Author: Elissa

It’s so hard to believe that it’s that time to say goodbye. The last 50 days have been amazing and we cannot thank you enough for sharing your kids with us. We have watched them grow over these last seven weeks. We have watched them accomplish things they thought they couldn’t. We have seen them make lifelong friends and watched how they have made Chen-A-Wanda their summer home. As you sifted through the thousands of pictures and watched endless hours of video from this summer, we hope you got a sense of what amazing things your children did this summer. It has been our privilege and honor to care for your kids this summer.  Thank you again for trusting us with your children and believing in the magic of Chen-A-Wanda. We read the following letter we wrote to your children tonight just before memory night.

Enjoy your children tomorrow and know that we will miss them dearly.

Jon & Elissa

To our summer family,

50 days ago we stood right here and told you what an awesome experience we all had ahead of us and he we stand here again just 50 days later and look where we’ve all been this summer. This has been an incredible summer because we went through it together. You all make our house a home and we couldn’t be more proud and inspired by our summer family.

To our staff – our amazing inspirational selfless and talented staff: We are so proud of how much of yourselves you gave to our kids. You gave and gave and gave and when your tanks were on empty, you gave even more. You didn’t just give countless piggyback rides, 100’s of hugs, 1’000’s of pieces of advice but you gave your heart to the kids sitting in this room. You inspired our kids to be the best they can be. You provided an opportunity that let our kids feel great about exactly who they are and for that we are forever grateful. We sit is awe of you and the gifts you shared with our kids this summer.

To our campers -From our youngest and cutest freshman to our amazingly talented, kind and incredible CIT’s and everyone in between, we have watched you blossom this summer. In 50 days, you got through homesickness beautifully. You made friends and learned more about what kind friend you want to be. Your friendships thrived this summer as texting your friends was so beautifully replaced by holding their hands and talking face to face. Instead of commenting ILYSM on Instagram posts, you walked arm in arm with your friends, all around camp everyday all day. Rather than watching a screen for hours and hours and letting life pass you by, you sang on the top of your lungs and danced together in the Lodge. You finally hit that wiffle ball over the Big Red Monster this summer. You made that shot with just 3 seconds left in your game and as your team was chanting your name, you felt like a superstar this summer. You mastered crazy tricks on the sundia these past 50 days.  You felt the joys and elation of winning together and when you lost, you all felt the feeling of defeat together and in those moments you lifted each other up. You felt empathy for mistakes you made and you learned from them. You faced your fears and climbed every giant mountain that was in your way. You let go and allowed yourselves to be in the moment here. You found your voice here. You believed in yourself here because we all believed in you.

As you head home and reflect on your summer at Camp Chen-A-Wanda, our hope for you is that each one of you head home with a sense that you accomplished something pretty incredible here. Each one of you is perfect just the way you are and no matter how big the mountain in front you may be, you can and will get through it. We hope that you continue to nurture the friendships you made here because if you do, they will stand the test of time. We hope you never forget that life will be so much sweeter if you live your life as the river because living like that rock just gets you stuck. We thank every single person sitting in the room from making Life so great at Camp Chen-A-Wanda. You have made us smile and laugh every single day and you have changed our lives for the better! Be safe, have a great school year and we will see you all again in 10 months back here at our summer home.

 

It’s so hard to believe that it’s that time to say goodbye. The last 50 days have been amazing and we cannot thank you enough for sharing your kids with us. We have watched them grow over these last seven weeks. We have watched them accomplish things they thought they couldn’t. We have seen them make lifelong friends and watched how they have made Chen-A-Wanda their summer home. As you sifted through the thousands of pictures and watched endless hours of video from this summer, we hope you got a sense of what amazing things your children did this summer. It has been our privilege and honor to care for your kids this summer.  Thank you again for trusting us with your children and believing in the magic of Chen-A-Wanda. We read the following letter we wrote to your children tonight just before memory night.

Enjoy your children tomorrow and know that we will miss them dearly.

Jon & Elissa

To our summer family,

50 days ago we stood right here and told you what an awesome experience we all had ahead of us and he we stand here again just 50 days later and look where we’ve all been this summer. This has been an incredible summer because we went through it together. You all make our house a home and we couldn’t be more proud and inspired by our summer family.

To our staff – our amazing inspirational selfless and talented staff: We are so proud of how much of yourselves you gave to our kids. You gave and gave and gave and when your tanks were on empty, you gave even more. You didn’t just give countless piggyback rides, 100’s of hugs, 1’000’s of pieces of advice but you gave your heart to the kids sitting in this room. You inspired our kids to be the best they can be. You provided an opportunity that let our kids feel great about exactly who they are and for that we are forever grateful. We sit is awe of you and the gifts you shared with our kids this summer.

To our campers -From our youngest and cutest freshman to our amazingly talented, kind and incredible CIT’s and everyone in between, we have watched you blossom this summer. In 50 days, you got through homesickness beautifully. You made friends and learned more about what kind friend you want to be. Your friendships thrived this summer as texting your friends was so beautifully replaced by holding their hands and talking face to face. Instead of commenting ILYSM on Instagram posts, you walked arm in arm with your friends, all around camp everyday all day. Rather than watching a screen for hours and hours and letting life pass you by, you sang on the top of your lungs and danced together in the Lodge. You finally hit that wiffle ball over the Big Red Monster this summer. You made that shot with just 3 seconds left in your game and as your team was chanting your name, you felt like a superstar this summer. You mastered crazy tricks on the sundia these past 50 days.  You felt the joys and elation of winning together and when you lost, you all felt the feeling of defeat together and in those moments you lifted each other up. You felt empathy for mistakes you made and you learned from them. You faced your fears and climbed every giant mountain that was in your way. You let go and allowed yourselves to be in the moment here. You found your voice here. You believed in yourself here because we all believed in you.

