Month: July 2015

Wee-Excel Day!

Tomorrow is Wee-Excel Day; a special event day focusing on a camper’s program of choice. There are a wide range of activities for campers to choose from including Sports, the Arts, Adventure and “Olympic Prep.”

Some of our intensive sports camps include basketball, golf and roller hockey. Those campers wanting to play golf go to a local club where they get to play 9 holes on a challenging course. Our golfers love this opportunity because they really get to push themselves and see how much they have improved over the summer. AC9U3647

We also offer day long hikes for all age groups and our campers absolutely love the experience. Hikes are broken up by division and trails usually run for about 4 miles. The views are spectacular and campers get to cool down in falls that they pass along their route. After a long hike campers are treated to Jericho’s ice cream and feel refreshed upon their return to camp!

In preparation for our performance of Shrek, campers involved in the play have the entire day to practice their lines and songs, set designers can put their finishing touches on set pieces and the stage crew can work on lighting and cues. We also have a creative option for campers interested in activities such as scrapbooking, ceramics, photography, and painting. This gives campers a chance to paint any items they have made in ceramics or woodworking or make a book full of all the wonderful memories they have made here at camp.

In anticipation of Olympics, all our campers have been trying to guess when the breakout will happen. Olympics is a very exciting multi-day event that all our campers and counselors look forward to, so we have something called “Olympic Prep” for our older campers. These campers practice for certain events such as the hatchet hunt, grape tossing and counting to a minute (with a blindfold on). This gets all our campers super pumped up for Olympics breakout and is also a prime opportunity for our older campers to utilize their leadership skills on their respective team and help younger campers in their events when the time comes.

Wee-Excel Day is a wonderful opportunity for all our campers to dive into an activity they truly enjoy. Campers get to see the amount of improvement they’ve made over the course of the summer. It is also a time for them to use all the skills they have learned from counselors and fellow campers.

The Benefits of Inter-camps

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One of the really great aspects of Camp Weequahic are our Inter-camp competition options. Inter-camps give our campers a chance to compete with other camps in different activities including sports, dance, gymnastics and more during the summer. These opportunities give everyone an opportunity to show off what they have learned in their respective activity.

They are also a great way to show Weequahic pride as well as team bonding. In our opinion, Inter-camps are about showing good sportsmanship and motivating campers to do their best by giving them some friendly competition. Most of all, our campers are meant to have fun and always remember to show gratitude towards their coaches and other teams, a positive attitude no matter the score and the courage to ask for assistance when they need it!

This coming Wednesday we have 3 Inter-camps that many of our campers have been practicing for a great deal. First off we have a dance competition. A number of our girls (and some of our boys) have been working daily in order to get ready for this competition. They gave a sneak peek of their step routine at last night’s Dancing with the Weequahic Stars and it was absolutely amazing. The girls were completely in sync, had huge smiles on their faces and really gave it their all.

We also have a 5th and Under Boys soccer tournament next week. They have been practicing really hard for this tournament and are all really determined to do their best. You can be sure to catch our soccer players practicing their dribbles and passes on the soccer field. They are all so excited for this tournament and cannot wait to throw on their Weequahic t-shirts and go out on the field and represent this camp.

Finally, our Senior girls have a volleyball tournament they have been getting ready for. They are always on the volleyball court practicing their spikes and making sure they are communicating with each other effectively. It is easy to see that our Senior girls volleyball team loves the sport and that they are ready to show the other teams what they’ve got!

We want to wish all of our Inter-camp teams the best of luck and to always remember to have fun!

Lights, Cameras, Weequahic in Action!

Our Theater department has done a fantastic job making both Tribal and Olympic session’s productions memorable for each and every camper.jungle book

Tribal session’s performance of Jungle Book was an absolute hit! The movie is a classic and always a crown favorite. The costumes were really well done, the singing was great and you could tell that all our campers had a lot of fun putting the show together. Click here to view a short clip of a group of campers singing and dancing to one of the Jungle Book songs during canteen.

After seeing Jungle Book everyone was anticipating what our Olympic session’s production would be! As soon as our campers learned that this session’s choice would be Shrek, everyone was ecstatic and jumped at the opportunity to participate; whether it be a role in the play or designing the set. Our theater counselors were very impressed at tryouts and are thrilled to be working with such talented actors/actresses! The cast list went up yesterday and every camper was pleased with their role.

Sonya, our Theater Program Head, said she chose Shrek because “it is one of [her] favorite shows and has a great storyline. It has a ton of roles and is always a good laugh.” What are some of our campers excited about with this play? “Dragons, knights and castles, of course! And don’t forget the fact that Shrek is a fantastic movie!” one camper said. “It’s a lot of fun being able to a different person while still being yourself at the same time. You can be as dramatic or silly as you want. That’s what I’m looking forward to with this play!” said another.

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It is wonderful to see campers using their creativity and imagination not  only in their acting skills, but also in designing set pieces or sewing  costumes. Everyone is really excited to see the production of Shrek and all  the cast members and crew are working hard to make sure it’s a great  show.