dance, Water Games
- Tsofs: Dutch Auction, Field Games, Dodgeball, Bonfire
- Bogs: Camp Tevya Trivia, Friday Night Lights Basketball, Spirit Night Prep,
Upcoming Events
We’re hoping the weather will cooperate this evening so we can all enjoy an awe-inspiring fireworks display over Lake Potanipo.
Next week, we’ll continue with our Royalty tradition as a new Prince and Princess are crowned by Dalia and Yavneh – we can’t wait to see who they choose!
The coming weeks also hold more fun tournaments, game days, and of course, the first Trip Days of the summer! We can’t wait to watch all the fun and magical moments unfold, and we look forward to sharing it with you all.
Shabbat Shalom,
