Issue #4
July 22, 2016
Top News at Hi-Hills Day Camp!
Creative Pride Week This week was full of fun at Hi-Hills! We loved meeting everyone’s parents and families at the Parent Luncheon on Thursday and hope you enjoyed getting to spend time at camp. Our Kinder Camp Garden Party was a great success on Wednesday, where our youngest campers showed off the songs they have been practicing with their bunk. Everyone looked totally groovy in their tie-dye on Friday! Our campers and counselors were so creative. Visit our website at hihills.com for camp photos and more!
Celebrating our 50th Summer!
Table of Contents: Note from Camp Directors Bunk Updates
2 3-5
Dates to Remember
6
Camp Candids
6
Birthdays This Month
7
Program News
8-10
Upcoming Dress Days 11 Color Wars 11 Counselor of the Week 11 Trivia Winners 12 Leaders of Tomorrow 12 Teen Travel 12
Gill St. Bernard’s School, 25 St. Bernard’s Road, Gladstone, NJ Phone: 908-234-0067 • Fax: 908-234-1611 • Email: info@hihills.com hihills.com • www.facebook.com/hihills
te o N A r u o from p Cam rs o t c e r Di
Hello Hi-Hills!
Dear Hi-Hills, What a blast we had during week four! This week was truly special for our campers as their parents and families were able to join in on all of the summer fun during our 50th anniversary. On Wednesday, we hosted our Kinder Camp Garden Party where the families of our youngest campers came to watch the performance of fun camp songs and other classic sing-along tunes and, of course, the famous Hi-Hills camp song. The Foxes and the Beavers really do know how to put on a show! After the show, campers and their families enjoyed Chef Anthony’s cookies and light refreshments. On Thursday, our Lower and Upper bunk families joined us for our annual Parent Luncheon. Campers were accompanied by their parents and families during their lunch block to not only enjoy the food, but help celebrate our 50th birthday with some good old-fashion birthday cake! After lunch, families stayed to watch our campers participate in their favorite activities such as clubs, swim, and gaga. As if these two events weren’t filled with enough excitement, we rounded out the camp week with camp-wide tie-dyed t-shirts and yet another exhilarating color wars challenge at the great outdoors.
We would like to thank all of our families for sharing your campers with us this summer! We truly appreciate the opportunity to watch them grow, develop and succeed in the camp environment. Camp truly teaches children life skills. Next week, we look forward to one of the most anticipated weeks of the summer, CARNIVAL! Thank you all for a great week and see you during week five.
Cindy Wyatt – Director of Summer and Auxiliary Programs Nicole Spiotta – Assistant Director of Summer and Auxiliary Programs
Bunk Upda tes
Bunks 1: T he Foxes & Bunk 2: T he Beavers Our Kinder Campers worked very hard this week and it most definitely paid off! They wowed the crowd of loved ones at our annual Garden Party with their songs. The boys and girls sang a total of six classic sing-along songs including the Hi-Hills Camp anthem. In arts and crafts, we tie-dyed shirts in preparation for Creative Pride on Friday. We also learned all about totem poles and had the chance to make our own! Together, the two bunks are assembling a race car piece-by-piece. This is been a very exciting, hands-on project as each camper gets a chance to add a piece to the construction of the vehicle. On the swimming front, the Foxes and Beavers have been making lots of progress in the pool! Some of our little fish have graduated to a new swim levels, and others are even jumping into the deep end! We are excited about their advancement and know there will be more to note in the weeks to come! Looking ahead to next week: we will have a pajama day on Wednesday! Please wear your favorite jammies and bring your favorite sleepy time pal! We will have a fun-filled day and a surprise activity to go along with our pajama day. Furthermore, next Friday is Carnival! We can’t wait to play all the different carnival style games and win fun prizes. Lastly, keep your eyes open for upcoming events for Kinder Camp and their families. Details will be announced soon! Have a great weekend. -Kelly, Sarah, Zoe and Jess
Bunk Upda tes Bunk 9: T he Chippewas Week four brought us three new tribe members: Dashiell, Daniel, and his cousin Souhail from Morocco. Welcome! These campers were all first time fishermen and caught bass and sunnies together this week! During the summer heat, the Chippewas kept cool out at the great outdoors, engaged in water balloon wars, took rides in the paddle boats and played many rounds of archery. We are looking forward to wearing our awesome tie-dye shirts on Friday! Can’t wait for the color wars challenge! Congratulations to the singing Chippewas on winning the spirit stick last week! -Joanne, Mark and Alex
Bunk 10: Lenni Lenapes The girls had an awesome week four! We really enjoyed our special activity, tie-dying, during arts and crafts. The girls also challenged their skills in the gaga pit against the LOT group on Wednesday afternoon! On the swimming front, many of our Lenni Lenapes passed the deep water test at the pool, accomplishing their summer goal. Great job! It was a pleasure sharing camp with our families this week during parent luncheon. The girls are super excited for Carnival next week, and we are looking forward to seeing their creative costume ideas! -Betsy and Kiara
