The Hi-Hills Herald July 5, 2013
Issue #2
Top News at Hi-Hills Day Camp!
Red, White & Blue at Hi-Hills Campers Celebrate Independence Day in Style
Two-hundred and thirty seven years ago, on July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence which announced to the world the ideas and inspirations behind the American Revolution. Today, the Declaration is one of the most famous, celebrated and influential documents in the English language. The words of Thomas Jefferson, its principal author, have come to represent the foundation of American democracy: “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Here at camp, we celebrated the spirit of Independence Day
Celebrating our 46th Summer!
Table of Contents:
throughout the week by making patriotic art projects and singing some classic American songs during music class. Campers spent the Fourth of July with friends and family, but come Friday, Hi-Hills was covered by a sea of red, white and blue for our weekly dress-up day. We saw some creative outfits and, as always, every camper who dressed up received a prize.
Note from Camp Director
With week two officially over, Hi-Hills Day Camp is looking forward to our planet earth theme next week - we’ve got some great activities planned to learn about the environment.
Athletics 11
Bunk Updates
2 3-6
Birthdays This Week
7
Dates to Remember
8
Program News
8-10
Upcoming Dress Days 11 Featured Recipe 11 Kinder Camp 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,
We certainly had a remarkable second week of camp. The week began with torrential rains, which didn’t slow us down one bit. With our skilled staff and large campus, we have the ability to change with the weather at a moment’s notice. Without skipping a beat we were able to accommodate all of our activities each day, rain or shine. When the sun was out, we raced to the pool and the fields; when the rain came down we hit the gyms and classrooms. There’s always something fun to do here at camp! The second week of Hi-Hills always feels like a homecoming. The counselors and campers greet each other like they’ve been together for years. On Monday, they got caught up on the events of the past weekend and began planning the upcoming week. Among the chatter and giggles, you can’t help but smile at their enthusiasm and excitement. We had a day off on Thursday to celebrate the Fourth of July with family and friends, but on our return Friday we were proud to show off our red, white and blue spirit. We ended the week with a day full of beautiful weather, fun outdoor activities and plenty of excitement for the week to come. Next week’s theme is planet earth, and to celebrate we have our annual overnight camp outs planned for the July 9 (boys) and the July 11 (girls).
Have a great weekend,
Jack, Cindy and Beth
Bunk Upda tes
Bunk 1: Miss Kathleen’s and Miss Monica’s F ishies Peyton enjoyed making a “pinch pot” in Pottery. She did a great job forming it and paying attention to details. Logan was very involved in his martial art movements. His kicks were almost perfect! Brooke had her first experience putting her head under water at the pool, and she loved it. Fiona was a natural at dance. Her body rhythm was so accurate with the music. Taylor joined us at the end of the week and enjoyed getting to know some new friends and seeing our big swimming pool.
Bunk 2: Miss Stefanie’s and Miss Erin’s Leopards The Leopards quickly adapted to the new friends that joined us this week. Alex loves playing on the playground, especially when the slide becomes a water slide. Angela is a natural on the tennis court and hits each ball over the net. Anthony was a ninja during martial arts with a perfect front snap kick. Barrett enjoyed getting her hand painted to make handprint flowers in arts and crafts. Brendan adores the pool and swimming underwater. In dance, Daniel let loose during the chicken dance. Zach’s favorite activity was nature because he got to touch snakes. The Leopards had a great week and can’t wait to have more fun next week!
