40 | SEPTEMBER 7 • 2023 

From Willoway 
From Willoway 
Day Camp
Day Camp 

WEST BLOOMFIELD, MICHIGAN

There’s a reason the pool is located as 
central as possible on the campus of 
Willoway Day Camp. At the center of 
field games, arts and crafts projects and 
endless activities is Willoway’s swimming 
program.
Campers swim twice a day at Willoway, 
in two pools built for children, where 
they participate in instructional swim 
led by Willoway’s lifeguard team in the 
mornings. They enjoy free swim with 
each other, counselors and lifeguards in 
the afternoon.
The Willoway tag program keeps 
campers safe and allows the staff to 
adjust the swim curriculum to each 
individual child. Six swim skill levels — 
each symbolized by a tag color — divide 
the campers into groups based on swim 
ability. Campers who earn the highest 
level, a Black Tag, are able to participate 
in Willoway’s lakesports program.
“I look forward every year on the first 
day of camp to earning my black tag so 
that I can go to the lake. I love spending 
time at the lake tubing, knee boarding, 
wakeboarding and waterskiing,” said 
Emily Rodnick, a longtime camper and 
Black Tag achiever.
 With this year being the 55th summer 
of the program, head lifeguard Tina 
Pinter knows that the swim program 
still proves to be just as important to the 
campers’ lifetime skill sets, year after year.
 “The Willoway Learn-to-Swim 
program has changed the lives of 
children, helping build confidence, skill 
and endurance, one at a time,” she said 
proudly. 
 Keywords that Tina used to describe 
Willoway’s swim program include 
patience, trust and kindness — shared 
between both campers and counselors 
alike. 
 As Willoway begins to prepare for 
summer 56 next year, there is no doubt 
that campers will continue to learn 
valuable swimming skills year after year, 
all the way from its pools to Walled Lake. 

Campers Lily 
Love and Arielle 
Lubetsky enjoy 
free swim.

Tina Pinter (in hat) pauses 
during a swim lesson with 
camper Nolan Bortman. 

Campers Alexa 
Schaffer, Emily 
Rodnick and 
Jillian Rodnick

faces&places

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