The Hi-Hills Herald August 16, 2013
Issue #8
Top News at Hi-Hills Day Camp!
Summer 2013 In Review
Campers and Staff Remember Their Favorite Moments The 2013 camp season combined the beloved traditions kids and parents have grown to expect from Hi-Hills with several exciting programs which will create new memories and traditions in the years to come. Over the course of these last eight weeks, campers have competed on the athletic fields and cooperated during technology education projects. They have showed off their talents in the performing arts in our annual camp musical while learning new skills on the tennis courts, in the pool and on the archery range. And that’s only the beginning–campers took advantage of the 79 acre
GSB campus as they participated in a wide range of specialty and enrichment programs such as pottery, music, yoga, dance, nature, martial arts and more. Each summer we try to build upon the previous year to deliver an even better camp experience. Camp Director Cindy Wyatt hints at big plans for the future as well. “It’s always so neat seeing campers year after year and how much they grow,” she said. “The excitement on their faces never changes. For our campers, being a part of Hi-Hills is like coming home every summer.”
Celebrating our 46th Summer!
Table of Contents: Note from Camp Director Bunk Updates
2 3-6
Birthdays This Month
7
Dates to Remember
8
Program News
8-10
Upcoming Dress Days 11 Featured Recipe 11 Kinder Camp 11 Athletics 11 Trivia Winners 12 Counselors in Training 12 Teen Travel 12 Special Events 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 ur o m fro Camp rs to c e r i D
Hello Hi-Hills!
Dear Hi-Hills,
Watching the fog lift from the beautiful GSB campus this morning was an amazing way to begin the last day of a wonderful summer season at camp. This week has been a true culmination of the Hi-Hills 2013 experience. The weather–especially toward the end of the week–was the best we’ve had all summer. The campers continued to amaze us with their talents in sports and the arts alike, and our counselors did not stop creating new ways to have fun. Where else can you walk by a “Gaga” pit or watch a Leagues finals game while listening to live trumpet and saxophone music? This week has been a rollercoaster of emotion. Counselors and campers prepared for the fall–as well as the upcoming school year–and yet nobody wanted to waste a minute of these last summer days. Energy was high, and everywhere you looked groups of kids huddled together with their friends to enjoy their time left at camp. To parents and friends, we cannot thank you enough for sharing your children with us. They are truly remarkable people. Please keep in touch via Facebook or our website, and always feel free to drop us an email–we’d love to hear from you! Have a wonderful year, and we’ll see you next summer at Hi-Hills!
Best, Cindy and Beth
Bunk Upda tes
Bunk 1: Miss Kathleen’s and Miss Monica’s F ishies As we wind down to the end of summer camp, we’d like to reflect on our favorite memories from Hi-Hills: Logan and Brooke holding hands and smiling at each other, Peyton and Ellie’s smiles every time we headed over to the pool and Fiona’s happy moves during dance lessons. Avery added joy to all our activities with his sense of humor and Quinn always smiled during every activity. It was so enjoyable to spend each and every moment with the children. They warmed our hearts and added to our lives–thank you for sharing them with us!
Bunk 2: Miss Stefanie’s and Miss Erin’s Leopards It’s hard to believe that camp is already over for the summer! The Leopards loved bonding with each other and the older campers at Carnival. We also had a great time searching for fish during our adventures in the stream with Mr. Nature. Our special tour of the Gill garden with Gardener Ted was a spontaneous but exciting adventure. The two Garden Parties and Family Fun Night were also great successes. The kids got a well-deserved round of applause from the camp after performing their dance to “Cooler than Me” by Mike Posner at the talent show on Friday. It has been wonderful to get know each camper, and we can’t wait to see their smiling faces next year!
