It never rains… Session 1 June 17th
It never rains at Herzl Camp. It only heavy dews.
And it was dewing it all day.
We couldn’t do Flag because of the heavy dew, so we went straight to breakfast. But our awesome Ozrim, with their mighty voices, were at the doors nice and early dewing what they dew best with their fun Modeh Ani song into the camp classic Rise and Shine, plus a whole bunch of schtik that goes with it, as the campers marched into the Chadar for breakfast.
Of course, we expect days like this, and we know what to dew. We have awesome plans. Thankfully, we have a giant gymnasium that we call the Beit Ruach, where you can dew all kinds of things. We offered basketball for the World League Chugim, and we can split up this giant gymnasium so one half was dewing one thing while the other half was dewing something else.
It was a mix of dodgeball, basketball, and at one point I walked in and there was even a pickleball net set up and some kind of pickleball fun happening. Of course, there were more than four kids, so they had some kind of round-robin pickleball tournament or what Lifetime Fitness would probably call Cardio Tennis.
The other outdoor Chugim moved into the Chadar, which was cleared of its tables, and there was a Just Dance marathon going on, which is the only time I’ll ever approve that screen going down for any kind of video because they dew a lot of technology when they’re home, they don’t need to dew it here.
The Amanut (arts and crafts) team obviously had their Amanut going on all day because it’s an indoor chug, but they split their talents and brought some of their materials into the Chadar so kids who aren’t in Amanut actually got to dew Amanut today. And, of course, you always hear one camper saying, “I think I’m gonna sign up for Amanut next rotation.” Sadly, that kid will be going home before there is a next Chug rotation because it’s only a two-week session, but I’m confident that’s a kid who’s going to sign up for three weeks next year.
I’m really proud of the staff and Ozrim. At a time when they could have just sat back and kind of let things happen, they did exactly what we trained them for, and they dew the right thing, which is getting your kid engaged and moving around. Sometimes it is sitting, but it’s sitting in conversation. It’s conversation with their fellow campers, without technology, without outside influences, just learning how to navigate conversations and creating entertainment and connection themselves.
We had a staff meeting tonight, and one of the things we talked about was our own Dewey Day stories. We went around the room and asked people to share what they did on their dewey days. And what was awesome to hear, of course I had a story from 1988, which received a plethora (yeah, I said plethora) of eye rolls because nothing happened before 2010, was that my story was just like the rest of them all these years later.
The camp muscle doesn’t change.
There were stories about these great camp days that happened on the Dewey Days, and they happened because they were outside the norm. They had fun, deep, engaging conversations, and they did unexpected things. Kids make new friends, discover shared values or maybe modify current ones. They do this on their own, without teachers, parents, coaches, etc. They truly learn what it is to be in a community. The things you can only do at summer camp…but I’m biased.
That’s the magic!!!
I’m gonna leave you there tonight because this camper is ready to dew some sleeping. So just know that today, not only as a camp professional but as a dad, I was impressed and proud to see these kids creating memories with nothing but their brains, their wits, their laughter, and their movement.
It’s amazing what your kids are capable of! They’re dewing great!
(See what I dew’d there…)
But for now, thank you for sending your kid to Herzl Camp.
All is well. Safely rest.
לילה טוב,
Tommy