The Hi-Hills Herald: 2016 Week #8

The Hi-Hills Herald August 19, 2016

Issue#7

Top News at Hi-Hills Day Camp!

Celebrating our 50th Summer!

Thank You! Summer 2016 has come and gone, but we will never forget the memories forged at Hi-Hills over these last few weeks!

Stay tuned to our websiteas well as our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks for even more goodies.

Extra photo galleries, blog posts and more are coming your way!

Thank you again to all of the counselors, staff, teachers, parents and campers themselves that make Hi-Hills such an amazing place to have the “Best Summer Ever.”

See you back again in 2017...!

Table of Contents: Note from Camp Directors

2

Bunk Updates

3-5

Camp Candids

6-7

Birthdays This Month

8

Program News

9-10

Upcoming Dress Days

11

Color Wars

11

Counselor of the Week

11

Trivia Winners

12

Leaders of Tomorrow

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 r u o from p Cam rs o t c e r Di

Hello Hi-Hills!

Dear Hi-Hills, In a blink of an eye, summer 2016 is over! Our theme this last week was camp pride, and our goal was to solidify that pride for all campers and counselors alike.

Throughout our orientation and pre-camp trainings, we emphasized the importance of taking pride in everything you do and say. We worked on how to share this experience with campers of all ages in an intentional manner.

Whether a camper attended Hi-Hills for a week or the entire summer, and whether that focus was on traditional day camp or an enrichment camp, we hope they took away a sense of accomplishment.

Our campers worked diligently on the fields, the pool and in the classroom to improve a familiar skill or learn a new one.

We cannot THANK YOU enough for sharing your campers with us. They are truly remarkable people.

Have a wonderful year and we look forward to seeing you next summer!

Best, Cindy Wyatt – Director of Summer and Auxiliary Programs Nicole Spiotta – Assistant Director of Summer and Auxiliary Programs

Teen Travel: Apache This last week in teen travel, we traveled to Fireball Mountain and played outdoor laser tag. We had the upper girls’ and boys’ bunks in tow to preview teen travel camp! Several of our oldest campers will be twelve and eligible to join in the amazing teen travel adventures next summer. It was a fun and wild experience for the kids bonding at this venue with their potential new camp friends! On Tuesday, we headed to Diamond Gymnastics where climbing the rock walls and jumping and swinging into an enormous foam pit was on the day’s agenda. On Wednesday, we concluded our teen travel adventures with an overnight campout at Hi-Hills where the campers enjoyed having the camp and its facilities all to themselves as well as consuming lots of s’mores and pizza. The Apaches looked forward to spending the last two days onsite at Hi-Hills playing gaga, taking in the great outdoors and, of course, the color war and spirit stick competition. Thanks for joining us this summer! It has been a blast having your camper participate in all our teen travels in and out of the state!

-Chrissy

Bunk 1: T he Foxes & Bunk 2: T he Beavers It’s the last week of camp! We in Kinder Camp can’t believe this summer is coming to a close. This week in arts and crafts, our bunks transformed coffee filters into beautiful butterfly magnets. In team building with Miss Missie the campers played a fun relay activity where they worked on their gross motor skills while singing our camp song! The Foxes and the Beavers also played “Cat vs. Dog” where campers were assigned a pet and their teammates had to scatter and either meow or bark to find the rest of their team! How fun!

We had some visitors this week as some of our campers participated in Bring Your Friend to Camp Day and had a blast! It was so much fun getting to know all our Kinder Camp friends and we want to wish everyone a happy school year. We look forward to seeing you back next summer!

-Kelly, Sarah, Zoe, Missie and Jess

Bunk Upda tes

Bunk Upda tes Bunk 9: T he Chippewas

The summer weeks flew by with the Chippewas. The counselors surveyed the campers on what the favorite activities this summer were. The responses ranged from paddleboats to archery to gaga to Lego Land. As far as their favorite club, the great outdoors won that distinction hands down! Guessing what lunch would be each day was another game we played! The Chippewas love chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs and pizza, with the frozen yogurt with sprinkles as their top dessert! We hope all of our campers enjoyed the summer fun, and we look forward to seeing all of you back next summer. Have a great school year!

-Joanne and Mark

Bunk 10: Lenni Lenapes & Bunks 12 & 14: T he Lakotas

This past week the Lakotas and Lenni Lenapes teamed up for the final week of camp! We asked the campers what their favorite activities, lunches, and events were this summer:

“Can’t choose because I like EVERYTHING about camp!” - Annie “Stromboli for lunch!” - Andrea “The pool was awesome and fun!” - Cassidy “Making lanyards!” - Jadesola We’ve shared many laughs and made many memories to last a lifetime.

