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UPCOMING EVENTS
Thursday, August 7th
Comic Combe Thrilling Thursday
“Finding Nemo” at Camp
SESSION 6
AUGUST 4 - 8 2014
Directors Corner This summer we started doing something kinda cool that some of your kids may have talked about at home. I thought it might be productive to tell you a little more about it: Game Lab. Every Thrilling Thursday we come up with new games for each themed week. As you might imagine, generating new games for 500 campers each week can be a challenge. Sure, sometimes it’s just a regular old game rebranded with the theme. For instance, a game formerly known as “Freeze Tag” can easily become “Pirate Tag with very slight modifications to the rules. That’s easy. It’s also somewhat uninteresting, so we try to keep that kind of repurposing to a minimum. The problem, however, of coming up with 10-15 new games each week remains. Now, we are very lucky to have lots of creative people working for us, so generating ideas isn’t too much of a problem. The challenge is in refinement. A game that seems good on paper or while you are brainstorming may sound terrific, but the smallest flaw can make it worse than boring. In some cases it could even be a little hazardous. (Too many kids moving in multiple directions at the same time, or big kids and little kids moving at high speed in the same game are easy mistakes to make that can result in skinned knees or bonked heads). Some new games work well once, but their success is usually due to their novelty. After the first round, the kids are quick to realize that there isn’t much there. Continued on Page 2
It’s Not Too Late to Order the Limited Edition Camp Combe “Got the Chicken” T-shirts. Check out the summer photos here
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Continued from Page 1
In order to remedy this we took a page out of Thomas Edison’s lab notebook. We test, test, and test some more. Think about it. Look at a great modern game like baseball. It didn’t start out the way it is now. It was tweaked over the years until it evolved into the great game that it is now. We are trying to fast forward through that kind of evolution. We pull a huddle or two of campers in to try out the new game. Kids are given the opportunity to talk about the experience, make suggestions, or even just let us know it isn’t going to work. Typically, we make a couple changes and re-do it. Campers really enjoy being the first ones to ever play the game, and we get a willing group of test subjects to spot flaws under controlled conditions. A cool side effect is that everyone (campers and staff alike) start to gain an understanding about what makes some games work and some fail. Basically, everybody wins. And as a result we have developed a bunch of new games that have not only worked well for special events but are beginning to work their way into our day-to-day repertoire of games. Just think, your child might be partially responsible for the creation of a game that goes on to be the next big thing at camp!
Week 5 --Highlights and Happenings Splash Week
Last week’s Thrilling Thursday was a camp favorite, SPLASH WEEK! The campers participated in a ton of water themed games guaranteed to soak them! Among the more popular games was our soaked t-shirts relay, Mother May I (get soaked)? Water Theme Trivia and a leaky pail relay! Everyone was soaked in the end including some of our staff. It was a splashtastic day!
Click here for all the photos
This week on Thrilling Thursday.....
COMIC COMBE In camp this week, Lex Luther hatched a despicable plan and trapped one of our staff members (Roblina Schmidt) in his 2D comic and switched places with him at Camp Combe. You can follow Lex Luther’s exploits with your child tonight on our Facebook Page.
100 Backpacks in 100 Days Returns Did you know that children ten minutes from you are not able to start the school year with the proper supplies? We want to make sure that this does not happen this fall. We are six students from the Putnam Valley High School and we are taking over the 100 Backpacks In 100 Days Drive from four graduating seniors at Putnam Valley High School. We want to thank them for starting the drive two years ago and we hope to continue to this tradition for years to come. Your donations will go to second and third graders at Peekskill’s Oakside Elementary School.
Here are some of the things we are hoping to collect: Backpacks or Messenger Bags (new or gently used)
These items are on the school supply list at Oakside Elementary School: Tissues, Crayons, Colored Pencils, #2 Pencils, Erasers, Solid Pocket Folders, Glue Sticks, Marble Notebooks, 5X8 School Supply Boxes, Scissors, Dry Erase Markers Drop off locations: Putnam Valley Elementary, Middle, and High School Camp Combe Putnam Valley Post Office We will be collecting through August 22nd. If you have any questions email: pvhsbackpackdrive@gmail.com Thank You, Maddie, Kelsey, Meredith, Morgan, Kristen, Kaitlin
Calling All Nurses We are looking for an RN that can assist us when we need additional coverage. If you know someone, please contact Thad.
Game of the Week.....
Kick-the-Can
Our featured game this week is a throw-back to the days when neighborhood play was still a thing. In Kick-the-Can, one team is designated as the “Seekers” and the other team as the “Hiders.” Within a large boundary, the hiding team gets 90 seconds to find their best hiding place before the seekers set out to find them. If a representative from the hiding team can make it into the open field and kick the can before being tagged, the hiding team wins. If the seeking team finds all hiders BEFORE the can is kicked, the seekers win.
Ashley kicks the can and wins the game for Stephanie’s huddle.
Jamie makes a run on a well-‐defended can.
