The Hi-Hills Herald: 2014 Issue #2

The Hi-Hills Herald Issue #2

July 3, 2014

Top News at Hi-Hills Day Camp!

Celebrating Independence Day Heritage Week at Hi-Hills

This week at Hi-Hills, we are celebrating Independence Day by making our theme Heritage Week! Campers attended daily activities that incorporated different cultures. In performing arts, campers learned about different kinds of music and the instruments played to make each beat. Campers also created some beautiful artwork inspired by Mexican and Norwegian artistic practices.

In week two, we have also gained some new campers whom we welcomed with open arms into the Hi-Hills family. This gives everyone more opportunities to meet even more new people!

Yoga was brought back to the campers’ schedules. The kids are learning different poses and what practicing yoga does for your mind, body and soul.

Celebrating our 47th Summer!

Table of Contents: Note from Camp Director Bunk Updates

2 3-5

Birthdays This Month

7

Dates to Remember

8

Leagues is in full swing this week with all campers divided up and competing for points. Everyone is working hard and participating in every sport.

Program News

To conclude this brief week, campers and staff dressed in their best red, white and blue outfits and represented this great country with pride!

Kinder Camp 11

8-10

Upcoming Dress Days 11 Weekly Photography Tip 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 two was a great success! The theme of the week was”heritage” which allowed us to celebrate the Fourth of July and learn about the various cultures our campers come from. Despite the short week, we were able to fill the schedule with fun new activities. This week brought an abundance of spirit and excitement. We’re ready to keep the fun rolling into week three!

With Hi-Hills comes traditions, both new and old. Familiar activities such as leagues and yoga kicked off the week, while new activities in low ropes and archery grew in popularity. This week’s clubs also added some fun in the sun with gaga, nature, archery and drama encouraging campers to try new and exciting events.

As always the pool was filled with campers happily swimming to cool down from the heat. To finish the week, our campers came dressed to impress in red, white and blue.

The week ends with a three-day weekend for the campers and their families to celebrate the holiday. Next week we look to start up our Be Better Movement, more league challenges and new clubs. Have a great Fourth of July and we look forward to seeing everyone in week three of Hi-Hills!

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 Our week got off to a great start! We had great weather which allowed us to be outside and enjoy the pool, playground, tennis and nature. The children are having so much fun and enjoying developing relationships.

Brooke is a natural with her tennis skills and she enjoys learning how to hit the ball. Ariel loved our yoga class and had all of the poses down great.

Ryden is learning rapidly and is swimming with one noodle across the pool. Lucas had a big smile on his face in low ropes. He loved traversing across the railroad ties. All of the children are so much fun to spend time with and we enjoy every minute.

Bunk 2: Miss Stefanie’s Playful Piglets This week we were excited to add three new campers to the Playful Piglets. Quinn showed her speed by collecting all the bacon during a game of Steal the Bacon during athletics. Isabella wowed us with her artistic ability while decorating a Tic-Tac-Toe board and a totem pole at arts and crafts. Peyton excelled at balancing on the beams and rope at the low ropes course. Ellie proved to be an expert at yoga, even teaching Yoga Mark some new poses. Barrett showed her strength and climbed the AquaClimb wall. Although it was a hot week, it did not keep the Piglets from having fun. I can’t wait for next week.

Happy 4th!

Bunk Upda tes Bunk 9: Electro Scorpions Week two was another great one for Bunk 9. In the game room, camper Ethan beat counselor Ethan in back-to-back games of Connect Four, showing off his smarts! The whole bunk took a plunge in the stream, searching for salamanders and fish in nature. In arts and crafts, we had a great time tracing our whole bodies on a giant roll of paper. The Electro Scorpions would like to wish all parents a Happy Fourth of July!

-Ben Green, Counselor

Bunk 10: Bedazzled Cheetahs This week was an awesome second week. Everyone in our bunk joined nature club for an adventurous time. Our girls really enjoyed going in the stream and catching salamanders. While it was super hot outside, the pool was able to cool us down. Campbell rocked instructional swim this week when she was bumped all the way up to level five with bunk 18 girls. Ellie, Ava and Angela were able to teach us a few new moves in yoga as well. It became a challenge for us as they wanted to keep doing harder poses. Thanks for the encouragement, girls! I can’t wait to see what the rest of the summer has in store for us.

-Betsy Swartz, Counselor

Bunks 11 & 13: T he Whalers The kids enjoyed their second week of camp. Though temperatures were high, campers enjoyed many outdoor activites in the shade of trees and the cool water of the pool. Philip collected back-to-back wins in gaga becoming our bunk’s reigning champion. Kurt and Chris enjoyed pool games including “chase-the-councelor” and “bus” which includes hanging on to a pool noodle and “skiing” through the water. As the week ends, the campers are both ready to enjoy the Fourth of July and an upcoming week of camp.

