Tag: benefits of summer camp

Home Away from Home

December 19th, 2013

18439 is the zip code that has become my second home for five summers.  Starting at the age of six, I learned many core virtues at Camp Weequahic in Pennsylvania.  Summer camp has absolutely changed my life.

Living and sleeping in a cabin with different girls and no parents involves plenty of responsibility.  Everyone has to clean their bunk and the bathroom everyday with only a little help from the counselors.  Also, each camper has to create his or her own schedule of fun activities planned.  In addition, I have to be accountable for brushing my teeth and folding my laundry.  Responsibility is important, but cooperation is also a big part of the camp experience.

At sleep away camp, cooperation is used everyday no matter what.  All campers must cooperate completely during their activities by including everyone. By cooperating with my fellow bunk members, we can accomplish chores and activities more quickly than doing it all alone.  In competitions, different teams have to cooperate in order to win.  When the entire camp breaks into different tribes, girls and boys work together creating songs, competing in relays, and answering trivia questions.  At times, I can be a strong leader in my bunk or for my tribe.

Finally, I have gained independence every year I have been at this camp. Living 3,000 miles away from home allows me to take care of myself and be independent.  I am in charge of serving others and myself food.  I try new things like cooking, sewing, tubing, and kickball.  I have created friendships with people from all over the world and have stayed in touch with them.

Arriving at camp is the best experience of the whole year.  I am away from my parents but at least I still have my bother there with me.  I learn many things and make many new friends.  All of this creates a remarkable summer experience!

–Jenna H.

Sleepaway Camp: The Ultimate English Language Experience

November 19th, 2013

There is a multi-cultural aspect to summer camp that is a great benefit to campers who attend summer camps in America. While standardized test scores dictate students’ admission into certain high schools, learning programs, and universities, summer camp is an esteemed diversion. That a student ventured to America and invested in an American tradition so revered as summer camp provides international campers an opportunity to advance English skills and immerse in American culture that is almost un-rivaled. The big picture in those countries in which learning is the gold ticket is to take in “all things English.” To experience summer camp is to give a student an advantage beyond any of his or her classmates. Four hours per week in school could never equate to those of several weeks spent at a summer camp experiencing traditions that are quintessentially American while forming friendships that last a lifetime. English is a language that is as much about experience as linguistics. It’s a complicated mix of culture with as many exceptions to rules as there are rules. The best way to understand English is quite literally to experience it. At camp, children can make friends, participate in activities and become a part of traditions that are more than camp: They live English. For those children seeking to become truly fluent in English and gain an advantage over their fellow students, summer camp is an essential investment.

Camp Souvenirs

September 26th, 2013

It happens while you’re unpacking.  You happen on an oddity or two—or ten—in your child’s bag or maybe shorts pockets. Crazy little circular chains of rubber bands (dozens of them!) seem to be tucked into every crevice of clothing your child could find; a water bottle filled with what appears to be sand and lake water, or; a pocket full of leaves.  These are but a few of the little treasures that made their way home with your camper.  You ponder over your child’s spoils from camp for a few minutes and try to figure out what it’s about.  Then you finally decide to ask about ‘a Ziploc baggie full of sand?’

‘From the waterfront!’ Your child proudly declares.  ‘I wanted something to remember the fun I had there this summer.’  You sit the bag (that you were considering throwing out a few seconds before your child walked into the room) down on the nightstand and make a mental note to pick up a container that will do it a little bit more justice than a Ziploc baggie.

‘And what about what about those rubber band things?’

‘Bracelets’.

‘Ahhhh…Of course.’

The souvenirs that find their way home from camp are always one of your favorite parts of unpacking.  It’s become a game for you, trying to guess the chain of events that led to you finding that random piece of burnt wood alongside your child’s socks and putting it together with the years prior to this summer that he and his camp friends spent plotting their rope burn strategy.

‘campfire?’

‘The Burning of the W.  I snuck it on my way back to the bunk’

‘Yes!’ You guessed one.  You’re starting to get good at this.  What you begin to realize is that the random discoveries you’ve been fishing out of your child’s luggage like an archeologist at a dig site aren’t random at all.  They’re memories.  More importantly, they’re the summer’s best memories in the form of rubber bands, lake-water filled water bottles, sand filled Ziploc baggies, and, yes, even burnt pieces of rope.  The candles and ceramic animals are obvious.  You like them, too.  But it’s these special little surprise finds that tell the more complex story of your child’s summer–the reason you’ve come to like, actually anticipate, unpacking after your child returns home from camp.  You’re not exactly sure what you’re going to find or what it will mean, but you can’t wait to find out.