Bunk Upda tes Bunk 9: T igersharks Bunk 9 had fun during the last week of camp. Week 8 was filled with the sense of adventure that only Hi-Hills can provide. The campers enjoyed watching and participating in the campercounselor tennis tournament. Everyone loved Friday’s talent show. The Tigersharks enjoyed an awesome ending to an awesome summer. -Pat
Bunk 10: The Rockin’ Chatterboxes The Rockin’ Chatterboxes had many favorite memories this summer. Alina loved arts and crafts and all of the fun projects she made with Johnny. Alina and Ellie always loved visiting the animals and going on stream walks in nature. Ellie Lee loved swim time because she learned to put her head underwater and played fun pool games with her friends. Schuyler especially loved yoga with Mark. Carnival was the bunk’s very favorite day of the summer. -Beryl and Emily
Bunk 11: T he Grumpy Giants The Grumpy Giants finished out their last week at Hi-Hills with the same spirit and enthusiasm that they’ve shown all summer long. Nick tried new foods in the cafeteria this week–I’m proud of how much he’s expanded his tastes. Phil went swimming in the deep end of the pool for the first time ever. Tyler, as always, maintained a great attitude all week long. I hope all the campers have a great school year, and I hope to see them all next summer here at camp. -Paul
Bunk Upda tes Bunk 12: Beautiful Brave Butterflies We made so many amazing memories this summer at Hi-Hills. Kaitlin’s favorite moment was getting her fishing pole stuck in a tree. Amanda loved the pie-in-the-face booth at Carnival. Mira’s favorite part of camp was swimming. Anna had fun performing the bunk skit. Kate’s favorite activity was pottery, and Anjola’s favorite memory was catching two fish. We were so honored and thrilled to share our summer with the Beautiful Brave Butterflies as their counselors. -Jen and Jamie
Bunk 13: T he Fantastic Fury The Fantastic Fury finished out the last week of camp with our signature energy and enthusiasm. One of our highlights from the summer has been our involvement with the Black Rocket program, where we made our own movies and video games. “Gaga” was another popular activity–the campers could never get enough! This week we enjoyed the Leagues finals, as well as the talent show on Friday. Have a great school year, and enjoy the rest of the summer! -Ben and Cory
Bunk 14: T he Sugar Rush We had such a good time this summer spending time with our old friends and meeting many new ones. One of our favorite moments from early in the summer was making our flying platypus video in Black Rocket–thinking about it still makes us laugh! We enjoyed creating our bunk cheers and our camp skit. We were continually amazed by how creative our group was. The Sugar Rush never disappointed and they were always up for anything. To our girls: I hope the time we spent together during pottery, archery, swimming, the stream and lunch will stay in your memories until we meet again next summer! -Nancy and Megan
Bunk Upda tes Bunk 17: T he Chicken F ingers We can’t believe the summer is over already–we had so much fun these past eight weeks at camp that time just flew by! This week was great–we went on our second fishing trip with Em and we caught a ton of fish. We made many great memories this summer, including campout, Carnival and our trip to Bridgewater Sports Arena. The memories from camp this summer will be with us for a long time to come. I hope all of our campers have a good school year. See you all next summer! -RJ
Bunk 18: Powerpuff Girls It’s time to say goodbye on behalf of all the Powerpuff Girls. We had a great summer and all the girls had so much fun. We can honestly say that we enjoyed all of the activities here at Hi-Hills and we hope to see everyone again next summer. I hope all the campers enjoy the rest of the summer and have a safe and productive year. -Maria, Dylan and Katie
Bunk Photos are now online and available to download!
Birthdays T his Month August 1st: Andrew Hansen
August 12th: Shan Ali,
August 4th: Kurt Hunziker
Taylor Cooper,
August 5th: Paul Ramseur
Cecelia Criscola
August 7th: Noah Morris
August 13th: Ella Baker,
August 8th: Caitlin
Robbie DeVergillo
Murgatroyd
August 14th: Jackson Ensley
August 9th: Andrew Agresti,
August 16th: Bradley
Annabelle Beekman
Matthews, Erik Ruszkowski
August 10th: Brandon
August 18th: Lea Casareale
McCall-Sulton
August 19th: Dylan Beers
August 11th: Anna Leung
August 20th: Gabriella Tarinelli, Jennifer Traver August 21st: Kevin Ros August 24th: Chase Thomson August 27th: David Elkins August 28th: Katie Lazaar
Mark Your Calendar Dates to r! e b m e m e R
To all our campers: Have a great school year, and remember to sign up for summer 2014 here at Hi-Hills Day Camp!
