The Hi-Hills Herald Issue #5
July 25, 2014
Top News at Hi-Hills Day Camp!
Clowning Around Camp Carnival Week at Hi-Hills
Hi-Hills is always a fun place to be, but this week has been the most exciting one so far. Carnival is the highlight of the summer and campers loved the entire day. Wednesday morning had a bouncy water slide, dunk tank, cotton candy and specialty booths. In the afternoon, bunks hosted their own booths and visited each one to earn tickets for prizes. It was a hot day, but everyone had a spectacular time. Along with these exciting activities, campers also participated in a costume contest! Congrats to the winners–our astronauts, Pillsbury Dough Boy and the cat ladies–for the best costumes.
Lower bunk campers also had an opportunity to participate in a late night stay at camp. The few extra hours at camp were a blast. Everyone enjoyed swimming as well as their dinner and ice cream sundaes. Friday was our Carnival-themed dress up day. There were clowns, magicians and performers galore. Next week is Sportsmanship Week and everyone is looking forward to that as well!
Celebrating our 47th 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 Weekly Photography Tip 11 Leagues 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, Week five is traditionally a favorite at Hi-Hills, and this year was no exception. The fun can all be summed up in one word: CARNIVAL! Our upbeat activity specialists, counselors and campers worked together to create their booths. Some of this year’s favorites were the face painting booth, the marriage booth, the pie eating contest, the water balloon toss and the Pepsi-Coke Challenge. As always, the cotton candy and snow cone machines were huge hits! The athletic field was transformed into a true carnival complete with an inflatable water slide and a dunk tank, where the counselors, campers and even administrative staff willingly participated. This year’s costume contest winners were as follows: Julia Spinelli for Funniest, Quinn and Campbell Abbott for Most Creative and Double Trouble for Best Group. The judges certainly had their hands full–the costumes were creative and amazing to see! Thursday night was another Hi-Hills tradition: the Lower Bunk Late Night. As the buses were pulling away, Bunks 9 through 12 took over the pool as well as the gaga pit and ended with a fun game of camper vs. counselor capture-the-flag. The lower bunks enjoyed a picnic dinner of hot dogs and burgers. Parents also joined their campers for ice cream sundaes by the pool. Watching the kids’ faces light up while sharing the fun with parents and other family members was truly special. Many thanks to our staff for all the hard work they put in every day here at camp; without their contributions, events like these would not be possible. As always, we thank you for sharing your amazing children with us!
Cindy Wyatt – Director of Summer and Auxiliary Programs Nicole Spiotta – Assistant Director of Summer and Auxiliary Programs
Bunk Upda tes Bunk 1: Miss Kathleen’s Little Lambs We had a wonderful week and the weather was fabulous! All the children are becoming great swimmers, terrific tennis players, little yogis and creative artists. Carnival was a big success! The children loved the huge water slide. Ariel even climbed to the top and made a big splash coming down. Chloe is enjoying the other children on the splash pad. Jadesola is becoming a beautiful artist in pottery. Lucas has successfully conquered the deep end of the pool. Ryden has a great swing in tennis and Calder has learned a lot of new yoga moves. Please note that next Wednesday, July 30, we will have Kinder Camp “Family Fun Night.” Visit from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and swim, go on the splash pad, play tennis, and enjoy light refreshments with your child. If your child wants to swim we do request that a parent go in the pool with them.
Bunk 2: Miss Stefanie’s Playful Piglets This week the Playful Piglets enjoyed all the different activities at Carnival. The water slide, snow cones and cotton candy were the overall favorites. Each time the campers went down the slide their smiles seemed to get bigger and bigger. Ellie’s favorite activity was throwing the Frisbee through the hula-hoop, while Peyton’s was face painting where she got a rose painted on her cheek. Arianna loved getting an American flag tattoo with help from one of the older girls. Barrett enjoyed hitting the cow with a sponge. Bianca had fun at the pie eating contest and won first place! Quinn liked dressing up like an astronaut and won “Most Creative” with her sister. Mark loved putting the basketball through the hoop. All the campers received a prize for the awesome job they did at Carnival. I have enjoyed spending time with each camper for the past five weeks. I know Mrs. Conte, Ms. Zoe and Ms. Caroline will continue having a great summer with Bunks 1 and 2!
