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Camp Neehi teaches little campers life skills
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .A group of Neehi campers showed off their finished sun catcher crafts. They created the catchers out of old compact discs and learned about recycling during their craft time.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .A group of Neehi campers showed off some creative smiles as they learned about recycling and being kind to the environment on June 24.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Camp Neehi is all about making new friends. Campers Elsa Pfrenger (left) and Veronica VanDam showed off the budding friendship that has been blooming during many weeks of camp.
By SARAH FOOR
The 3 to 5-year-old students at Camp Neehi at the Davis YMCA are spending the summer exploring, learning and enjoying their first camp experience.
The camp, pronounced “knee-high” to refer to their young campers, aims to teach important values while also experiencing all the fun the Davis YMCA has to offer.
Jennifer Pasavanis is Neehi’s camp coordinator and hopes to make the camp a lasting experience for her students.
“We’re always doing a lot at one time — we try to always make learning fun, but we also take time to promote the morals of the YMCA and invite our students to come back for many years of camp,” Pasavanis said.
Through activities and games, Camp Neehi shares the YMCA core values of caring, honesty, respect, responsibility and faith.
Pasavanis’ favorite part of her post as coordinator is welcoming area kids into the YMCA camp family.
“We have two 11-year-old counselors-in-training with us this summer who were students in Camp Neehi when they were younger. For every child that spends their time with us, we hope it’s the foundation for many more summers learning and growing at the YMCA,” Pasavanis said.
Each of the 10 weeks of camp explores a different theme, including recycling, world cultures, water fun, and physical fitness. No matter the theme, every day the little campers complete games, arts and crafts, story times, play outside, and enjoy a free swim at the Davis pool.
On June 24, Neehi camper Veronica Vandam enjoyed making a sun catcher craft during “Watch Our Waste” week. However, she said the best part of Neehi was obvious.
“I love to make new friends at camp,” she shared.
Neehi will be hosting weekly activities until Aug. 19 and interested 3 to 5-year-olds are invited to join in any week. Contact the Davis YMCA at 330-480-5656 for more information.