Author: Elissa

What we all experienced today was magical.  The weather was unbelievably ideal, the day was perfect and the Chenny love was felt al over camp today. It was our plan to show you what an amazing time we have been having here so far and from the looks of it, you got it. You experienced a glimpse of what happens here at Camp Chen-A-Wanda and how your children have made this place their summer home.

Watching you embrace your children and holding them so tight was beautiful. You just can’t prepare for the emotions that happen on visiting day. Today belonged to you and your family and we hope you had an amazing day. We sure did. Hopefully you saw your kids happy, safe and loving their summer home.

After you all left today, it was back to camp life and believe it it or not the kids had room for dinner even after all the goodies you left them with. Their evening tonight was group activity night and each group had a blast. There was Quest in Shields Hall for all of Mohican, Supers enjoyed a movie in the Chen-A-Plex, Cherokee campers had trivia night in the Lodge and Seniors & GC’s spent their night chilling in their bunks relaxing after a great day. CIT’s were hanging out together in The Hangout playing cards and having a great time being together.

What makes today so special other than the obvious of spending time with family, is the bonding that happens after you leave. So many emotions and tons of tears but when your camp friends and counselors wrap their arms around you and pick you and tell you everything will be alright, those bonds are why these friendships are so strong. It’s at these moments of vulnerability that bring us together and why our camp friends become our family. There is nothing fun about watching your family leave on visiting day but when you are literally surrounded and embraced by your camp family, there is nothing you cant get through. All the tears dried up and were replaced with laughter, all the sadness went away and instead it was a feeling of being supported and our campers coped with all these feelings tonight with friends by their side. Not one camper is stuck. Not a single one. They get through it here, they face it here, they overcome it here. I always tell our campers to be the river, not the rock. Tonight all of your children, chose to be the river.

We have had three amazing weeks and cannot wait for the next four. It just gets better and better. We are living the dream up here and are so glad you had a day to experience what our summer home feels like every single day. Thank you all for a day we will never forget.

Chenny Out

We all know what is happening tomorrow and we just can’t contain the excitement. We spent the day getting our summer home ready for you and it looks beautiful.  In just a few short hours, our families will be lining up down camp road and visiting day 2016 will officially begin.

Our athletes were focused and fierce today as they played hard on the courts and fields.

Inter Girls Soccer – CAW 7 @ Wayne 2

Collegiate Girls  Softball – CAW 11 vs. Starlight 2

Senior Girls Tennis – CAW 6 @ Poyntelle 1

Super Girls Tennis – CAW 4 @ Poyntelle 1

GC/CIT Girls Basketball – CAW 33 vs. Westmont 44

Collegiate Boys Soccer – CAW 0 vs. Starlight 7

Senior/Super Boys Hockey – CAW 7 @ Wayne 11

Another fantastic week has passed by and another huge congratulations to the following Campers of the Week!!!!

Freshmen –                         Ellie Berlin                 Chase Goldman

Junior –                               Emma Plotkin            Landon Miller

Middies –                            Julia Fitzsimmons      Brett Hafkin

Inters –                               Cori Holzman               Ethan Schwartz

Collegiates –                      Maya Hoffman              Jordan Yagaloff

Seniors –                             Charlie Feldman           Ben Brett

Supers –                             Gabby Katz                     Ben Einzig

GC’s –                                 Rachel Stulberger         Jacob Hersley

CIT’s                                   Daisy Zand                    Alex Croen

We have some extremely KIND campers and the overloaded submission box was packed to the rim this week. The nominations were beyond kind and heartfelt. Our campers saw the special things their fellow campers did for one another and there is nothing sweeter than them taking notice and nominating their friends.

This weeks Kind Campers are:

Shelby Myers, Molly Isen, Sara Agsteribe, Maddy Grabow, Jamie Scheman, Sophia Jaffe, Shaya Roth, Ally Yagaloff, Sydney Rosenberg, Maya Hoffman, Julia Peskin, Daisy Chaskin, Jordan Stone, Jordan Goldklang, Jed Katz, Jack Komson, Jack Santoro, Jack Bazarnick, Ethan Simpson, Eli Kellner, David Stulberger, Max Leff, Matt Glickman, Matthew Doncheck.

Tonight was off the charts fun with our annual Chenny Jam Basketball Game. Girls were head to toe in pink and boys wore all black. It was Girls vs. Boys in this extremely high energy crazy fun game of basketball. When the video comes out, you gotta watch how much fun we all had. The game was insane and the free give-aways all throughout the night was so much fun for our campers. The players put on quite a show tonight. Boys side brought home the win tonight but everyone left with a smile on their face as if they had floor seats at the Garden. What a great night we had.

Only a few more hours until you get to hug your children and hold them tight. We can’t wait to see you in the morning. We wish you nothing but an incredibly joyful day with your family tomorrow. Happy Visiting Day.

Life is Great at Camp Chen-A-Wanda

Chenny out.

There is a buzz about camp and we all know what is just around the corner. Arts and Crafts is busy with campers making posters to welcome their families who are headed our way this weekend. Lots of excitement and chatter for Visiting Day and tons of Chenny pride. You can feel the energy and listen to the excitement. Your kids have had 3 incredible weeks and they just can’t wait to see you, show you around their summer home and introduce to our insanely talented staff. Camp is looking beautiful and we are getting ready for you.

It was a full day sports for our Chenny athletes. They played hard, gave it their all and had a great time just playing.

