Camp BuddEConnect

week 7

7/25/2021

Week Seven Rewind:
For our last week of Camp BuddEConnect 2021, everyone enjoyed our superhero weekly theme. We started the week dancing to Heroes by Tove Lo, to celebrate our theme! Our snack time performers this week were Olivia Pierce, Alex Wintz, and Grace Nyberg, and on Thursday, we had a super fun event. Campers and counselors watched George Kaparis, Collyer McLaud, and Jack McLaud compete on who could make the best grilled cheese. The winner of the cookoff was George! For our last day of camp on Friday, the kids got SUPER creative about superhero powers and were even ready with some super knowledge! We are all sad that summer is coming to an end, but cannot wait for next year!

Counselor of the Week:
Huge congratulations to our final counselor of the week, Ella Schestag! Ella is 16 years old and a rising junior at Kent Place School in Summit. She is from Montclair, NJ. Ella says her hobbies include fashion and dance, and she plans on becoming a Bioethicist. She says she joined because she “wanted to make a positive impact in the campers lives! I wanted to meet new people and make new friends and I now have so many amazing memories with everyone!” Ella hosts the dance room as an activity counselor each week, and even took over running freeze dance for week seven! Thank you for all that you do for us Ella, and we hope to see you next year!

Room of the Week:
This week's room of the week is the music room! In the music room this week, the campers played a game where they tried to guess the song played. They were Disney song experts! Another day, they enjoyed an activity where the kids would draw whatever they wanted based on a song. They finished by writing a parody to a superhero theme song for snack time, and also made a playlist of all their favorite songs for them to have now that camp is over.

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week 6

7/25/2021

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Week Six Rewind:
Color Wars Week!!! For week six, campers enjoyed a colorful variety of activities. We danced to color-related, super fun songs like Red By Taylor Swift!! During snack time, we were lucky to have several returning performers! Mark Wings of Magic, Danielle, Reed Christian, and Maro De Laro brought great energy each day. Huge thanks to all our performers! For our Friday Funday, the kids put together a super creative game incorporating colors! For example, one of the campers had the idea of collecting colored keys after completing each level! The game concluded with Finn doing the chicken dance! After an intense Freeze dance competition, “make the most noise”, color scavenger hunt, and a 30 second drawing competition, the winner of color wars was determined: the BLUE team!! Congratulations to our campers and counselors who wore blue on Friday!

Counselor Of The Week:
Congratulations to our Counselor of the Week, Ami! Ami was awarded for her kind nature, reliability and for always being a team player. Ami is eighteen years old and an incoming freshman nursing major at Seton Hall University. A Burlington County, New Jersey native, Ami enjoys reading, dancing, traveling, and music. Ami is one of our most patient, easy-going counselors. She says, “I was fortunate enough to be able to work with Camp BuddEConnect last year, and I really loved every moment of it, so when I heard that camp was happening again this year, I just knew I wanted to be a part of the team again”. We were so excited that Ami chose to return. Ami says, “My favorite part of camp is meeting all the campers and getting to talk and spend time with them. Every time I see a smile on their face, instantly, I begin to smile too. They are all so incredible, and I learn something new from them every day. Seeing everyone’s smiling faces is the highlight of my day and brings me so much joy. I’m so glad I was able to be a counselor this summer and meet so many marvelous people!”

Room of the Week:
The Wacky holiday room, as it has been all summer, was filled with a wide variety of activities and celebrations this week! Ally explains that they started off the week making fortune tellers and doing tarot readings on Psychic Day! Everyone loved getting to hear about their awesome futures. On Tuesday, they got to make watermelon fans after dancing along to some cool summer music to celebrate Watermelon Day! Wednesday was National Stop on Red Week! Each cabin made a group list of safety tips they had learned, which was soon followed by a game of Red Light Green Light Freeze Dance edition!

The following day we jammed to the song Purple Rain by Prince on Purple Rain Day. We celebrated by creating our own random category generator for funky drawings! Purple rain, orange zebra, and blue banana were all some of the crazy drawings we made! To end off the week, it was the moment everyone was waiting for: the Clown Week celebration! Every camper was eyeing the silly party hat and clown nose in their supply box all week, and it was finally time to put them on, tell jokes, and dance to the Greatest Showman. The Wacky Holiday Room each and every week is full of crafts, celebrations, jokes, and lots of fun to celebrate almost anything one could imagine!

