“How we spend our days, is, of course, how we spend our lives.” If this statement from Annie Dillard proves true, then our lives should be filled with new experiences, adventures, laughter, and friendship. 716 Squash’s first summer camp recently came to a close. This five-week program was incredibly successful and excited the staff about our students, their potential, and the journey ahead of us.
Camp ran from July 9th through August 9th, Mondays through Thursdays, from 9am to 3pm. Throughout this time period, 24 students from 716 Squash’s two partner schools, West Hertel Academy and West Buffalo Charter School, came together for five weeks of summer fun and enrichment. Each week had its own theme and coordinating field trips and activities. Week one was our Health and Wellness week. Students were given the opportunity to work with personal trainer, Nicholette Odenbach. They were also introduced to our yoga instructor, Spencer Jones, who was able to lead yoga sessions every Tuesday of camp through our partnership with OWM Buffalo & OWM Yoga Downtown. We ended the week with an exciting trip to Delaware park filled with various games and exploration.
Week two started Water Week with a splash as students headed to board member Richard Lynn’s house for a pool party complete with a food truck from Frank’s! This proved to be the students’ favorite activity as they all asked to return for the following summer. Later that week, students took a step out of their comfort zones when they learned how to kayak at canalside through BFLO Harbor Kayak. Though the students were nervous about this activity, they approached it with positive attitudes and open minds, eventually having more fun than they thought was possible! The week came to a close with an iconic water balloon toss that ended in a free-for-all water balloon war.
Students took to the stage for Week Three: Performing Arts. Emmalee Stawicki paid a visit to the kids and spoke about the importance of following your dreams like she did when she got the part of Anna in the national tour of Frozen. She created a truly magical time for the students by sharing her stories and her incredible voice. Jennifer Fitzery from Shea’s also came by to provide a team-building and acting introduction workshop that led to many laughs and comical pictures. Creativity ran wild!
The students were challenged to think of others during our fourth week, Character and Community. They learned the importance of gratitude and each wrote thank you letters to the members of our Buffalo community who have donated their time and money into building our program. They also visited Five Loaves Farm to experience a community farm in their own backyards! Everyone lent a hand to help dig out a compost pile while we learned the importance of farming, caring for our earth, and volunteering.
For our final week, CSI, the students were put to the test to solve the mystery of the missing GRIT Coin! They were even visited by Officer Vaccaro, who explained how crime scenes work and the typical procedure for solving a case. Unsurprisingly, LaserTron was also a huge hit that had kids thinking up strategies and developing their teamwork skills to conquer in the arena. We ended the week with two final squash tournaments for the girls and boys. At our awards ceremony, first through third places were awarded for each tournament and other medals and trophies were also handed out regarding attendance, sportsmanship, and reading.
In between all of the exciting extracurricular activities and outings students participated in, there was also daily squash practice and summer reading. Twenty-eight hours total of summer camp were dedicated to reading. Students were split into groups based on grade level and reading level and then worked daily with a classroom volunteer to read, interpret, and discuss various books. Titles included Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, The Report Card, The Hunger Games, Hatchet, and Matilda. The goal was to spark excitement about reading and have students actively seeking to read more. Based on our feedback from the students, I can say we successfully accomplished that goal.
With all of this summer fun behind us, you might be thinking “What’s next?” Well, we now look to the coming school year with a new appreciation of our students. We’ve spent a total of 120 hours with them this summer! That’s more than enough time to get to know them more and understand each of them individually in terms of their strengths, abilities, and goals. We are incredibly thankful for the experience of summer camp and for all the wonderful people who helped us make it everything we hoped for. The forecast for the future? Sunny with a chance of smiles.
Madison Hanel, Academic Coordinator