As you head home and reflect on your summer at Camp Chen-A-Wanda, our hope for you is that each one of you head home with a sense that you accomplished something pretty incredible here. Each one of you is perfect just the way you are and no matter how big the mountain in front you may be, you can and will get through it. We hope that you continue to nurture the friendships you made here because if you do, they will stand the test of time. We hope you never forget that life will be so much sweeter if you live your life as the river because living like that rock just gets you stuck. We thank every single person sitting in the room from making Life so great at Camp Chen-A-Wanda. You have made us smile and laugh every single day and you have changed our lives for the better! Be safe, have a great school year and we will see you all again in 10 months back here at our summer home.

 

Reality has set in that our last days of summer 2014 are upon us. There were just a few more games to play before we hung up our cleats for the season. Senior Girls became soccer Champions today as they beat Westmont with a 3 -2 victory. Our Junior Boys Baseball team played in their championship game but ended their season with 2^nd place as they lost their game today against Westmont with a final score of 8-1. It was an absolutely amazing sports season at Chenny and we accomplished what we set out to do this summer; play hard, play fair, learn a lot and have fun!!!

As the sun was setting over Fiddle Lake, we were all dressed up in our best outfits and headed to center camp where we took pictures together with our friends & counselors. Everyone looked beautiful. It was a chilly evening and as we walked into The Lodge for an amazing dinner, we were all in awe of how beautifully decorated the room was. It was a Chenny Winter Wonderland with snowflakes and snow frost everywhere. We were transported into a snowy world in the middle of August. We dined on a 5-course meal and so enjoyed this night we all look forward to all summer long.

After dinner it was off to Shields Hall for our end of the year division Awards. Each Division highlighted the following campers in 3 areas; Honor Camper, Athlete of the Year and All Around Camper. They are truly standout campers and we couldn’t be more proud to highlight and honor them on this great night. To receive on this night is the highest honor we can give our campers. These are remarkable campers who deserve all the accolades and praise they were given.

 

	CAMPERS OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2014 – Girls side
	HONOR		ATHLETE		ALL AROUND
FRESHMEN	Jessica Jaffe		Jesse Gatto		Zoe Gorsky
	Samantha Pariser
JUNIORS	Dylan Bass		Lindsay Chetkoff		Jessica Locker
	Sydney Steinberg
MIDDIES	Jordan Small		Olivia Leviss		Bella Derose
	Morgan Klein
INTERS	Lauren Becker		Abby Baskind		Hannah Nissenbaum
	Sarah Haber
COLLEGIATES	Madison Grabow		Rian Marcus		Jordan Ash
	Jenna Wolff
SENIORS	Phoebe Warshauer		Emily Locker		Olivia Hornik
	Rachel Stulberger
SUPERS	Dani Sukoff		Stevie Weingard		Jess Leichter
GC’s	Hayley Kushner		Gillian Stapler		Mychael Schnell
CIT	Dani Beck
CAMPERS OF THE YEAR
	HONOR		ATHLETE		ALL AROUND
Lower Camp	Dylan Bass		Olivia Leviss		Hannah Nissenbaum
Upper Camp	Hayley Kushner		Emily Locker		Jess Leichter

 

	CAMPERS OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2014 – Boys Side
	HONOR		ATHLETE		ALL AROUND
	HONOR		ATHLETE		ALL AROUND
FRESHMEN	Troy Golden		Jesse Ryback		Jack Resnick
JUNIORS	Hunter Galan		Jagger Morgen		Jonah Marcus
	Jesse Peskin		Jason Rosenbaum		Matthew Traub
MIDDIES	Cole Sussman		Jake Erlich		Jonah Baum
INTERS	Ben Peskin		Noah Hirshfield		Noah Kule
	Ben Yacht		Jared Shiffman		Michael Frank
COLLEGIATES	Jack Santoro		Reid Feldman		Zachary Parker
	Asher Slotkin		Ethan Gatto
SENIORS	Ryan Levitz		Andrew Lahrheim		Eli Kellner
SUPERS	David Smallowitz		Max Secular		Alex Croen
GC’s	Matthew Caplan		Steven Bochner		Zach Fischberg
CIT	Jason Rossell
CAMPERS OF THE YEAR
	HONOR		ATHLETE		ALL AROUND
Lower Camp	Hunter Galan		Noah Hirshfield		Jonah Marcus
Upper Camp	Asher Slotkin		Reid Feldman		Alex Croen

 

After the Awards, it was party time and we danced all night long. Shields Hall was full of campers who let loose and danced until their feet hurt. It was over the top fun having our last true dance party with our summer family. It’s so hard to believe the summer is over but we definitely went out with a bang. As campers headed back to their bunks, full of flashing rings, tiaras, glow sticks, glasses and T-shirts and other items that were given out at the party, everyone was exhausted and elated and had the times of their life tonight. It was a party like no other as we celebrated an amazing season. It was just an incredible way to end an incredible summer. One more day to go!

 

Chenny out

 

Congratulations to our amazing Campers of the week!!!

Freshman                 Zoe Grabow                               Daniel Farber

Junior                        Parker Margulis                       Jacob Secular

Middies                     Alexa Selter                               Zach Chavetz

Inters                         Ashley Sukoff                            Aaron Hakfin

Collegiates                Sami Broder                              Jett Mineroff

Seniors                      Brooke Wibberly                       Josh Polansky

Supers                       Juliette Kaplan                        Will Grisack

GC                              Molly Rouder                            Zach Temin

CIT                            Steph Roth                                 Adam Heimowitz