What a 12-day session looks like at Camp America 6 points Creative Arts Academy.
Take approx. 100 young people, three Rabbis, one Jewish faculty team, two full-time leadership team, nine arts mentors, several counselors and unit heads, a media team, a logistics team, a residential life team, and a health and well-being team and what do you have? An incredibly fun and inclusive 12-day session at the URJ Creative Arts Academy (CAA). On Tuesday, the 25th of June 2024, opening day began with Mo moments. After breakfast, staff waited in anticipation to greet the young people and make their arrival as comfortable and awesome as possible.
The Arts Mentors were based in the Swag room, making sure that the young people got plenty of Swag and, most importantly, their very own water bottles. My Shema sheep still helps me sleep at night several months after camp has ended. I was incredibly nervous because I had never taught children of such a young age Bonim (rising Grades 4-6), and Shoreshim (rising Grades 7-8) before. Most of my experience was in working with Olim (rising Grades 9-11) and Gesher (rising Grade 12) aged young people. Also, one of the young people was the son of a faculty member, which made me feel even more under pressure to have a good session. I was so nervous that I felt physically ill, and the Arts Mentors met in the common room before classes briefly to give each other a pep talk and emotional support. By lunchtime, we had played so many games and had so much fun that the nerves had evaporated. My favourite time of day was Menucha (rest hour) after lunch, but often the young people were very excited and found it challenging to get used to the routine, particularly in the first couple of days.
The 12 days go by incredibly quickly, and the young people form great bonds with each other and with the staff. I wish I had enough space to write about everything that happened at camp, but that would make it a very long blog. Session 1 highlights for me included the welcome song which the staff performed for the young people once they had chosen their bunk names, the outer space-themed evening where the staff got to dress up as Aliens. To this day, I am still not quite sure why, but sometimes you just gotta roll with it. Being in America on the 4th of July, trying out some of my teaching material for the first time, the boxes of doom, having to pretend to be Mary Poppins to get the children to tidy up the costumes and props “with every job that must be done, there is an element of fun.” I am no Julie Andrews, let me tell you. All of the song sessions with our head song leader, especially the jellyfish song, The Bananas that wish you a happy birthday and ask you one question when it’s your birthday. The first time I described that to people back home, they thought I was either overworked or suffering from heat stroke, but it was real; it truly happened.
The first Shabbat with all the young people present was a moment I will never forget. I met a young person who reminded me very much of myself at that age. They were stood by themselves during the dancing section of the proceedings, and I could see very much that they wanted to join in but did not know how to ask. I introduced them to some other staff members and young people in my Theatre group, and by the end, they were dancing and having so much fun, and it felt cathartic. It felt like I had healed the younger me that stood alone at the side of dances, not knowing how to join in. I felt like I had hugged that little child. All the songs and the prayers and learning American young person lingo that I thought I was far too old for. No, definitely not “Skibedy.”
Time takes on a different meaning at camp, and before I knew it, we were preparing for the showcase, which happens at the end of each 12-day session. As an Arts Mentor, it was my job to support the Bonim and Shoreshim group in creating a ten-minute performance and another ten-minute performance with the Olim and Gesher group. These performances were to be viewed as offerings, not finished products, and an exploration of all the learning that took place over the session. I was very apprehensive during the technical rehearsal because the Bonim and Shoreshim group had some difficulties between them. They each wanted to be the star of the show and were finding it challenging to collaborate. The group took on the task of doing staged improvisation for the showcase. They begged me to do this, and I was concerned because the first time I did staged improvisation, I was eighteen years old, not ten, but they pleaded with me and the artistic director, and we figured out how to help them make it work. After a few tantrums and tears, the tears were mine as well. We came up with the idea to have audience members as plants to help us take the scenes in the direction they needed to go in. Another difficulty was that one of the props required was a hobby horse, which the props department did not have. We had a fantastic arts session creating a hobby horse, which had an incredibly comedic end. If you want to see that, you’ll have to go onto YouTube and watch the session one 2024 Bonhim and Shoreshim showcase section beginning at 1hr 36 mins into the video. It was magical. The audience laughed, the young people had a great time on stage, and one of them gave me a plectrum to thank me for being her Arts Mentor, which made me cry with gratitude.
The Olim and Gesher group did fantastically, and their monologues made me weep like a baby. Parents congratulated me after the performance and the level of support show by the parents and the Jewish community really was amazing and I felt very humbled and pleased to be part of such a wonderful experience. Just like that the 12 days were over and I couldn’t believe how much learning, challenges, and fun we had all shared. I also couldn’t believe that I had to do this twice more with two new groups of Bonhim and Shoreshim and Olim and Gesher. Now it was time to prepare for session two and also have a much-needed day off to do some sightseeing around Philadelphia.
“Thanks for a great day at CAA.”