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8/23/2019 0 Comments

Weekly Schmooze Issue 7

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K’ton Ton
This week K’ton Ton just had too much fun! We started off with a visit from the Israeli Caravan. They danced and sang their hearts out and the campers loved dancing and singing with them. We made boomerangs and koala bears as we traveled to Australia. On Friday we made and ate Fairy Bread! Ask your children how to make it. I’m sure they’ll be able to share the recipe (white bread, butter and rainbow sprinkles). 
We have become such great swimmers, with many K’tonies moving up to the next levels. It makes me so happy to see how their confidence has increased and their fears of the pool have diminished. Next week is the last week of camp. We look forward to participating in the Maccabi games. Wear your colors proudly!

Shalom
Week 7 was very exciting at camp as we traveled around Australia.  On Monday we got to watch the wonderful Israeli Caravan, everyone had lots of fun singing and dancing along.  On Tuesday we went to Bounce U for our last trip, everyone had lots of fun jumping around.  During the week we learned about Boomerangs and made our own, we also got to make koalas and Australian fairy bread.  On Friday at Shabbat everyone got to meet Lenny Krayzelburg, who is a gold medal Olympic swimmer.  We are very excited to start color wars this week.  Everyone should wear their colors proudly, have lots of fun and show great sportsmanship.

Chalutz
G’day from Chalutz! During week 7, Chalutz “traveled” to the continent of Australia. Campers celebrated the value of kind words. Chalutz campers participated in many activities that encompassed the Aussie lifestyle.  We created an American take on Fairy Bread, made paper boomerangs, had a beach dance party and enjoyed our annual Israeli Caravan Show.
Campers enjoyed the leagues award ceremony at the building.  Campers and counselors dressed to impress in this year’s league colors (red, white, and blue).  Jeff handed out many awards, medals, and trophies to campers; rewarding them for their hard work and sportsmanship over the summer. Congratulations to our 1st place teams D and H! 
This year campers earned over 130 trophies, 30 certificates, 8 prestige trophies, 2 MVP, 3 Chalutz legacy hats and 1 Nex Gen “athlete of the summer”! Campers are already anticipating the reveal of next year’s leagues program! Thank you to Jeff for creating our amazing Chalutz Leagues program that has continued to be a staple in the Chalutz culture!

Maccabiah
Wow, we can’t believe we just finished the 7th week of camp. During the 7th week, we had some great events. On Tuesday, Cara and some Maccabiah campers participated in an improv performance on fairytales that blew everyone away. It’s amazing to see the acting talents that many of our campers have. On Wednesday, the leagues championship was Steven’s team versus Matt’s team. Matt’s team was favored to win and was the first seed going into the championship game, however Steven’s team came out on top winning 25-18. Additionally on Wednesday, we had Macc’s Got Talent, where many of our campers sang, danced, played piano, and did stand-up comedy. They all did an incredible job. On Thursday, we had our big trip to Hershey Park. The campers really enjoyed the rollercoasters and of course chocolate world! Then we had our overnight, leaving campers extremely tired on Friday and ending the camp week with a pizza party. We can’t believe that week 8 is already here and we look forward to color was! 

Teen Travel
On Monday, Teen Travel attended our biggest and best trip of the whole year!  We traveled to Connecticut to attend Club Getaway, our three-day, two-night adventure.  Campers took in this unique camping experience by staying in cabins with all of their friends.  There were tons of activities, including trampolines, jumping off trees (with harnesses), and many ziplines.  On Monday, we attended a game show with wild and wacky challenges, and we competed against four other camps with our camp coming out on top! We had a dance party on Monday and Tuesday night, with campers showing off the latest fashion trends! Campers were also able to use the lake, which allowed for swimming, jumping on trampolines, and campers rode a raft that was pulled by a speedboat.  We ended our experience with s’mores, and campers will look back on this trip and now have these memories for life! On Thursday, we attended the movies to see Hobbs and Shaw.  The campers were then treated to Carvel ice cream, which was a big hit!  On Friday, we celebrated Shabbat, and our guest speaker was Lenny Krayzelburg.  He is a four-time Olympic Gold medalist in swimming for Team USA and shared some real inspirational thoughts with the campers.  We ended our day with bowling, which was a fun time as usual.  We cannot wait for Week 8 of camp, which has Broadway and Color Wars in line for us!  

Marvin’s Jr.
This was a great week in Marvin’s Junior camp. We started off the week dancing the day away with the Israeli Caravan. Campers enjoyed many camp activities and loved our trip to Launch Trampoline. On Friday, we celebrated the near end of camp with our annual dance show! All groups danced amazingly. We are so proud of everyone who performed.

Marvin’s
Week 7 has come and gone and we had so much fun! On Monday we enjoyed our show, while on Tuesday we had a fun day at camp. Wednesday we had our last trip to iPlay America where we had a blast playing games and going on rides! Thursday was another great day at camp and Friday we had Shabbat where we saw Teo and Mighty Mensch! What a great week! We can’t wait for color wars week 8!