This summer we piloting a new program--a creative writing camp--run in conjunction with Writopia lab. As is true of all of our specialty programs, Writopia campers get the best of two worlds--a half day spent pursuing something they are passionate about (in this case, creative writing and story telling) and the second half doing all of their favorite Camp Combe activities including morning assembly, swimming, archery, field games...the works! In Writopia, campers have the chance to work with a published author, writing their own stories and poems, playing creative games, and sharing their work in a fun and supportive environment. A visit to the cabin circle finds our young writers in easy chairs on the nature deck, reading aloud, providing helpful hints to each other on things like character development, plot construction, language use...laughing, encouraging, and inventing...it is a treat to behold. The feedback from campers and parents has been overwhelmingly positive and the stories coming out of the kids are amazing! The excerpts below come directly from stories written by our very own Writopians over the past two weeks:
Week 1 (July 21 - 25) Alyssa Brundage -- from “Break In” “I tried to grab the officers key, to break the rest out of jail, but he woke up and handcuffed me. Then he closed the tunnel and threw me into a cell with, well you.” Jacqueline Vuksanaj -- from “The International Riding Academy” “In the stables I saw some people grooming horses, and then I walked up to a stall with a beautiful dappled grey horse inside of it. When I read the stall plate it said "Luna"! I just stood there and looked at her not believing that she was my very own horse.” Natalie Panitkin -- from “Duskhearted” (Chapter 2) “A loud thump cuts my thoughts short. I gasp sharply and silently as I see the girl collapse onto the forest floor. She lays there, unmoving. Then the scene quickly starts fading away, the girl, the forest, everything, until I find myself back at the skating rink, right in the middle of my 3rd rotation.” Sasha Ioffe -- from “The Three Witches of Wisdom” “‘Dominique? Why are the eggs flying again?’ Asked the exasperated Curella as she came into the room. ‘It was only that one time! Okay, it happened twice, but ONLY twice!’ I laughed uncomfortably. ‘You see, THIS is why you need to go to Witch School!’ Curella sighed. I immediately stopped trying to ward off the eggs with one of the spatulas.” Yazmine Sibiski -- from “Meaney” “My father said she was upset that she was fired from her job for sitting down and having drinks with one of the customers. Even though she didn’t need a job, she loved being a waitress at Planet Hollywood. She wore clothes that smelled like mints.” Maya Berger -- from “Mystery” “When Mrs. Blue got to the library she said, ‘Please come inside.’ As I stepped inside the library, it was very dusty and smelled like dirty socks.” Lexi Rosende -- from “Getting My Way” “My parents hatched a plan to rob a bank of $500,000. I didn’t have anything to do with it, so don’t get me in trouble.” Julia Pearl -- from “Moving Day” “Splat! one of my neighbors threw a bucket of cold water and mud all over me. I got so mad I ran inside just as the bus passed my stop.” Continued on Page 5
Week 2 (July 28 - August 1) Jade McGovern -- from “Lived, Loved, & Lost Part 1” “Cat came out of the kitchen with two glasses of water. She handed one to me and sipped some water out of the other glass. ‘I got you one even though you said no. People always change their minds about food and beverages.’” Isabella Ferreira -- from “Crystal’s Trip to Africa: Part 2” “We run until we see a cliff. Angel can jump it but I cannot. There is no way out. I get on Angel’s back and we jump.” Andres Virola -- from “The Magic Pickle” “‘Your logic… is flawed, because in a sense, we are you,’ my logical side offered. ‘In this case every thought is your own. So you already know what we are going to say. You just want to hear it from us to combat loneliness, correct?’ I hate it when he’s . . . I’m . . . whatever it is… is right.” Judy Bentivegna -- from “No Way” “Alex is my best friend, he has to break the rules with me because I follow them with him. It’s something that we’ve been doing since the first grade.” Courtney Warren -- from “Makeup” “I saw my family standing around me in the emergency room, and my sister crying and saying over and over ‘It’s all my fault, it’s all my fault.’ I wanted to tell her I was here, well, kinda… the doctor told everyone they had to leave.” Owen Gifford-Smith -- from Hot Laptop “It was a wrong number that started it. In my defense, Bob’s Paper Supplies and Bob’s Pizza Shop were right next to each other in the phone book. So when I picked up the phone and dialed, let’s just say the secretary and I were in totally different worlds.” Sam France -- from “Ringing” “Now both the phone and the doorbell rang, with the unknown caller and the neighbors both wanting us to pick up. Eventually we just unplugged the phone, which solved the problem for a little while, until one by one our cell phones began to ring.” Matthew Chambers -- from “A Ruby Red Rescue” “‘Hey! Who the heck are you?! Stay out of this, kid, and scram.’ ‘Not until you tell me who you are,’ said David. ‘We’re team Draco, ya happy?’” Serhiy Solovyov -- from Hot Laptop “James wants to rob a bank, but Super Bread stands in the way. James punches him, but Super Bread isn’t affected. Then super bread punches James and he goes flying.”
After such a successful start, we are looking forward to bringing Writopia back next summer, hopefully to a wider range of ages. For more information, please call the camp office or look for info in the fall brochure. If you can't wait until next summer to get your kids involved in this awesome program, check out Writopia's school year programs at www.writopialab.org