Bunks 11 & 13: T he Navajos The Navajos had another awesome week at Hi-Hills. We welcomed a first time camper, Bryce, to the tribe. We’ve spent the hot summer days playing gaga and making a big splash in the pool. Highlights of the week include go-karts (a bunk favorite!) and the great outdoors with Mr. Matt, Miss Cara and Mr. Em. Our campers love fishing on the pond, with daily catches getting bigger and bigger each day. Archery, paddle boats, and water balloon tosses make the great outdoors exciting for this tribe. We are looking forward to next week and carnival celebration at Hi-Hills! -Pat, Julian and Armeen
Bunk Upda tes Bunks 12 & 14: T he Lakotas The Lakotas had yet another fantastic week! The girls got to tie-dye shirts in arts and crafts for Creative Pride dress-up on Friday. Out at the great outdoors, the bunk was glued to the paddle boats and enjoyed playing with splashy new addition of water balloons. The Lakotas also spent time zooming around Hi-Hills on the go-karts, and as always, enjoyed playing gaga. To top it off we had a crazy kickball game with bunks 10 and 11 & 13; some lifeguards even joined in the fun too! We are anxiously awaiting Carnival next week! -Megan, Erica and Sophie
Bunks 15 & 17: T he Comanches Our tribe enjoyed the heat and stayed as wet as possible this week. We hit the pool twice a day and threw lots of water balloons by the lake. We even got a chance to send those balloons a long way using the large catapults Matt constructed. So far the campers have failed to hit their counselors down by the lake, but they keep trying! Cornhole was also popular, with some epic rivalries developing between campers and counselors. We’re looking forward to this week’s color war event over at the great outdoors campus along with next week’s Carnival. -Tom, Ben, Andrew and Patrick
Bunks 16 & 18: T he Cherokees Cherokees have had another very exciting week. This week we made our own custom tie-dye shirts to wear them alongside fellow campers on Friday’s Creative Pride Day. The Cherokees have been working very hard in drama club to learn their lines. We are counting down the days to see them perform in Grease! With an end to week four, the campers are eager for week five to begin for Carnival. The plans for our booth are in place and we can’t wait to set it up. This week, we welcomed two more Cherokee tribe members to our bunk: Ashley (Sparkly Moon) and Bella (Graceful Swan). Have a safe and fun weekend and see everyone back on Monday! -Maria, Amanda and Kerry
July 27: CARNIVAL!
Mark Your Calendar Dates to r! e b m e m e R
July 28: Lower Bunk Late Night August 3: Kinder Camp Family Fun August 9: Picture Day
Camp Cand ids
!
Bunk photos are now online and available to download!
Birthdays T his Month July 23rd: Abigail July 25th: Will July 27th: Rebecca July 28th: Ben July 30th: Emma
Program News Tennis Tennis activity has continued to grow as the campers have continued to master the sport’s fundamentals. We have incorporated fun games that emphasize many of the skills and aspects of tennis which only add to the cardiovascular benefits! Jump rope, warm-ups, and hula hoops have become part of the program. These have provided another source of coordination and excitement for our campers! Up next in week five, we are excited to be hosting another tennis enrichment camp! -Chris
Performing Arts This week, performing arts conducted a music and emotion activity based on movie music. Campers listened to music from a wide variety of films including Gone with the Wind, Indiana Jones, The Untouchables and The Shining. Campers then drew what they were envisioning and feeling. Afterwards, we discussed how they felt with each piece and talked about the composers and compositions of each score. In drama club, we completed reading through the second act of the play, Grease. We are well underway with learning music and choreography. The campers are very excited, especially after seeing their costumes! “Summer days driftin’ away!” -Stefanie and Giulia
Swimming During week four the pool, splash pad and rock climbing wall continued to be popular destinations for campers and counselors alike. The butterfly kick (also known as the dolphin kick) and the side stroke kick were introduced to the campers this week. They loved it and all continued to make strides in the water each and every day. It’s hard to believe that we are wrapping up week four at Hi-Hills, but it’s a pleasure to see so much progress taking place at all levels. During these hot summer days, we allow bunks to stop by and cool off at the splash pad any time to provide a cool relief from the weather. -Augie
Program News Great Outdoors The campers are continuing to enjoy the diversity of activities at the Home Winds campus. Some campers still need to finish their bird houses, so that they can be hung for the birds to use. Next week the campers will be given an introduction to using GPS coordinates and geo-caching. The goal is to establish a geo-cache site for the camp, so the campers will learn how to use coordinates and navigate to and from by setting up using waypoints. The water balloon catapults are up and running. The campers are achieving 75 to 100 yard launches and are currently engaged in water balloon wars to stay cool during the hotter days. This week’s “Survivor Challenge” tested the campers’ hand/eye coordination with a maze ball game run on pulleys. Members of each team switch after completing placing a ball into a hole using a moving cradle suspended on cord and pulleys.