Bunk Upda tes Bunk 9: Electro Scorpions What a wild week in Bunk 9! Our coconut-bowling booth was a smash hit at Carnival on Wednesday, and we had a blast playing the games at all the other bunks’ booths as well. Thursday was even better. Our bunk caught a respectable four fish in the morning and stuck around for the late night fun festivities as well. Week five was certainly one to remember! -Ben Green, Counselor
Bunk 10: Bedazzled Cheetahs Bunk 10 had an overwhelmingly exciting week at camp! With Carnival as well as activities like our fishing trip, late night and skit there was plenty of fun to go around! Ellie caught our only two fish for the trip this week, but it was still a great time! Lucy was also able to help on the trip with her amazing fishing skills. Dasha joined the Cheetahs excited for pottery. Arianna also loved pottery this week and made another beautiful bowl on the wheel. The two Avas really enjoyed swimming in the pool together during instructional swim and free swim. Campbell rocked it this week with her astronaut costume and even won the contest! Annabelle joined us at camp again this week and did a great job at the dunk tank. -Betsy Swartz, Counselor
Bunks 11 & 13: T he Vikings We had a blast at Carnival this week! Matt and Eddy loved the potato sack race. Ian and Brandon got some awesome temporary tattoos. Kurt and Phillip loved the cotton candy, while Jake had a lot of fun dunking his favorite counselors and campers in the dunk tank. Chris V. and Tyler R. got some awesome prizes at the prize booth. Tyler T. and Chris S. wore some sweet costumes to compete in the costume contest. Carter and Chase enjoyed the water balloon toss, especially when they got to throw some at their counselors. Will loved going down the water slide the most! It was definitely one of the best days of the summer! -Jason, Jr. Counselor
Bunk Upda tes Bunks 16 & 18: Magical Minions Wow! What a magnificent week at Hi-Hills. The Minions are always on the move. Home run derby was awesome with Julia winning 1st place, Emily taking 2nd place and Lily placing 3rd. Carnival was a great success. All campers and staff had a spectacular time. It was definitely the girls’ favorite event. This week we welcome Lila, Becka and Paige for joining us from the lacrosse camp. Until next week, everyone have a grand and safe weekend. -Maria Diaz, Counselor
Bunks 12 & 14: Double Trouble We were together again this week for Carnival! Anjola and Zoe had a fun time playing different games and helping out at our bunk’s booth. Caitlin dressed up in a great cat costume which helped our bunk win the best group award. Bella had fun in the pool and Anna had several accurate shots in archery. Sophia earned a #BeBetter tag this week for being so involved. -Megan DeMichael, Counselor
Bunk 15: T he Stormtroopers We had a blast during Carnival Week. Wednesday was a hot day, but the campers loved Carnival. In the morning we enjoyed cotton candy, a water slide and the marriage booth. In the afternoon we ran our own booth and everyone did a great job. Some of our campers even dressed up! Sadly we are losing our fantastic counselor Ally, but camp must go on without her as we look forward to Sportsmanship Week! -Matt Rivas, Counselor
Bunk Upda tes Bunk 17: Wolf Pack Fresh off the spirit stick victory, the Wolf Pack was as giddy as ever. We are excited at the opportunity to win again this week. As if camp could not get any better, Carnival was a blast! The campers went down the inflatable water slide, were taken out in the dunk tank and hosted our own booth: a pie eating contest. Many prizes were won and spirits were high for this awesome week. -Taylor, Counselor
Weekly Photography Tip: From Mackenzie
Bunk Photos are now online and available to download!
Off-Center Portrait When photographing a single person, it is a good habit to place them uncentered within the photo. Aim your camera at the subject, and notice where you are placing the subject. You are probably asking: why this way? The reason why is because you are still trying to form a composition. There is a greater depth to your photograph if the shot seems unplanned and more natural. You can see the background better and it gives the subject breathing room!
Birthdays T his Month July 4 : Joshua Monto,
July 13: Connor Udoff
James Kolvites
July 14: Logan Weimer,
July 5: Lindsey Frucci,
Caroline Simonelli, Michael
Benjamin Sturman
Simonelli
July 7: Ashley Peck,
July 19: Miranda Braemer,
Mary Young
Max Sigmund
July 8: Isabella Orosz, Julia
July 21: Kira Bringemeier
Spinelli, Leonore Kivits
July 22: Robert Haversat
July 9: Rachel Rieger
July 26: Eleanor Lee,
July 10: Rebecca Michaels,
Sean Heo
Emily Raia
July 27: Julia Gateman,
July 11: Robert Bellina
Ryden Maeda, Rebecca Fernandez July 28: Graydon Rogers July 29: Carter Klein July 30: Emma Torkelson
Program News Low Ropes
This week campers have taken the low ropes course to the next level! The “hole in space” activity was tons of fun for the campers. Team forming has allowed campers to challenge themselves and continue to understand the importance of bonding. Trust fall continues to be a hit and some campers have greatly challenged themselves by doing this activity off a four foot platform. -Chris Walsh, Activity Leader
Performing Arts
This week in music we discussed how music affects emotion. Campers listened to six different pieces of classical, movie music and carnival music. The campers drew lines and designs on paper to describe how the music made them feel. When they listened to a scary piece the lines were more jagged and angular, as opposed to a calmer piece. In drama, we began practicing for our second performance of “HiHills on Broadway.” This performance will be a compilation of Broadway songs and dances. -Stefanie Santoro, Activity Leader
Swimming
This week the campers were introduced to the butterfly stroke. The lower levels learned the dolphin kick, while the upper levels went over the full stroke. They started out doing dolphin dives and doing kicks under water. At the end of the week, we reviewed everything so we could see everyone’s best butterfly stroke. Carnival was great and the lifeguards helped out watching the giant water slide and the dunk tank. -Augie Lorio, Activity Leader
Program News
Kinder Camp Family Fun: Wednesday, July 30th
Mark You r Calendar
Dates to Rememb er!