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Monday MORE took a trip to Chocolate Works where we created custom chocolate molds.  Tuesday we went rock climbing at Rock Em Extreme.  Wednesday we hit up the arcade at Dave and Busters and set the high score on multiple games!  Thursday we trekked to the Bronx Zoo and participated in a scavenger hunt while hanging out with all of the cool animals.  We wrapped the week up at Glassroots where we created mosaic coasters out of glass.  Overall it was an exciting week!  We can't wait to wrap up the summer next week with some exciting trips!
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K’ton Ton 
Our K’ton ton mensches this week were Ashley Cipollo, Tyler Karczewski Gigi Perrotta and Sabien Lioacono. Along with our counselor Simona. Ashley loves playing with her friends and she is very helpful to her counselors. She loves boating and music and she just moved up to level 3 in swim! Good job Ashley! Tyler has become a lot more adventurous this year and we couldn’t be prouder! He loves swimming and animals.  He even saved a butterfly yesterday! Thank you Tyler for being so kind and caring. Sabien always makes sure to follow directions and he helps out his friends whenever he can. He always goes in the water during swim. He’s an all around great kid! Gigi always takes care of her friends. She shares and helps clean up the shelter. She does everything all by herself! We hope one day she’ll be a future K’ton ton counselor! Simona is an amazing person & counselor.  She always showed up on time and had fun with the kids. She’s always ready to lend a helping hand to anyone who needs it. She is incredibly caring has a heart of gold. We will all miss her very much! Good luck in college!
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Shalom
James Z from group 1- for always being kind, including everyone and being a problem solver
 
Ben G from group 5- for coming to camp everyday with a smile, making sure to include everyone in his group and always helping out.
 
Erla M from group 9-for including everyone, sharing with her friends, always showing kindness and listening to her counselors.
 
Evelina F from group 8- for always being respectful & helping the counselors, learning how to tie her shoes this summer at camp and sharing with all of her friends. 
 
Cameron for always having a great spirit at camp and always showing kindness, patience and compassion for her campers
 
Zelli for the loving way she jumped in and joined all of the staff at camo, she helped everyone in her group and was a great addition to the Shalom family.
 
Nick for offering to jump in and help Shalom when we needed some extra support and always doing it with a smile. 
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Chalutz
William Paris of group 5; William constantly cheered on his fellow campers during leagues this summer and showed true sportsmanship. 

Elena Teetsell of group 2; Elena was kind to all of the girls in her group and always included all campers in activities. 

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Maccabiah
Aidan Diaz- for being the only camper in his group to clean up a mess in the shelter. Additionally Aidan is always nice and respectful to campers and counselors.
Peri Sgambelluri- for always being so sweet and flexible with any changes that happen throughout the day. Peri is always polite and participates in camp activities.
Nicole Cooper- for helping a camper out that wasn’t her camper. Nicole is a great counselor and always has her campers’ best interest.
Mia Cutrona- for always getting her campers enthusiastic about camp and activities. Mia always has a smile on her face and is super approachable.
Thomas Ippolito- for always doing the right thing with his group and being responsible without anybody telling him to.
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Teen Travel
Gianna Calderon is a Mensch of the Week for stepping outside of her shell and singing in front of all campers at Club Getaway; despite being nervous, she did a phenomenal job!
Emma Fulop is a Mensch of the Week for being kind to all campers, and always having a big smile on her face!
Sydney Gargano is a Mensch of the Week for trying new adventures and obstacles at Club Getaway, also stepping outside of her comfort zone!
Sal Hawkins is a Mensch of the Week for letting campers bowl on his lane, and for always wanting to have a fun time!
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Marvin’s Jr.
Michael Smieya: Mike worked extremely hard all summer. He persevered through some tough days but came out of this summer someone who can be considered a role model for all campers.
Zoe Joseph: Zoe is a kind, sweet, caring girl who is always happy to help other campers and counselors. She helped welcome her sister into camp during the summer and loved playing with all her new friends.
Counselor Kristina: Kristina has been an exceptional new counselor. From day 1, she made connection with all of her campers, cared for them, and helped them achieved goals of successfully coming to summer camp!
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Marvin’s
Maya Makler has been struggling to be nice her friends this summer. However, she worked really hard this week and she did so well. She was so nice to all of her friends and we are so proud of her!
Dylan Gellerstein has been at camp for so many years and he has never been selected as a mensch. I am so happy to give it to him for this week because he is a great camper and kid. His counselors only have good things to say about him and he always comes to talk to me if there’s a problem in the group like an adult would.
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Sharon Small was awarded the Mensch of the Week for working with her own group as well as spending time with other campers during our trips.
Robert Healy, Michael DiPrima, and Emma Efrosman were Menches of the Week for the enthusiasm they showed not only this week, but throughout the entire summer!
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​Value of the Week: Kind Words

“Speech has power. Words do not fade. What starts out as a sound, ends in a deed.” –Abraham Joshua Herschel
Kind words have the potential to make a person’s day and lift people up. They can inspire and heal. At the JCC Camp we encourage our campers to use their words to talk when they are angry at another person instead of hitting and using their hands. Every week a camp “alumni” gives a presentation about their lives and the impact the camp has had on them so that the campers can learn and hear the way the JCC Camp has changed their lives. Sharing kind words costs nothing but can still mean everything to the person who hears it.

“What did you do in school today?” I asked six year old Daniella.
“We made warm fuzzies”
“Warm Fuzzies? What are warm fuzzies?” 
“Well” she said slowly, trying to find words that even a grandfather could understand. “warm fuzzies are things that you say that make people feel good.” And then, reaching into her schoolbag, she added, “Here are some of the warm fuzzies I got.”
“You are my best friend”
“You are very pretty”
“You I like”
“I like the present you gave me”
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Much later that evening I thought of the lesson Daniella’s teacher had taught her class. How much easier life would be for all of us if we concentrated on handing out warm fuzzies to the people whose lives intersects our own in the course of any day. Mark Twain once said that he could live on a good compliment for two months. How long has it been since we gave a warm fuzzy to our children, our mates, the people who serve us, our brothers and sisters?

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