Archery Archery was once again the top activity, with campers increasing their skill and form more and more. Time on the range continues to yield better scores and higher accuracy, which in turn increases their enthusiasm. Both the blue and green team continue to rack up points!
Paddle Boats Captain Thomas continues to have a great showing at paddle boats every day. The campers continue to enjoy the boat races and racing to retrieve balls thrown into the water.
Fishing Fishing has been booming with bunk 9 dominating the new fisherman section. Three new campers–who had never fished before!–went three-for-three on their first day at the pond. The warmer water has the larger bass very active near the surface and we are seeing a lot more really good bass being caught.
Program News Athletics This week, athletics decided to go old school and play a good ol’ fashioned game of kickball. The campers had an awesome time as they kicked the ball and ran the bases. Bunk 15 and 17 campers displayed a grueling color war matchup. The green team had an 8-3 lead going into the last inning. The blue team put forth great effort as they attempted to take the lead. Unfortunately, they fell short by a run and lost the game 8-7. The campers enjoy participating in athletics each week and are always open to learning new and old school games. It’s a pleasure to teach, watch them play, and be engaged in the games. -John
Arts & Crafts Week four’s theme was Creative Pride and the entire camp came together to make tie-dye shirts and wear them accordingly on Friday. Campers and staff brought in white t-shirts on Monday and were able to learn about the art of tie-dying. Shirts had a few days to soak up the colors and dry in the sun. All the shirts reflect the campers’ individuality and turned out so well. Parents, please wash these shirts separately on Friday to avoid the ink running onto other garments in the laundry. -Mindy
ing m o c p U ys a D s s e Dr
July 27: Carnival Character
lor e s n u o C of the Week Zoe Quan-Shau
Color Wars 2016 Color Wars 2016 continued strongly during week four with another exciting “Survivor Challenge.” This week the campers and counselors worked together to solve a puzzle and retrieve a combination to unlock the material necessary to complete a pulley challenge. Teams worked like champions to complete the task. Heading into the competition on Friday, both teams felt the importance of a win with the blue team edging out the green team at the end of last week. It’s been a close race all summer which makes it even more exciting and, more importantly, all campers participate in every opportunity to earn points for their team. Next week we plan to strike up some blue and green competition at Carnival. Carnival is always a camper favorite of the summer and this year will be no exception.
This week’s Counselor of the Week is presented to Kinder Camp Counselor Zoe Quan-Shau!
Zoe feels at home at Hi-Hills after many years as a student at Gill St. Bernard’s. She graduated in June and is happy to have another summer of camp before going off to college! Zoe greets our Kinder Camp friends each morning with a smile and hug and has been a steady prescence in their lives since week one. This past week was the Kinder Camp Garden Party for camp friends and families. Zoe really stood out with her patience, friendly disposition and leadership. She encouraged the campers to learn the lines to the six featured songs, assisted with the choreography of the show and helped each camper become their own unique star. For all your efforts on behalf of Kinder Campers and their families, week four’s Counselor of the Week is awarded to Zoe Quan-Shau. You are a rock star and we are so proud of your efforts as a member of the Hi-Hills staff! Congratulations, Zoe!
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Teen Travel: Apache Week four activities were at the top of the list for teen travel this week. We went rafting down the Delaware River in Jim Thorpe, PA. Campers had a blast tubing, swimming, and splashing down the river. Our travels took us to watch the Trenton Thunder, a minor-league baseball team, where one of the campers caught a fly ball. On Thursday, we traveled to Six Flags for a full day of roller coaster and amusement park fun for our tribe. Looking forward to many adventures next week with Teen Travel as well as everyone’s favorite camp activity, Carnival! -Chrissy