Bunk Upda tes Bunk 9: T igersharks The Tigersharks had another great week at Hi-Hills! We saw the addition of many new campers; our bunk actually doubled in size. We enjoyed the start of leagues this week. During leagues, We break the bunks up into teams and play organized sports. We had a few days of rain this week, so we switched between playing outside and inside. The great thing about our bunk is that rain or shine, they are always happy to be here and they always try their best! -Matt and Pat
Bunk 10: T he Rockin’ Chatterboxes Week #2 has been very exciting because everyone is settled into camp and the group activities have taken off to great new heights. We have two CITs helping out with our bunk. Alexia Grillos and Jessica Cefalo are our Counselors in Training, and they have been a huge help. They are really good at assisting in the pool and in the art room. We had one rainy day and it turned out to be a lot of fun! Friday was red, white, and blue day, and we all got dressed up for the celebration. -Beryl and Emily
Bunk 11: T he Grumpy Giants The Grumpy Giants had another great week at camp. All the campers enjoyed our fishing trip. Nick did an amazing job with his casting technique and had a great attitude. Brad loved playing the villain in our Black Rocket stop-motion film. Tyler learned how to cast during fishing and even caught a fish! We’ve given him the worthy title of “Silent Fishing Master.” We can’t wait to see what fun activities week three has in store for the bunk. -Taylor and Paul
Bunk Upda tes Bunk 12: Beautiful Brave Butterflies We were so excited to have Anna, Anjola and Amanda join us this week! We had such a blast teaching them our bunk cheer. The girls loved working on their clay animated film in Black Rocket. Caitlin assisted her leagues team in a win during soccer. The girls made it very clear that their favorite activity at camp is the pool. We are looking forward to our upcoming camp events. -Jen and Jamie
Bunk 13: T he Fantastic Fury The number of campers in The Fantastic Fury nearly doubled this week, and twice the campers means twice the fun! Once again, Black Rocket was the highlight of our week as campers wrote and crafted their own hilarious stop-motion animation films. Campers also showed their creative sides by making tiles in pottery class. We fought the rain all week, but based on all the fun we had, we know that we beat the weather. -Ben and Cory
Bunk 14: T he Sugar Rush We started the week off with our first leagues games. The teams represented by our bunk were the Jumping Jellybeans and the Mustache Mummies. Both teams were victorious in soccer and basketball, respectively. Another activity that is new to camp this year is Black Rocket (Tech) sessions. The children made a video that was put online for all the parents to check out. Our film was called “The Missing Platypus.” The big highlight this week has to be the start of the drama club’s production of “The Wizard of Oz.” The kids were amazing during their auditions! -Nancy and Megan
Bunk Upda tes Bunk 17: T he Chicken F ingers The Chicken Fingers enjoyed the start of leagues this week, and played their hearts out in soccer and basketball. The boys also had a great time during pottery class and tennis lessons. We were both proud of how many of our campers dressed up for red, white and blue day. We can’t wait for next week! -RJ and Mike
Bunk 18: Powerpuff Girls The Powerpuff Girls have had an exciting week. Girl’s leagues have begun, with Megan’s Mustache Mummies defeating Dylan’s Dazzling Destroyers. Julia scored four points for the Mummies. In soccer, Jen’s Jumping Jellybeans also defeated Emily’s Elephants. Emma scored two points and Ella scored one point. The girls have also been working on their most recent Black Rocket project, a stopmotion animation film that looks great so far. -Dylan, Katie and Maria
Bunk Photos are now online and available to download!
Birthdays T his Month July 3rd: Christine Rosato
July 11th: Robert Bellina
July 4th: Joshua Monto
July 13th: Connor Udoff
July 5th: Lindsay Frucci
July 15th: Alexander Cohen
Benjamin Sturman July 21st: Kira Bringemeier July 7th: Emma Cullen Mary Young
July 26th: Eleanor Lee
July 8th: Julia Spinelli
July 27th: Rebecca Fernandez July 29th: Carter Klein July 30th: Emma Torkelson
Week 1: 6/24/13
Mark Your Calendar Dates to r! e b m e m e R
Week 2: 7/1/13
(Camp closed July 4th)
Week 3: 7/8/13
Week 4: 7/15/13
Week 5: 7/22/13 Week 6: 7/29/13 Week 7: 8/5/13
Week 8: 8/12/13
Program News Dance
This week in dance we hipped, hopped, jumped, shook and wiggled our bodies to different types of music. The kids practiced moving around in different directions and paths on the dance floor in order to be more aware of their own space and the basic components of dance. Kids were introduced to basic Ballet, Hip-Hop and Latin dance steps. They loved dancing to “Party in the USA.� -Diana
Yoga and Tennis