Thank you for sharing your campers with us this summer. We truly had a blast. Have a great school year and good luck!

-Kiara and Megan

Bunk Upda tes Bunks 11 & 13: T he Navajos

The Navajo tribe had an exciting final week at Hi-Hills. The bunk spent most of their time this week cooling off in the pool or playing tennis games. Although we are all sad that camp is winding down, the Navajos formed lasting friendships with their bunkmates and enjoyed all the activities and events that Hi-Hills offered this summer. We spoke with campers and asked them about their favorite aspects of camp. Arnold, John and Randeep enjoyed playing gaga, while Dean, Sam and Matthew loved the all sports clubs and athletics. Chris and Luc owned the track in go-karts. Noah and Jack had a blast at the pool. The Navajos stuck together as a tribe and indeed had an amazing 50th summer at Hi-Hills.

-Pat and Julian

Bunks 15 & 17: T he Comanches

Week eight started off with campers heading to Fireball Mountain, an outdoor laser tag facility, where our campers had an opportunity to preview the Teen Travel program. Many of the fellow Comanches are age eligible for Hi-Hills’ amazing Teen Travel program next summer and what an awesome opportunity this was to experience it for themselves. Additional activities this week included working on the color war cheers and skits.

Our campers participated in an arts and crafts project where we painted wooden hearts with red paint as a camp-wide project for organ donor recipients. We can’t wait to see how the summer wraps up with color war and spirit stick competitions. Great outdoors, carnival, gaga and the game room were all tribe favorites. Our favorite lunches were hotdogs, popcorn chicken, and a tie for dessert either being chocolate chip cookies or froyo.

Enjoy the rest of the summer and see you back next year!

-Andrew and Patrick

Bunks 16 & 18: T he Cherokees

We have reached our last week! The Grease performance was a huge hit along with the 4H Fair trip, and the Fireball Mountain Laser Tag with Teen Travel campers. The girls enjoyed all the experiences. This week, the Cherokees tried their hands at making delicious crepes filled with whipped cream in cooking club. Delicious! The campers have been working so hard on their last cheer and are very confident with it, looking ahead to a potential third win on Friday. For our last hurrah, the counselors have arranged for a bunk Pizza Party on Thursday. The Cherokees did such an amazing job with everything this summer and we wanted to send them off with a party to celebrate.

They truly deserve it. Wishing everyone a good school year! See you all back next summer. It was truly the best summer ever!

- Maria, Amanda and Kerry

Cam Cand p ids

Bunk photos are now online and available to download at hihills.com!

Birthdays T his Month August 8th: Jayson August 8th: Caitlin August 9th: Andrew August 10th: Brandon August 11th: Anna

August 11th: Eli August 13th: Robbie August 15th: Cameron August 16th: Erik August 16th: Bradley August 19th: Dylan

Program News Tennis Week eight is here and we are completing our tennis specialty for 2016. It has been an amazing summer here at Hi-Hills. There were many highlights to this summer, but I would like to mention a few that topped the charts! From day one, I emphasized how important listening, following directions, helping others and safety was to enjoying tennis. The campers did a great job with all four of these concepts! An example of being a great helper is retrieving tennis balls at the end of a session. They used the carts, hoppers and tubes to retrieve the balls and took pride in themselves while they did it! After finishing this task, they earned a sense of accomplishment. The “Queen/King� of the court has taken the cake as the favorite tennis activity! Also, jump rope, hula hoops and agility ladders have been both fun and beneficial to our campers!

The second annual Hi-Hills Tennis Tournament was a huge camp success! Thank you to all the campers, staff and Cindy for all their participation this summer! I really appreciate it!

-Chris

Swimming We concluded week eight by reviewing and reinforcing all the strokes and water skills taught in the pool. Our lifeguards also emphasized the importance of water safety in and around the pool. It has been a pleasure for myself and my lifeguard staff getting to know your camper and truly watching them grow and foster into little and big fishes.

Keep safe during the upcoming year and I look forward to seeing everyone back again in the pool and at the splash pad next year.

-Augie

Program News

Athletics It’s always sad to see another summer at Hi-Hills come to an end, and with each one it always seems to go more quickly than the previous one.

Nonetheless, it was yet another case of the “Best Summer Ever” this year, and athletics was no exception. Campers participated in everything from Capture the Flag to kickball to soccer to MonkeyBall to Bounce-n-Score… and the list of games continues. It’s been our distinct pleasure to work with each and every camper this summer, and we are so grateful for the enthusiasm and energy that was on display during all sessions. We wish everyone a safe, happy and healthy school year and we will literally be counting down the days until we see all of you again! In the meantime with a new school year ahead, everyone just keep in mind that, “the ONLY person you need to be better than is the one you were yesterday.”