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week 5

7/25/2021

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Week Five Rewind:
For week five, Camp BuddEConnect campers and counselors traveled all around the world! Each day, we started with the Zoom-ba Freeze dance. This week, we danced to songs in all different languages! For our snacktime performances this week, we had singers Grace Hall, Charlotte Peck, and Abby Simon as well as Max the Magician show (and teach) us some crazy cool tricks! For our Fun-day Friday snacktime, we played a video game created by the kids that involved jumping jacks, freeze dance, an art competition, and a dance battle among other things. We also had a costume show where everyone’s outfits were individually highlighted! Campers and counselors dressed up to represent their culture or a cool terrain like the arctic. They looked fantastic!

Counselor Of The Week:
Taylor Griffith was nominated for Counselor of the Week for Week Five! Taylor carries a positive spirit, and we love her energy! She is a 19-year-old from Louisville, Kentucky majoring in Pan-African Studies and minoring in physics at the University of Louisville. She hopes to use her skills as a Social Justice Lawyer and Legislative Analyst in the future! She says, “I love the children! Their smiling faces always brighten my day, and it brings me joy when I can brighten theirs too.” Taylors genuine passion sets her apart from the other counselors. When asked to choose a favorite thing about Camp BuddEConnect, she responds, “Choosing a favorite part is so hard! I honestly love whatever brings the campers joy! If they are jumping around and having fun with the Zoom-ba freeze dance, I am jumping right along with them! If they are telling stories, I am eagerly listening. If they are showing off artwork, I give as many compliments as I can! My favorite part is simply their smiling faces! There is so much they love, so how can I just pick one thing?”

Room of the Week:
This week’s “Room of the Week” was the dance room! The dance room was a new edition this week, and the kids LOVED to get up and move and groove to their favorite songs. Ella, the dance studio counselor, says, “in the dance room, we did everything from TikTok dances to Disney Zumba. In honor of Worldwide week, we even learned how to hula! The campers showed off their unique dancing styles and awesome tricks! Most importantly, everyone learned to perfect the dab!”

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week 4

7/23/2021

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Week Four Rewind:
Week Four was out of this world! We had a blast dancing to outer space themed songs for freeze dance all week long, dressing up with sparkles, neons and black! Each camper and counselor traveled to outer space with their virtual backgrounds. We had incredible snacktime performances, starting with Ben Mills, followed by Bobby Bishop, Danielle Gurcan, and our very own, Arrianna Schonwald. For our funday-friday snacktime, we did fun, space-themed, camp-wide activities.

Counselor Of The Week:
Morgan Killam was awarded Counselor of the week for our fourth week! Congratulations! Morgan hosts the Sports Arena with incredible enthusiasm. Morgan is twenty years old and from Mendham, New Jersey. Morgan is a rising junior at Purdue University, majoring in Kinesiology, and planning on getting her masters or doctorate in Occupational Therapy. She adds, “My hobbies include teaching fitness, yoga and spin, and I love music. I heard about BuddEConnect through Molly, our assistant director. I applied because I am passionate about helping all kids no matter their disability or diagnosis to have a fun time while learning life lessons and skills. My favorite part about camp is getting to know all of our campers and counselors. It is a great group of people who all come together to support one another and have an amazing summer! I am so excited for the next few weeks with our amazing community!” Thank you Morgan! We love you to the moon and back!

Room of the Week:
“I am over the moon with how fantastic everyone’s outer space themed artwork was this week!” Nuch, the art room counselor jokes. The art room this week started off with creating galaxy slime with an astronomical amount of glitter stars. Campers had a blast mixing, kneading and playing with their very own handmade slime! Throughout the week, cabins enjoyed creating Flying UFO’s, Play-Do aliens, and creating their very own imaginary planet!

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Week 3

7/16/2021

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Week Three Rewind:
Week Three was full of wackiness! Campers and counselors brought their silliest faces and craziest outfits for our Wacky Week. During Freeze Dance, campers went WILD to “What does the Fox say?”. Each day for snack time, we had talented guest performers. Reed Christian came with a smile and guitar in hand. Charlotte Peck, on the other hand, sang “Over the Rainbow” while playing her ukulele!

Counselor Of The Week:
Our Week Three Counselor of the Week was George Kaparis! George hosts the hangout lounge and was awarded Counselor of the Week for his contagious energy! George says, “Throughout the week we did lots of fun activities like Truth or Dare, Would You Rather, and the occasional dance party here and there. I love the hangout room because it gives the kids an opportunity to choose what to do, and do whatever the cabin wants”. George is a 16-year-old from Chester, New Jersey. Entering his Junior Year at Mendham High School in Fall 2021, George is an outstanding soccer goalkeeper, loves listening to music, and plays basketball with his friends. “Thank you for an awesome week, I had a blast hanging out with each and every one of my campers!” says George.

