This is the 38th session in a row I have been at camp and fifth as Program Director – I can say without any hesitation that this is the most sensational first 48 hours I have ever seen. The spirit and energy has been incredible from all of our campers and staff, starting at our first lunch on Wednesday straight through our first hobby session which is going on as I write this. As Program Director, I am very pleased to report everything has gone smoothly and that we have not bumped into any inclement weather (knock on wood).
Opening Ceremonies on the first evening went extremely well and if there are not already pictures from it on the blog there will be soon. Amazingly, there was no crying or homesickness reported on the first night, something I have never seen before at CSL (again, knock on wood). Thursday night was our first all camp program (ACP) which saw the whole camp learn and execute a dance to near perfection. Pictures and video from it should be up soon.
As alluded to above, our first hobby session is happening right now with 19 exciting groups kicking off the first of nine two-hour lessons together that will ultimately culminate on July 25th. Those groups are Archery, Boat Building, Dance, Guitar, Intensive Fitness Training, Junior Sports Zone, Painting, Pit Cooking, Play, Rock Climbing, Rocketry, Sailing, Speedball, Swim The Lake, Tennis, Textile Odyssey, Wakeboarding, Waterskiing, and Yoga. We are excited to report that most campers got their first choices for hobbies and those who did not get into Waterskiing have automatically been placed on “Ski List” so that they will still have an opportunity to work on their skiing several extra times in addition to what they will get with their bunks.
The Blog has been packed with content so far with daily entries from each of the six villages. We are a bit behind with some parts of it due in large part to the 24 hours we were without power (due to the storm on Tuesday) a couple of days ago. Look for these entries to continue as well as the daily schedule to be uploaded shortly so you can see what your kids are doing each day. You will also continue to see the daily "Pictures from Neal" featuring a nice mix of that day's happenings.
We are all eagerly anticipating our first Shabbat to say nothing of the next 26 days! Please feel free to email cslprogramming@jccrochester.org if you have any questions or comments on the blog. Thanks and enjoy the holiday weekend.
Ari Baum
Program Director