-CJ Blasi, Counselor

Bunk Upda tes Bunks 16 & 18: Magical Minions The Magical Minions have added some new members. The girls work well together, really look out for one another and are doing wonderful in leagues. They have really stepped up their game in basketball, soccer, baseball and tennis. Our fishing trip is our next challenge and they are excited to catch a lot of fish. In pottery, the girls made moon rocks and stars from clay. Good job Minions! Welcome back returning and new campers! We have Lily, Julia, Emma, Elizabeth, Lindsey, Amanda, Madison M, Madison S, Madison G and Caitlyn. Thank you to Sarah for helping us with our Minions. Have a great Fourth of July weekend!

-Maria Diaz, Counselor

Bunks 12 & 14: Double Trouble Bunks 12 & 14 combined for another awesome week at Hi-Hills! We had a great week of leagues where Anna got a hit in tennis baseball that brought her team to victory. During clubs, Caitlin is creating masterpieces in art club while Cassidy and Anna got the roles of the evil step-sisters in the play Cinderella! Morgan was a great help in drama club. Hunter and Dakota loved going to archery where Caitlin got a bull’s-eye. For Thursday, the girls came in their best red, white and blue, all earning prizes and points for their color war teams.

Enjoy the long weekend!

-Megan DeMichael, Counselor

Bunk 15: T he Stormtroopers It has been a great second week for bunk 15. It was a little sad parting from bunk 17, but the campers were excited to have a smaller bunk. We decided on our bunk name as The Stormtroopers and we’re excited to do our chant for the camp at council ring. The campers enjoyed a variety of activities, including the first week of leagues, playing the drums they had made in performing arts and getting bull’s-eyes in archery. Now with the start of color wars, bunk 15 is looking forward to an even better week three!

-Matt Rivas, Counselor

Bunk Upda tes Bunk 17: Wolf Pack The Wolf Pack diminished in size this week due to the splitting of bunks 15 and 17. We have some members who auditioned for the musical Cinderella. Robbie will be playing the grand duke, Josh is going to play Jaq and the king, Mitch will be playing the prince and Andres will be Gus! Shan decided to try a new activity this week and found that he really enjoys hitting bull’s-eyes in archery club. Oscar, as always, swims like a pro during instructional swim. Eddie and Greg were a dynamic duo during the bunk soccer game, with Tyler, Cole and Jake showing incredible sportsmanship during their leagues games. In nature, Will and Gavin enjoyed walking around in the stream looking for salamanders. We can’t wait to see what the rest of the summer brings!

-Bridget, Jr. Counselor

Weekly Photography Tip: From Mackenzie

Bunk Photos are now online and available to download!

Angle Upward This technique can emphasize any photo you are taking, especially of a person. Kneel down or lay on the ground and angle your camera upwards. Aim your camera at the subject of your photo and see what happens! Everything will look bigger, more dramatic and will give extra dimension to your photos. Try it out!

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

m a r g o r P News Low Ropes

The campers continued to progress with their trust and challenge development.

Campers’ balancing skills are improving with every step they take! Safety and spotting were always the primary measures needed to be understood and performed during all activities. The large teeter-totter continues to be the highlight of low ropes.

Campers are communicating with one another, and as we step into the new week, they will be taking on more challenges.

-Chris Walsh, Activity Leader

Performing Arts

This week in music I talked about how traditional South African, Italian and Mexican music has influenced American music. I played three different instruments from each culture. I played the djembe drum, the maracas and an excerpt of the “Tarantella” on the accordion. I also had the campers play different rhythms for each other on the drums they made last week. This week has also been very exciting in drama! We gave the campers their parts in the musical and everyone is happy with their roles.

Happy Fourth of July!

-Stefanie Santoro, Activity Leader

Swimming

Swim at camp has been great! During instructional swim, campers were tested on their swimming skills and we put them in various levels according to American Red Cross Learn to Swim Program. Swimmers also greatly enjoyed free swim this week because of the extreme tempuratures. From the lifeguard staff and myself, it is a pleasure teaching your children how to swim and be safe in the water. We are excited to watch the campers improve on their skills this summer!

-Augie Lorio, Activity Leader

Program News

Boys’ campout is scheduled for Tuesday and the girls’ campout for T hursday!

Mark You r Calendar

Dates to Rememb er!

Fishing

Fishing continues to be a great sport and the campers are enjoying the experience. This week, the Magical Minions and Teen Travel went fishing. Every camper enjoys catching a large bass or catfish! Their rod starts to bend and it is a challenge to pull the fish to the dock. Good work everyone!

