Camps

TWO
Camps,
Endless
Fun

Day camp
is exciting!

Jewish Community Center
summer camps allow
children to choose exactly
what makes them happy.

Elizabeth Applebaum
Special to the Jewish News

B

ack in the 1950s, the words "sum-
mer camp" almost always meant
some place with a dorky, pseudo-
Indian name, like Wampum Pow How,
where every kid started every day with
canned fruit, learned to make lanyards
and watched the little guys go back and
forth, up and down in the ant farm. Boys
and girls wore knee socks with shorts, and
on a good evening they might join pals
for a Cherry Coke and Cheez Whiz as they
looked for flying saucers.

Cherry Coke is still here. So are finding
best buddies and making memories at
camp and, yes, let's be honest, the search
for alien beings (even if their ultimate goal
may be "to serve man").
But these days, the best camps also are
all about letting children find their heart's
desire, grabbing it and flying off into a
magical world of dreams come true. They
are places where children can learn karate
or how to sword fight, perfect their singing
and acting skills, relax with yoga, create
a one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry, make
pizza from scratch or discover the secrets
of magic.

Camps are places where children are the
center of the world.
Tal Siegmann is director of the Jewish
Community Center of Metropolitan
Detroit's Center Day Camps in West
Bloomfield. Siegmann, a father of three,
says a good camp starts with a great staff.
"At Center Day Camps, our staff is high-
ly trained," he said. Everyone who works at
camp wears a T-shirt that says "I Inspire"
or "I Lead" or "I Motivate,' while campers'
shirts have the message, "I Am the Future?'
"These are words that we really believe,'
Siegmann said. Staff must take seriously
the notion that they are role models, "help-

ing create the future of our community."
At Center Day Camps, children can
choose from more than 100 possibilities,
including sports camps, theater camps,
traditional camps, week-long camps,
month-long camps and travel camps.
The Center Day Camps are located at
the JCC in West Bloomfield, with more
than 250 wooded acres, swimming pools,
a fishing and boating pond, mini-golf, bas-
ketball courts, a ropes challenge course,
the Shalom Street children's museum and
playgrounds for every age.
The camps were founded more than 70

Two Camps on page 32

February 10 0 2011

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