1. A Day in the Life at Camp
Ever wonder what your child does all day at camp? First time campers may wonder this, too. While campers can expect a regular cadence to their daily schedule, there are some fun deviations such as village camping trips, Shabbat or theme days. Most days look like this:
- Wake up — good morning!
- Degel — meet at the flagpole.
- Breakfast in the dining hall for second–seventh graders. Senior side campers have breakfast in their village.
- Clean up
- Bunk Activity 1*
- Bunk Activity 2*
- Lunch
- Menucha (Rest time)
- Bunk Activity/Prime Time/General Swim
- Bunk Activity/Prime Time/General Swim
- Shower Time
- Degel, then dinner
- Evening activity/Schmooze**
- Bedtime
*Examples of bunk activities include: omanut (arts and crafts), boating and canoeing, horseback riding, ropes, tubing, waterski, teva (Nature), land sports, fishing, farm activities, Jewish programming, cooking and more.
**Schmooze allows a bit more choice in the evening activity. Campers have seven to 10 options to choose from. Sometimes Schmooze is replaced by an all-camp program, such as Foxfire or the all-camp Play.
2. Swimming talk
General swim: Let’s address the fact that some kids are nervous about the swim test. We do not force anybody to take the swim test. If a camper chooses to not take the swim test, they can either (1) stay in red water (shallow), or (2) go in white water (deep) with a lifejacket on.
The swim test is about an 80-yard swim (about three lengths of a standard sized pool), followed by a three-minute tread. For the swimming portion, campers can swim freestyle (crawl) or breaststroke. If a camper doesn’t pass the test, or wants to delay it for another day, we can retest later.
Our lifeguards are all Red Cross certified. Each general swim will have several lifeguards (enough for four guard stations and some rotations/relief), a supervisor and often a few adults overseeing everything.
We hope you’re finding these tidbits helpful!
Warmly,
Rachel