Fishing
Bunks 9 and 10 completed the first round of our fishing derby. The girls competed on Tuesday with lots of excitement, teamwork and fun catching two fish. The boys then went out fishing on Thursday and did a great job wrapping up the first round of trips. The campers are very excited and cannot wait for a second chance to go fishing. -Em Foster, Activity Leader
Tennis
This week in tennis, campers practiced their strokes and have certainly all made improvements. The Kinder Campers enjoy playing games and swinging at the lighter tennis balls. Campers are starting to learn more about proper tennis techniques and are enjoying their time spent on the court. -Marc Willemsen, Activity Leader
Archery
Week five was a short week for archery; the campers are back shooting the Genesis compound bows after a week with the crossbows. Our main emphasis is to focus on correct shooting form. In archery, practice does not necessarily make perfect because the form needs to be correct in order to improve, so we have been focusing on correcting any mistakes. Next week we will work on consultant shot execution and form. The campers will also compete at longer distances. -Matt Hibbitt, Activity Leader
Program News Pottery
Carnival Week was so fun and went by too fast! The kids finished up their wheel work in order to start our new projects for week six. I have been working one-onone with each camper on the pottery wheel teaching the terms and techniques. Everyone has learned how much patience it takes to work with clay, and they are sharpening up their skills working and forming the clay into different things. Bunk 10 got to make some elephant wall vases! -Savannah LoPrinzi, Activity Leader
Nature
This week we played two nature games called “predator and prey” and “ships and sharks.” During Carnival, campers tried their luck tossing ping-pong balls into floating flamingo cup holders. A few bunks had the opportunity to pick string beans from the school’s garden. Next week for Sportsmanship Week, the campers will be rooting for their team’s cockroach in races! Good luck to bunk teams and may the best cockroaches win! -Mr. Nature, Chuck Hogan, Activity Leader
Arts & Crafts
In arts and crafts this week, the campers focused their attention on their individual Carnival booths and made signs for them. Along with the bunk booths, Savannah and I hosted an epic face painting table. After Carnival, the girls learned to make more advanced friendship bracelets while the boys learned a fun group drawing game. -TT Dechent, Activity Leader
ing m o c p U ys a D s s e Dr
Program News
It’s Sportsmanship Week! Sports team appreciation dress up!
Leagues Leagues is a camp-wide competition that involves a variety of games of soccer, tennis baseball and basketball in which teams of campers compete to win! The campers play on their teams and play for points every week. This week, leagues came to a pause for other exciting games. Here are the standings from last week.
CURRENT STANDINGS Boys Team W L T Pts.
s c i t e l h t A Corner
Chompers 9 0 0 18 Yellowjackets 3 6 0 6
Majestic Dragons 7 2 0 14
Athletics was very exciting this week. The campers participated in a home run derby on Monday and aroundthe-world soccer on Friday. Athletics was postponed on Wednesday due to Carnival, during which campers displayed their athletic abilities in the potato sack race and the dunk tank. Leagues will continue next week as the playoffs inch closer and closer.
Super Mighty Lions
-Marc and John
Green Gladiators 1 8 0 2 Blue Banzais 5 4 0 10 Girls Team W L T Pts.
4
2
3
11
Green Machine 1 4 4 6 Domination Assoc. 2 6 1 5
ia v i r T y l k Wee Winners
Monday: Emily DeCotiis Tuesday: Julia Spinelli Wednesday: No Winners Thursday: No Winners Friday: No Winners
Teen Travel ing
Train n i s r o l e uns
Co
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Mindy
Club Getaway was a blast last week! We were hiking, zip-lining, swimming, swinging and dancing all week long. This week Teen Travel went on a NYC cruise around Manhattan. We saw Lady Liberty from the boat and got great “selfies.� We also went mini golfing on Tuesday and enjoyed the batting cages. Our last trip this week was to Medieval Times to watch the Knights fight for the princess! We had a lovely week of Carnival fun. -Monica
Special Events
Hurray for Carnival! The whole day was a complete success. It was filled with games, prizes and even some dunking. Harry flew in to participate in activities with the campers as well, throwing baseballs at the dunk tank to take down Nicole! The lower bunk late night was also a highlight making this week a memorable one!