Room Of The Week:
Our Room of the Week for Week 3 is the Game Room! The game room consists of anything from online games to cup stacking! This week started off with a game of Mafia, then was followed by Pictionary. Then, for our funday-friday, the campers created their own game! The campers played a creative original game called Dice-breakers! Dice-breakers begin with our Game Room activity lead, Collyer, rolling a dice. Based on the number the dice lands on, Collyer asks the campers super fun icebreaker questions. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

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Week 2

7/9/2021

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Week Two Rewind:
Camp BuddEConnect Week Two celebrated the Hollywood weekly theme! Everyone came dressed as Hollywood characters like Minnie Mouse, Darth Vader, Alice in Wonderland, Princess Leia, Harry Potter, and many more! During Freeze Dance, campers truly stepped into character by dancing to a Hollywood favorite,

“Party In the U.S.A”! Each day for snack time, we had talented guest performers. Maro DeLo -a pop-rock artist and songwriter- was a camp favorite, along with Jill Abramovitz, a Broadway actress who introduced us to lots of showtunes! For our Week 2 Funday snacktime, the campers created the craziest game ever! The campers defeated the counselors by beating all 7 levels. Some of the fan-favorite levels were Break the Riddle, Camper VS. Counselor Dance off, and Simon says! Each day finished with the BuddEConnect song and a round of applause to celebrate a fantastic week of camp!

Counselor Of The Week:
Our Week Two Counselor of the Week was Erica Russo! Erica is a cabin counselor and was awarded Counselor of the Week for being kind, courageous, and optimistic! Erica says, “I had so much fun with my campers, Katie, Madison and Grant. We did a ton of dancing, which was my favorite part!”. Erica is a 15-year-old from Chester, New Jersey entering her Junior Year at Mendham High School in Fall 2021. Erica plays soccer, loves to bake, travels, and loves kids! Erica became involved with Camp BuddEConnect after volunteering at TOPSoccer, and says she is “so passionate about them both!”. You’re the best, Erica! :)

Room Of The Week:
Week Two’s room of the week is the Sports Arena! The Sports Arena begins each day with a few deep breaths and stretches to warm up for some super fun sports activities! In the Sports Arena this week, campers participated in Soccer Skills, Sports Charades, ABC Movie Workouts, and much more to get that heart rate up!

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Week 1

7/2/2021

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Week One Rewind:
Camp BuddEConnect 2021 started strong with a fabulous first week! Meeting new and returning campers as well as counselors was exciting to say the least. Our weekly theme of “Holiday” had campers logging on in some SPOOKY costumes for “Halloween in July”! As campers trickled in from the Zoom waiting room, they were

greeted with HUGE smiles from our head counselors. Shortly after individual breakout rooms, we rejoined for FREEZE DANCE! This week, we danced to some absolute “bops”, such as “Spooky Scary Skeletons” by Andrew Gold. The art, music, game, wacky holiday, sports, and story rooms all had super cool activities that highlighted the weekly theme. For our snacktime performances, we were lucky to have Nia Slayne, Mark from Wings of Magic, Bobby Bishop from Clumsy Ninja Productions, and Zach Kleiman. As a new tradition for this summer, Fridays were for our Funday snacktime, where campers and counselors showed off secret talents, fun costumes, and enjoyed Holiday-themed activities they made with their fellow campers!

Counselor Of The Week:
Our week one counselor of the week was...drum roll please...Ally Fox! Ally was the activity counselor for the Wacky Holiday Room (a new room this year!). She displayed outstanding enthusiasm all week, and we are so excited to have awarded her counselor of the week for our very first week of Camp 2021! Ally says, “my favorite part of camp is getting to see all your faces every afternoon, especially my activity room getting to celebrate all these wacky holidays!”. Ally is a 19-year-old, rising sophomore at American University studying Political science.

Ally explains that she became involved with Camp BuddEConnect through a friend. Ally says, “She thought I would be a good fit and sent me the link”. Ally applied for the camp because she has a history of working with the special needs community, as she has a brother with special needs. “I realized how much I enjoy it and how rewarding it is,” she says. Ally brings her inspiration from her brother to make each and every camper smile while at Camp BuddEConnect.

Room Of The Week:
This week's “Room of the Week” was the Story Room! In the story room, explore the magic of storytelling by listening to and writing your own stories. This week in the Story Room, campers explored the different and magical ways to tell a story! From song parodies and funny tongue twisters to fortune tellers and spooky stories, Camp BuddEConnect got creative and learned the different ways to make a great story.

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