An exciting week at MKN with lots of moving parts and lots of moving campers! Our second session campers have settled in nicely, and we can’t believe how quickly camp is flying by!
The week began with our annual Hatric tennis tournament. Teams of four came together to play a round-robin game against other teams of four. And the goal was – you guessed it – to score/win three times in a row. Even our directors participated in this one (and did quite well)!
We also had a campus-wide special event, with each campus enjoying their own special activity. Our youngest boys, TJC, enjoyed a day full of wizardry and magic on a Harry Potter adventure. They were each assigned a house (Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor or Slytherin, naturally), and they explored a campus full of Potter-themed activities like potion making, searched for Hogwarts locations, and playing Quidditch.
LSR meanwhile, engaged in their yearly Survivor competition, during which separate teams had to Outwit, Outplay and Outlast the other teams. They took on various outdoors and nature-themed challenges to become…the final Survivor(s).
And, after days of strategizing and drafting teams, USR had their big NCAA flag football tournament. Each team was captained by either two Senecas or one Seneca and one Algonquin, and the team names all reflected real colleges (some very well-known, others not as much). They completed a full tournament with brackets and everything. After much intense competition, the big winners were the Florida Gators!
We also held a fun all-ages, all-star basketball game for our campers who play basketball every week. The mighty Grizzly Bears took on the Snappers in some intense play. The big win went to the Bears!
Our Algonquins left for an amazing trip to California, where they played on Laguna Beach, hiked up to the Hollywood sign, went to Disneyland, visited the Grammy Museum, toured UCLA and SoFi stadium, and, of course, ate at In-N-Out Burger.
Meanwhile, our TJCs had an amazing experience taking in an exceptional performance from The Circus Arts Conservatory. Their show “Summersaults in the Berkshires” was full of unbelievable acrobatics, juggling, comedy, contortion, and additional feats beyond imagination. It was truly spectacular!
Down at the lake, we had a very chilly Polar Bear plunge, which happened to fall on one of our coolest summer mornings yet. But the kids weren’t deterred! Waking up at 6:45 a.m. they stepped up to the dock one group at a time, recited the Polar Bear chant, and jumped into the frigid water! We also held our second Lake Swim benefiting SCOPE – an organization that provides children from financially disadvantaged families access to nonprofit, ACA-accredited, overnight camps. You can still donate to SCOPE through MKN’s exclusive page.
That’s it for week five. Don’t forget, you can get updated news every day on MKN Today here, and read about the daily happenings at camp!