As our days begin to shorten and the cool fall breezes begin to fill night, the afternoons, our thoughts turn from celebrating the success of summer 2011 to the planning for 2012.
Over the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to speak with many of our camper families. I have heard time and again about the profound changes that our camp engendered in their children. One mother told me that her 9th grade son came home with a new found confidence; he use to shy away from challenge, and now, even in school, seems more prepared for activities and lessons that require him to apply himself. One father told me that his 7th grade daughter has an entirely new appreciation for the food that she eats. She has come into the kitchen on numerous occasions and asked him why they purchase one type of food over another. At dinner time, she actually asks to help with the cooking! And a mother of a 5th grader told me that last week, her son insisted that they go off for a day hike in the mountains. He lead them on a trail that left them huffing and puffing, but they were able to successfully complete it because he kept cheering them on!
Summer 2011 was a rousing success! All of our new programs, from archery, to Frolf, to gymnastics to the 3/4th grade “taste of Ramah session” to the 11 & 12th grade JOLI program were better than any of us could have hoped. In one summer, we more than doubled our capacity. Sadly, we also had to turn away many campers from our more popular age groups because we did not have physical space in our tents for them. Next year, we hope to grow each session by an additional 30%, which is slow enough to maintain the small camp feel, but high enough that we will move in the direction of financial sustainability.
Over the next few weeks and months, we will continue to process and evaluate this past summer. And I look forward to speaking to more parents and campers by phone, email and in person to hear their thoughts on the Ramah Outdoor Adventure program.
But summer 2012 will be here before we know it and we are well underway in preparing for our third season. Our plans include an expanded archery program, a further development of our gymnastics program, the addition of either Krav Maga, or another form of martial arts, an expansion of our fields sports program and additional single track trails for mountain biking. We plan to add more frequent Israeli dancing, better music and song instruction and a more robust arts & crafts program. We have also opened our entire summer program to rising 3 -6th graders, while continuing to offer quality programming for rising 7-12th graders. Next summer we will further differentiate our “younger kids” and “older kid” programs. Registration is already open and many campers have already signed up
All of us at Camp Ramah are so grateful to the families who have entrusted us with their children. It is a responsibility that we do not take lightly and an honor we do not take for granted. While we must continue to grow our program to ensure that we are economically viable in the long run, we are committed to building our community along the same core values that has enabled us to run memorable and transformative programs these past two summers.
Rosh Hashana is a time to stop and both assess the year gone by and plan for the year ahead. In our year round camp office, this is exactly what we are doing: taking time to appreciate what was, and to hope for what will be.
Shana Tova!