Inter Girls Soccer – CAW 4 vs Tioga 5

Upper Camp Girls Gymnastic Team Placed 8th in the Bryn Mawr Tourney

Senior Girls Basketball – CAW 30 @ Tioga 40

Super Girls Basketball – CAW 17 vs. Westmont 20

GC/CIT Girls Softball – CAW 2 @ Poyntelle 8

Inter Boys Hockey – CAW 6 @ Wayne 11

Inter Boys Basketball – CAW 35 @ Lavi 29

Collegiate Boys Basketball – CAW 44 vs. Tioga 15

Super Boys Basketball – CAW 21 vs. Morasha 42

Super Boys Baseball – CAW 8 @Tioga 4

GC/CIT Boys Hockey – CAW 2 @ Westmont 11

The night was Wacky, Wild and Full of Slime. It was Powerhouse night for our Cherokee and Mohican campers and they loved every minute of it. The rubber chicken toss was hilarious, getting pied in the face was priceless and getting slimed with the green goo was the cherry on top! This was the perfect night for our Cherokee and Mohican campers who loved this live actioned packed game show kind of night. Th giggles and laughter were plentiful.

And the fun continued as we always love keeping out kids on their toes so this night was an ideal night to surprise our kids  with a fun night out. They all thought they were watching an in camp movie of Back to the Future but instead we surprised them with a trip to a Roller Skating Rink, Laser Tag and Mini Golf Center. They FREAKED with excitement. They had an hour to get ready and get out the door and there wasn’t a camper who wasn’t hustling to make this happen. They jumped on this buses and off they went to have an amazing night. It was old-fashioned fun and our kids loved every minute of it. We greeted them as they rolled back into camp and as they got off the bus their response was an overwhelming thumbs up!!! They had a ball and night that will stick out as a summer favorite. Roller skating with friends is as good as it gets. A perfect summer night thing to do.

Only one more day until you get to hug your babies. Many of you start that journey tomorrow as you stay at nearby hotels, getting closer to your incredible children who we adore. Safe travels and we will see you in 1.

Chenny out!

 

 

It was a brunch wake up today and we all LOVED the extra sleep. After our lazy sleep-in morning, it was off to the Carnival for one amazingly fun day. There were dunk tanks, carnival games, water slides, cow milking, inflatable obstacle courses, snow cones, cotton candy and so much more. The highlight at today’s carnival was without a doubt the Gaming Truck we brought in and the giant Foam Pit Party. Our campers were diving into the foam, jumping around and getting covered head to toe with loads of bubbly fun. It was by far the campers favorite today. It’s a camp tradition to give away Carnival T-shirts on this special day and this years was a huge hit. All our campers were proudly sporting the coolest carnival T-shirt to date. They looked fly and camp looked completely in synch with everyone wearing their Carnival shirts!

The Carnival wrapped up at 4pm but at around 3:45  it was a downpour and there wasn’t a camper or staff member who wasn’t dancing in the rain. We got soaked and it was so much fun. When is the last time it rained and you just stomped in puddles looking to jump into them? When it rained so hard you just laughed getting soaked form head-to-toe and didn’t care for a minute how wet you were or how soaking your sneakers were. That was how our carnival ended today, with everyone drenched and everyone loving it!!!!

It was a fantastic night of Deal or No Deal for our Cherokee and Mohican campers as they vied for great prizes. Everyone was on the edge of their seat watching the board and hoping to keep the good prizes in play. The campers were loving the excitement of our own favorite game show hosted by our beautiful CIT girls. Our Navajo campers had their own fun with an awesome night at Fiddle Lake, chilling out with a campfire on the beach. They relaxed and chilled with friends, ate s’mores and had a blast. The sunset was spectacular and it was an absolutely perfect night at Chenny.

It was a sweet day and now sweet dreams for your children and only 2 more days until you all come to camp and see  where they have been thriving all summer long.

Chenny out.

 

 

There is something quite special about heading out of camp on trips with your campies. Everyone is wearing their camp shirts and we all load the buses to some amazing fun places. It unifies us as a group as we exit our gates for some fantastic adventures. Each group had a ball today as they enjoyed themselves beyond imagination.

Our Cherokee campers had a great day at the State park as they played in the lake, tossed the ball around, relaxed on their towels, listened to music and spent a perfect afternoon soaking in the sun. Then is was back to camp for a giant pizza party and movie night. They got cozy in their jammies and relaxed with a  summer night Flick. Freshman and Juniors watched Minions in the Chen-A-Plex and Middies enjoyed Mall Cop 2 in the Hangout.

Inters and Collegiates spent their trip day at Dorney Park. The rode roller coasters, played arcade games, enjoyed all the park offered and spent their time having a ball. When they came back to camp tonight and exited the buses, some of them you couldn’t see as their giant stuffed animals they won were bigger than them. Lots of smiles, laughs and great times were had by Mohican campers.

Navajo campers got wet wild and wacky at Camel beach. The temperature was hot and it couldn’t have been a more perfect day to spend at a water park. After they got swooshed around the giant toilet bowl and played in the wave pool, it was off to the outlets for some retail therapy and our campers shopped till they dropped. An incredible afternoon for our Navajo campers today.

All our kids are back home at camp safe and sound. It’s just about 1:00am and at this time of  night, camp is quiet, peaceful, awkwardly silent and still. It’s a far cry from when everyone is up and running around camp full of life, full of love, full of spirit and energy. So at least for the next handful of hours, your children are soundly sleeping, exhausted from their adventures day. You know that feeling when it’s so much fun to go on a trip but there is nothing quite like coming home!!!  Life is Great at Camp Chen-A-Wanda.

Chenny out