-John and Marc

Arts & Crafts As the camp season comes to an end, we have been busy completing a variety of amazing arts projects this season: leather crafts, lanyard, beading, banner making, and much, much, more. It’s hard to believe that eight weeks of camp have passed by so quickly. I want to wish all the campers and staff a great year! See you back next summer at Hi-Hills!

-Mindy

Thanks for a great summer!

Color Wars 2016 Wow! This season’s color war challenges brought Hi-Hills to its highest level of competition yet this summer. Week eight’s great outdoors events were captivating to all participants and spectators. Although the blue team trailed behind all summer, they never gave up. They came to this last event with all their heart, which lead them to a win. Each team won two events, leading us to the final fire challenge. The team captains went head to head. However, blue’s Megan outwitted and outplayed her brother, green’s Patrick, and succeeded in lighting her flame first.

A big thank you goes out to Activity Specialist Matt Hibbett whose dedication and commitment to constructing these amazing survivor color war challenges was tremendous.

His hard work and creativity speaks for itself on the faces of all campers.

We are all so lucky to have witnessed the amazing events he planned and executed throughout the summer. No matter which team wins, we are all winners because we spent the summer of 2016 together!

r o l e s n u Co of the Week Maria Diaz As we wrap up our 50th summer, we are recognizing a Head Counselor: honors are awarded to Maria Diaz, Head Counselor for bunks 16 and 18, the Cherokees.

Maria has been a wonderful, friendly and outgoing personality at Hi-Hills for fifteen summers. Her ongoing commitment to Hi-Hills is evident not just as a Head Counselor but as a camp bus driver as well.

The Cherokees, the oldest girls bunk at Hi-Hills, are always on the go with Maria directing the charge each and every day. She operates a well-run tribe planning each day to its capacity. A few highlights of this summer have included her entire bunk participating in the summer musical, Grease, where Maria and her junior counselors added stage crew to their day’s activities. When the 4H Fair was in town, she arranged transportation and a full day outing for the girls to experience this old-fashioned fair and farm expedition. When campers had to present a skit to earn the coveted camp spirit stick, her campers learned a new song with choreography moves to score the win. Maria believes hard work, either on the stage, at color war or on the fields, always deserves a reward.

She has taken her bunk out for ices on a hot summer day and celebrated the end of the camp season with a pizza party this week. Maria is a wonderful addition to the Hi-Hills staff and we couldn’t be more proud to present her with Counselor of the Week accolades.

Thanks for making the summer so memorable for all of us, but especially the Cherokees!

ia v i r T y l k Wee Winners orrow: m o T f so Leader anna Lackaw

Tuesday – Ariella, Dylan, Cassidy, Pat, Julian

Wednesday – Phil, Emma, Jenna, Nicole, Cassidy

T hursday – Ryan, Maria

ings me. It br r o f e n o eet have a bittersw t the weeks that say s y a lw a u ht is abo ave to Week eig s of joy thinking s because we h a good g s me feelin feelings of sadne ought it would be oung nd I th ur y passed a summer 2016. rom several of o orrow o f t m goodbye d with reflections he Leaders of To ntored t n e m in o e e way t rticipated nselors who hav at Hi-Hills, a p o h w mer leaders well as the cou enth sum do. Looking v le s e a y m m lways ye to progra ay goodb memories as I a g the Leaders of s I s A . inin them amp re! rish my c more campers jo ills for their futu e h c l il w k I h s 2017 wit ding their ahead to rogram and buil wp Tomorro

to

Jenn Mon

“This summer program gave me valuable lessons that will assist me for the rest of my life.” Amanda, Leader of Tomorrow “It was a great experience that taught me many things.” - Christina, Leader of Tomorrow “It’s a fabulous program to learn leadership skills.”

- Taylor, Leader of Tomorrow “I wish there were more Leaders of Tomorrow participants because they were a huge help.” Megan, Head Counselor “The young leaders were helpful when I needed an extra set of hands which was all the time.” Joanne, Head Counselor “I liked the various responsibilities given to them

by Jenn and that they seemed prepared for whatever was in store for the campers that day.

Great leadership training provided through the Leaders of Tomorrow program.” - Sarah, Head Counselor “Over the course of the summer, I observed a lot of growth with the participants.” - Kelly, Head Counselor “It was an amazing first year of the program. The campers were engaged with the weekly themes and assisted campers and counselors in bunks at all ages. I am extremely proud of how Jenn launched this new program initiative at Hi-Hills, and by the response of these campers, I know the valuable her role and leadership was in its inaugural summer.” - Cindy, Wyatt, Camp Director