This week in yoga we practiced a sequence of Asahas, or poses, designed to loosen tightness in the body and increase circulation. Some examples are The Atlas, The Chair, The Pigeon and the Partner T, which involves two bunkmates working together to complete the pose. In tennis, campers practiced their volleys and backhands.They even paired up with the counselors for some friendly competition. -Marc
Program News Fishing
On Monday and Friday of this week, Bunk 11 and Bunk 12 competed in the round robin fishing competition at Sunrise Lake. Bunk 12 tied the record for most catches with Bunk 9 from last week. They were all outstanding with casting their rods. Fishing is becoming one of the campers’ favorite sports and they’re all having a great time. -Em
Archery and Ultimate
As always, I began each session by explaining all the safety rules for the range. We practiced our accuracy and played a few games to see who could score the most points with five arrows. I also led the campers in a few fast paced games of Ultimate. -Elliott
Nature
This week we played some nature games and took a hike in search of bugs and butterflies. We also took a trek into the Peapack Brook. Although the rain early in the week made us relocate our favorite creatures from their home in the scout barn, we still had a great time. Some of the kids even had a chance to feed our friendly camp goats. -Mr. Nature
Program News Arts and Crafts
This week the campers made rockets in honor of the Fourth of July. They used construction paper and markers to decorate their handmade rockets. Kinder Camp created flower pots with red, white and blue handprints to make the flowers. Bunks 17 and 18 created murals that we will hang up around camp. Next week we will be making tie-dyed shirts; don’t forget your white t-shirts! -Johnny
Music
This week in music we sang some classic, patriotic songs like “God Bless America.” We also had some fun with “Party in the USA!” The campers learned all about John Phillip Sousa, a composer known as the “The American March King.” Sousa is known for his patriotic and military marching songs. -Stefanie
Martial Arts
In martial arts this week we continued to practice front snap kicks, roundhouse kicks and punches. Campers also learned how to do a proper forward roll, and they finished off each one with a strong kick or punch. This week we had a special CIT only session where we learned a series of self-defense techniques and simple takedowns. -Ben
g n i m o c Up ays D s s e r D
July 12th Winter Wonderland
Weekly Featured Recipe:
s c i t e l h t A Corner
From Dan
Monkey Bread 1 cup melted butter 1 cup brown sugar cinnamon to taste 2 rolls of biscuit dough 1. Tear biscuit dough into small pieces 2. Dip pieces in butter, and then coat in sugar and cinnamon 3. Place in a baking tin and bake in the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes
Greetings from Kinder Camp Our week got off to a rainy start, but we had a blast anyway. We made beautiful American flags, and we designed Uncle Sam hats with beards for the council ring meeting on Friday. The rain gave us a great reason to stay inside and practice our songs for the garden party which is coming up in a few weeks. The week ended with a beautiful yet hot day on Friday, so we made sure we had extra time in the pool. It was a great week and the kids had so much fun!
Week two was sports week, and campers had a great time competing in boy’s and girl’s leagues. For the boys, The Mighty Ducks and the Pandas are tied for first place with a 2-0 record. For the girls, The Jellybeans and the Mummies are also tied for first with a 2-0 record. Team Parmesans, Team Orangutan, Team Destroyers and Team Elephants are looking to come up big next week with a few wins of their own. This week in athletics, we played capture the flag with the upper bunks, and we taught the Kinder Campers to play kickball. Next week we’re looking forward to playing some Alaskan Baseball! -Marc and John
ia v i r T y l k Wee Winners
Tuesday –
Mitchell Dubson, Madison Gesualdo
Wednesday –
Friday –
Edward McCarthy, Cassidy Gesualdo
Cater Klein, Julia Spinelli
rs in Counselo Training
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Mindy
Teen Travel
It was another exciting week here at Teen Travel. On Monday we took a trip out to Albrightsville, PA to play a few rounds of paintball at Skirmish. On Wednesday, we drove to Pole Position Raceway in Jersey City to try out their go-kart track, the largest in the country! Closing out the week on Friday, we tested our climbing skills on the 3,000 square feet of rock wall at Diamond Gymnastics over in East Hanover. Two weeks down, six to go! -Jim & Erica
Special Events!
This week at camp our Friday dress-up theme was red, white and blue. At Council Ring, campers showed us some great cheers and got a chance to show off their patriotic costumes. Next week’s dressup theme is winter wonderland.