Tag: advantages of summer camp

Why Weequahic?

November 6th, 2017

Camp is not your ‘normal’ summer experience. Indeed, if done right, it can be an incredible gift that continues to give over a lifetime. Why? Because where else can a seven to 16-year-old girl or boy enjoy everything we have to offer?

 

It’s About the People

First off, camp is all about the people. You can have a great camp in the middle of an empty field if you have the right collection of campers and staff. To us, the perfect camper is one who engages, who gets excited about meeting new friends and learning new activities. While our campers are mostly (90%) from the US, we also enjoy a few campers from eleven different countries each summer.

Our campers spend their time with other children their same age and gender during their program day. In the bunks, campers enjoy spending time with up to eleven bunkmates and three college-aged counselors. (More on them in a moment.) This living arrangement and activity schedule allows our campers to build new friendships and try new activities while at Weequahic.

 

Our staff members are no less important to the great experience at Weequahic. Our year-round team spends nine months interviewing, hiring and preparing the best staff we can find. These young men and women all are in college or are recent graduates and are hired for two main roles: bunk counselor and activity teacher.

 

First, our staff members have to be great at creating a remarkable experience in the bunk for the community of children they lead. Secondly, they have to be able to teach a specific area for our campers to enjoy. Only staff members who can fill both roles are hired at Weequahic.

 

It’s About the Learning

By being away from home and interacting on an hourly basis with great staff members and interested kids from all over the US and larger world, our campers gain several new skills:

 

  1. Independence: Our campers build this invaluable skill under the watchful eyes of fun and patient mentors. Choosing their own activities, making their bed, and building new friendships away from home are important experiences for our campers.

 

  1. Community and Cultural Differences: Our campers begin to know the American culture through spending time with campers and staff members from all over the US. This opens their eyes to a different experience and place.

 

  1. Language Immersion: For campers coming from overseas, there is no better way to improve their use of English than living with our staff and campers. We help to guide them through the process and make sure nothing is left to chance.

 

It’s About the Fun!

Don’t forget the most important aspect of camp – it’s incredibly fun! With over 60 activities from which to choose, modern and wonderful facilities, special events and evening activities, and more than 450 campers to get to know, there are ample opportunities to laugh, learn, and grow at Weequahic.

 

Please don’t hesitate to call or write if we can be helpful with any questions about our three-week or six-week options at Camp Weequahic. Located just 2.5 hours northwest of New York City, we do our best to make the camp experience easy for our campers and their families.

 

We would be happy to learn more about your family and help however we can.

 

Can’t wait for camp!

How Camp Made Me More Appreciative

February 20th, 2017

 

Dear Camp Weequahic,

 

I’ve never been the type of person who gets Thank You notes out to their guests in a timely manner after a party. I am always thankful for friends who come to my parties, but I just forget to send the formal cards. But spending a summer at camp changed that in me. Not because a summer at camp taught me party etiquette, but because during my time at camp I learned to appreciate things that I normally take for granted. I was also made to feel appreciated by my fellow campers and counselors and realized that is a good feeling when someone acknowledges something you’ve said, done or contributed.

 

While I was swimming, climbing, playing and dancing my summer away, I was reminded of other kids in my school who didn’t have the chance to go to summer camp this year, and it really made me thankful for my parents who provided with me with this incredible experience. As I went to sleep each night in my cabin, surrounded by my new best friends, I was moved to tears in thankfulness and appreciation that they sent me to camp.

 

At camp, this girl Amy would leave little post-it notes around the cabin thanking the other girls for something they did, or something they said that was helpful or kind. These little post-it notes meant so much to us, and we all kept them even when we left camp. Amy taught all of us that it only takes a second to let someone know you appreciate him or her, and it can really turn someone’s day around. Most of us followed her lead and wrote notes for other campers when they did something we appreciated. It created an atmosphere of gratitude, appreciation, and selflessness throughout our cabin, and really helped all of us grow.

 

I saw my counselors constantly thank other counselors for their help. I saw campers thanking other campers when they did something nice. I think we all realized that back in the “real world,” we can sometimes take things, and people, for granted. For me, camp reminded me of all I have to be thankful for, which is why I’m writing you, Camp Weequahic, my first ever Thank-You note.

 

Thanks a million,

 

Carly

Taking the Camp Weequahic Spirit Home with You

January 23rd, 2017

When camp comes to an end, you’ll pack up your trucks and head home to get ready for another busy school year. When you leave, you’ll leave with a lot more than you came with. Your journals will be full of memories, your phones will be full of new phone numbers for all of your new friends, and you, as an individual, will leave with a new sense of confidence and independence that you only get when you spend a summer at Camp Weequahic.

 

There are different ways different campers bring a little piece of camp spirit home with them. You may find yourself humming one of the whacky camp tunes as you clean your room, which will bring back memories of campfires and canoeing on the lake.

 

You may find yourself digging through your laundry basket to find your super comfortable camp t-shirt, the one that reminds you of scoring the winning soccer goal or laughing until you cry at one of the shows put on by some of your best friends. You may search your room for your beloved camp hat or sweatshirt, as the perfectly worn in feeling brings back warm memories of late night talks and adventures outside.

 

Your family members may notice that you come back with a new sense of confidence, a new passion for sports or the arts, or a brand new sense of independence. They may notice that you left for camp one way, and came home with the camp spirit still dancing inside of you. They may notice you are happier, more active, and more willing to try new things. A lot happens at camp that causes changes and shifts within you, and it is impossible not to take those experiences and lessons and apply them into your normal routine back home. Shy campers may find it easier to make new friends, outgoing campers may learn to find comfort in quiet time and connecting with Mother Nature. Camp has this special way of exposing campers to a side of themselves that they may not normally see. This is the spirit of camp that comes home with each and every camper.

 

And next summer, when you come back, you’ll be amazed at all of the new things you take home with you. Year after year, even after you think you’ve done and learned and experienced everything camp has to offer, you still come home with something new each summer. You may learn that you don’t need to be constantly connected to Wifi to feel connected. You may learn that there is something special about spending time in nature. Every summer, campers take a little something extra home with them that stays with them for the rest of their life.

 

Lucky for you, a lot of the camp spirit that you’ll take home with you, and carry with you for the rest of your life, won’t take up any extra space in your camp trunk.