Weathering the COVID-19 Storm

We wondered what our campers have been doing during the pandemic, so we asked a few of them for an update.  Included below are comments from four campers:  Nick Rimalovski; Brady Johnson; Gabe and Russell Aitken.

Nicolas “Nick” Rimalovski will be 16 in May, and he is a sophomore at Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in New York City.  His school is in Queens, but he is a life-long resident of Brooklyn.  His first year at WLC was 2017, and he will be back for his 4^th year in the summer of 2021.  He recently completed his LIT essay.

Nick has been attending classes remotely since March of 2020, and he is okay with online learning.  He is pleased to report that the New York Regents Exams will be canceled in January due to COVID, and the decision on the spring and summer exams is TBD.  He played on a travel baseball team last fall, and he plans to play baseball this spring.  He has been bicycling all over New York City with friends.  Family activities include a two-week vacation on the Maine coast last summer. 

Nick’s favorite activities at WLC are the hiking and canoe trips.  He also likes baseball and tennis.  The things that he missed when Camp was closed are daily ping pong, the apples at Free Swim, spending time away from home with people his own age, and the view from the Knoll.  He is excited about returning to Camp in 2021.  His brother Xandy will be returning, too!

 

Brady Johnson is 12, and he is a 7^th grader at the Hingham Middle School in Hingham, MA.  His first year at WLC was 2019, and he will be back for his second year in the summer of 2021.  Brady has been attending classes on a hybrid basis.  On Monday and Tuesday, he is in the actual classroom, and Wednesday through Friday he participates via Zoom.  He does almost all of his homework assignments using Google Classroom.  Last fall, Brady played football on a “7 on 7” basis with no contact, and he is playing hockey this winter.  Despite COVID, he has made a lot of new friends on his sports teams.

Brady reports that family activities have been limited due to the pandemic, but they like to watch family movies and play Mexican Train Dominoes together.  He and his dad have been hooked on multiple seasons of particular shows such as The Mandalorian.  Brady also plays video games with his friends.  One of his favorite games is Oculus Quest, a virtual reality product.  The new member of the Johnson family is an Australian Labradoodle named Murphy, and she takes family members on walks frequently.

Brady has several favorite activities at WLC, including riflery, archery, and woodworking.  He is very enthusiastic about tubing, even though Meg the snapping turtle is a bit of a hazard!  When Camp was closed last summer, Brady missed being outside and learning new things about nature.  He appreciates the fact that Camp gets people away from technology and their phones.  Brady also missed his buddies on the Knoll.  He is looking forward to the summer of 2021, and he thinks that his brother will be attending WLC, too!

 

The Aitken brothers provided an update on their activities during the pandemic.  Gabe recently turned 12, and he is in the 6^th grade; Russell is 9, and he is in the 4^th grade.  They live in Mountain Lakes, NJ.  The first year at WLC for both of them was 2019. 

Gabe’s school schedule is a hybrid arrangement.  During the mornings, he is either in the actual classroom or he is on Zoom, depending on the day and week.  In the afternoons, he is on Zoom.  He plays baseball and lacrosse, and he likes to snowboard, especially at the Mountain Creek Resort in NJ.  His hobbies include bicycling, video games, trampolining, and listening to music.  He has an app on his phone on which he can record music.  His favorite activities at WLC are fishing, sailing, riflery, ping pong, carnival night, and BROG.  

Russell is in school in-person every day until 12:45 PM, and he uses Google Meet to participate remotely in the afternoons.  He enjoys basketball, golf, and baseball, and he likes to ski at Mountain Creek.  Other hobbies include bicycling, skateboarding, and video games.  Family pets include a dog, a cat, 6 fish, and 3 snails.  At WLC, Russell likes riflery, archery, kayaking, canoeing, carnival night, and BROG.  

Aitken family vacations last year included trips to North Carolina and Vermont.  When asked what they missed most about Camp last summer, Gabe said that he missed the food, and Russell said that he missed the people!  Both boys are looking forward to attending Camp in the summer of 2021!

 

We sincerely hope that you and your families have succeeded in weathering the COVID-19 storm, and we wish you good health, good cheer, and good luck in 2021!