Program News Low Ropes
This week in low ropes we taught campers some basic course safety rules, such as proper spotting technique. We played a few games of “human spring” and “willow-in-the-wind” to reinforce our spotting skills. We practiced our balance and teamwork on the Whale-Watch element, and also on the balance beam. Some of the more adventurous campers, trusting their bunkmates as spotters and guides, even walked the balance beam in reverse with their eyes closed. -Dan
Volleyball
This week in volleyball we played some fun games in honor of the last week of camp. On Wednesday Bunk 9 and Bunk 11 had a lot of fun playing games with water balloons–we all ended up soaking wet! Teaching volleyball at Hi-Hills this summer was a great experience. Best of luck to everyone this school year! -Jen
Program News Fishing
Bunk 14 and Bunk 18 ended the fishing season with a bang. The weather was great this week and the campers did a superb job at the lake. I’d like to thank all the campers, counselors and CITs for all their support. I’m looking forward to returning to our regular fishing location at Schooley’s Mountain Park next year. Enjoy the rest of the summer and I hope to see all my campers again next year! -Em
Yoga/Tennis
My memories from this wonderful summer are filled with the laughter of campers and counselors alike as they attempted to perfect new poses during yoga, or participated in the camper-counselor doubles tournament in tennis. I am full of gratitude for all of the campers whose smiles and energy have made this a summer well worth remembering–one I expect to miss in short time. Their great sportsmanship, competitiveness and enthusiasm have truly defined these past few weeks. -Marc
Dance
This week in dance students were introduced to the traditional Electric Slide dance steps and were challenged to make up their own variations by dancing to different types of music including country and pop. With Kinder Camp, we practiced how to move across the floor, practiced basic motor skills and encouraged keeping good rhythm. Enjoy the rest of the summer and I hope to see you next year at camp! -Diana
Program News Pottery
We went from glazing to blazing in pottery this week as our camp season came to a close. The kiln was working overtime all week, along with our energized campers who produced pieces in an amazing range of colors and styles. Their work was truly a testament to the joy the kids experienced this summer in pottery. Have a great school year and enjoy the rest of the summer. -Brian
Nature
As the 2013 summer season comes to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to say that it was a pleasure teaching the children during nature. Their curiosity and enthusiasm for the natural world was great to see. They met some fun animals this year as well, including snakes, rabbits and goats. I’m sure they can all tell their parents a few new animal facts! I hope all my campers have a great year in school. -Mr. Nature
Martial Arts
In martial arts this week, campers participated in a relay race designed to test some of the acrobatic skills they’ve learned this year while adding elements of group competition. Campers had a blast diving over their counselors and dodging noodle attacks as they raced each other across the room. For the first time this year, multiple groups merged for our Martial Arts session. It was exciting to see the campers interact as a team with kids outside their own bunks. -Ben
g n i m o c Up ays D s s e r D
Stay tuned for more great themes next summer!
Weekly Featured Recipe:
s c i t e l h t A Corner
From Dan
Pigs-in-a-Blanket 1 package of cocktail franks 2-3 tins of crescent roll dough Steps: 1. Slice crescent rolls in half. 2. Wrap each frank in crescent roll dough. 3. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.
Greetings from Kinder Camp
It’s been another great summer in athletics. This week, the campers chose to play a few of their favorite games like “steal-the-bacon” and tennis-baseball. Also this week was the Leagues championship games. We are excited to announce the Orangutans and the Jellybeans as this year’s winners. The Orangutans took home the boys’ series with a 2-1 record in the championship, while the Jellybeans finished the Leagues season with an impressive 15-1 overall record. We look forward to seeing all the campers on the athletic field next year!
Kinder camp had a great summer! The children learned, explored, played and relaxed. They were each an important part of our program. Each one of their personalities added to the wonderful experience each child and counselor had at Kinder Camp this year. The Garden Parties, Carnival and Family Fun Night were great successes and enjoyed by all. As our last week comes to an end, we will forever cherish all the memories and friends we made at camp.
-Marc and John
ia v i r T y l k Wee Winners
Monday: Douglas Lee, Cassidy Gesualdo Tuesday: Christina Tamchin, Max Hausser Wednesday:Andrew Agresti, Marie Malakhov Thursday: Andrew Fillipelli, Ellie Lee Friday: Phil Lockitt, Cassidy Gesualdo
rs in Counselo Training
ing lors in train e e s n u o c y ish all of m ool year. W I’d like to wul and productive sch them return a wonderf to seeing many of for another look forwardher as counselors, or rely hope e it next year e e CIT program. I sinc ed valuable th in a in g ds, year made frien ated fond that they all s and, of course, cre roud of all of experience ther at camp. I am p agers each ge en memories tomplishments–these tef responsibility o o c ls c leve their a tep up their ason. learned to s ughout the camp se thro
Mindy
Teen Travel
We capped off a great summer in Teen Travel with one last week of exciting trips. On Tuesday we went to see Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters in 3D. This Wednesday we enjoyed experiencing the Dutch Springs water park in Bethlehem, PA. On Thursday, we enjoyed a beautiful summer day at the beach–what better way to end the summer season at camp? We’re looking forward to next year, and we’re already busy planning even more fun events for our campers. -Jim
Special Events!
The final week of camp was full of special events. Kinder Camp hosted their second Garden Party on Monday. Thursday was the Leagues awards ceremony. On Friday, the last day of camp, we had our annual end-of-season talent show.