-Em Foster, Activity Leader

Tennis

It’s Heritage Week here at Hi-Hills! Passions are running high with the World Cup. In this spirit, the action has heated up on the tennis courts. Tennis alligator, Survivor Island and jail are some of the games that we utilized this week to teach groundstrokes and volleys. For an added challenge, we have been working on the transition from groundstroke to volley.

-Marc Willemsen, Activity Leader

Archery

This week in archery, the CITs received instruction on how to manage and run an archery range.

This included critiquing each other’s shooting form and shot execution. Tic-Tac-Toe was the archery game of the week. Campers used the arrows to complete games of Tic-Tac-Toe calling out their shot and filling the squares. The competition led to elimination rounds for the game and also in actual head-to-head scoring of the bull’s-eye target faces. The confidence level continues to increase with each session as well as the young archers’ accuracy. Soon it will be time to increase the distance and difficulty of the shots.

-Matt Hibbitt, Activity Leader

Program News Pottery

This week in pottery, most bunks finished up their projects from last week. Bunks 1 & 2 made stars and stripes wall hangers. Bunks 16 & 18 made red, white and blue star tiles and started a few projects on the pottery wheel. Have a wonderful Fourth of July everyone!

-Savannah LoPrinzi, Activity Leader

Nature

It was a busy week in nature, as the bunks searched the Peapack Brook for salamanders, fish and invertebrates. Many of the campers were successful in their search. In nature club, we fed the goats apples and alfalfa, played “Bug Bingo” and searched for butterflies.

-Mr. Nature, Chuck Hogan, Activity Leader

Arts & Crafts

For arts and crafts the kids learned about traditional Norwegian tapestry weaving. They made hearts weaving construction paper together. They also made Indian sand mandalas, Native American symbols for a midwestern Tic-Tac-Toe game. The campers’ favorite craft was the Mexican calavera masks, traditionally made to celebrate the Day of the Dead. Good work this week campers!

-TT Dechent, Activity Leader

Yoga

Yoga has arrived here at Hi-Hills Day Camp. We are fortunate to be able to use the beautiful space available in the Athletic Center where Otis, our yogarilla, helps guide our exploration of this elegant, most beneficial practice. Some of the poses that we worked on this week included the superhero, timber, mountain, the bridge and stargazer. We strive to accentuate the importance of self-awareness and selfacceptance in our practice and we end each session with a brief silent time.

-Marc Willemsen, Activity Leader

ing m o c p U ys a D s s e Dr

Program News

It’s Nature Week! Dress up in your best Adventures Enthusiast Gear!

Leagues Leagues is a camp-wide competition that involves a variety of games such as soccer, tennis baseball and basketball in which teams of campers compete to win!

The campers were divided into their teams and began playing for points this week. Here are the standings so far!

CURRENT STANDINGS Boys Team W L T Pts.

s c i t e l h t A Corner

Chompers 3 0 0 6

Green Machine 0 0 3 3

In athletics, campers participated in some intense soccer matches in honor of the 2014 FIFA World Cup (great job, USA‌Tim Howard is unbelievable!).

There were also several thrilling gaga games that took place, while our younger friends in Kinder Camp worked on their motor skills with our now-famous Hi-Hills agility ladder. On the more competitive side, the 2014 Hi-Hills leagues season got off to a terrific start, as the Chompers (boys) and Majestic Dragons (girls) burst out of the gates with 3-0 records for the week.

Domination Assoc. 0 3 0 0

-Marc and John

Yellowjackets 2 1 0 4

Green Gladiators 1 2 0 2

Blue Banzais 0 3 0 0 Girls

Team W L T Pts.

Majestic Dragons 3 0 0 6

Super Mighty Lions

0

0

3

3

ia v i r T y l k Wee Winners

Monday: Robbie DeVergillo, Christina Tamchin Tuesday: Tyler Turoczy, Cassidy Gesualdo Wednesday: Becky Fernandez, Greg Lahr Thursday: Matt Rivas, Cassidy Gesualdo

ng

raini T n i s r o l Counse

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Mindy

Teen Travel

We started this week by playing paintball at Skirmish in Pennsylvania. We had some great warriors out there on the fields. Tuesday we went fishing and caught 12 fish! We were all very patient waiting for the fish to bite and then Kerri caught a bass, the biggest fish of the day. We then went bowling and hit strikes and spares game after game. The highlight of the week was the trip to see the Yankees game on Wednesday versus the Tampa Bay Rays. We had a great day at Yankee Stadium and enjoyed cheering the game on and eating melted ice cream! The campers are dressed in red, white and blue today for the Fourth of July holiday weekend. It was a very successful week of camp and we are all proud to be American!

-Monica

Special Events

The second week of camp was a success! More campers have arrived and we are picking up speed in clubs, activities and leagues.

Campers began practicing yoga this week, connecting their mind, body and spirit. Heritage Week helped the campers recognize where they are from and made them proud to be who they are. Go USA!