Boardman Park’s Adventure Day Camp kicks off

By JORDYN GRZELEWSKI

jgrzelewski@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

Boardman Park’s long-running summer camp has something to offer for both parents and children: the structure of school days, but with plenty of summertime fun.

Adventure Day Camp, now in its 15th year, kicked off this week. The summer camp for children who have completed kindergarten through sixth grade runs for 10 weeks. Campers can participate in one week, all 10, or any number in between.

The camp aims to keep kids in the routine they’re used to during the school year, while also fostering a sense of adventure.

“They follow a schedule similar to that of a normal school day, so they keep with the continuity of the routine they’re used to,” said Karen McCallum, park recreation director. “For a child it’s developmentally beneficial. It helps them continue that routine that parents have established throughout the school year, and it makes for an easier transition come August.”

During camp, which runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, participants break up into groups by grade level, then spend the day rotating between five subjects: creative arts, science, team building, sports, and art.

A science session, for example, might take campers on a hike through the park’s woods. For creative arts, campers might practice journal writing, or read a book under a tree.

Kelsey McCallum, Karen’s daughter, participates in the camp each year and said it’s fun because she gets to spend time with her friends and “have fun with the activities that we do.”

This year, she got her friend Dharma Webster to join the camp. Dharma, who is going into sixth grade, said she was a little skeptical about the camp at first because she thought it would be like school.

“It’s 10 times more fun,” she said.

“We have fun at school and at summer camp,” Kelsey said.

To register for the camp, visit www.boardmanparkcamp.com. The cost is $90 per week. Numerous discounts are available.

McCallum said her hope is campers get out of the experience “love of community, given the fact that they’re in a park. And a sense of adventure. Trying something new.”