Record number of campers at Children's Day Camp at Soyuzivka (08/28/05)

Record number of campers at Children's Day Camp at Soyuzivka

KERHONKSON, N.Y. - July at Soyuzivka means it is time for Children's Day Camp. This year was a record-setting year: the first week over 50 children participated and the second week over 30 children participated, bringing with them their parents and or grandparents, and younger and older siblings.

The theme for this year's camp was "The Pysanka." While doing various crafts centered around the pysanka, or Ukrainian Easter egg, the children also learned how the first pysanka was created.

As always, the goal of Children's Day Camp is not only for the children to have fun and enjoy themselves but to educate them about their Ukrainian heritage. The day camp is a five-day program beginning on Sunday with a get-acquainted meeting before dinner for all of the participants. On Monday the program began at 9:15 a.m. with the "Pledge of Allegiance" and a Ukrainian children's prayer.

Since the children are all at different levels of Ukrainian fluency, the program is bilingual. All of the counselors speak English and Ukrainian to the children throughout the day, always encouraging the children to use their Ukrainian words.

The morning is divided up with various activities: "spiv" (music), "Tantsi" (dance), "Maistruvanynia" (crafts), "kazky" (story time), and "hry" (games). At noon the campers have lunch, after which the children participate in various group games, and by 1:30 p.m. the parents or grandparents are waiting impatiently to take the children to the pool or other local activities for an afternoon with the family.

The children participating this year traveled from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Canada.

On Monday afternoon the children played various games geared toward getting to know each other better. On Tuesday a special visitor taught them about the world of reptiles and some of the children were able to hold a lizard and help with introducing Cupcake, a large tortoise, to the camp. On Wednesday afternoon the children practiced their Hutsul welcome for the traditional Hutsul Night dinner.

On Thursday they participated in the Egg Olympics, organized by Marianka Wasylyk. The children decorated their own pysanka for the game of "pin the pysanka in the Easter basket." They also played "Match the Pysanka," musical parachute and had their faces painted. Everyone was excited and enthusiastic. A carnival atmosphere permeated the grounds of Soyuzivka as the children cheered and applauded each other in their games.

On Friday the children had their traditional ice cream party with pysanka piñatas to celebrate a wonderful week of fun, excitement, learning and making new friends.

As is tradition at Children's Day Camp, on Friday night during Odesa Night the children have a closing performance for their families and guests of Soyuzivka. This year, with the theme being the pysanka, the children created a story incorporating their songs and dances to tell how the first pysanka was created. With the assistance of the junior counselors, Anna Chelak and Nick Kobryn, everyone including the campers enjoyed the performance.

This was a very successful camp because of the cohesive and harmonious group of artists and educators who gave of their time and talent. The success can also be attributed to Bohdanka Puzyk, this year's coordinator, who spent countless hours pulling together the individuals to implement the theme and atmosphere of the camp. Without these people the Ukrainian heritage could not be shared with the little campers.

This year Marianka Wasylyk and Svetlana Kurras introduced the children to wonderful Ukrainian "kazky" (stories). They did this by reading and acting out the stories, while the children were the characters using costumes created by Svetlana. Natalka Junas and Dusia Hanushevska, with the help of Miss Chelak, worked with the children to create various pysanka crafts, traditional Hutsul headpieces for the girls and trembitas for the boys.

Olya Fryz joined the group this year to teach the children Ukrainian songs. They learned many traditional camp songs, along with some of the newer songs on Olya's newest children's CD. Andryj Oprysko, who teaches a youth dance group at Holy Trinity Church during the year, along with the assistance of Mr. Kobryn, introduced the youngest campers to Ukrainian dance, while expanding the repertoire of the older group to the more challenging steps.

Ms. Puzyk spent time with the children playing games that focus on teaching teamwork and communication.

Speaking on behalf of the Children's Day Camp counselors, the staff and management of Soyuzivka thanked the parents and grandparents who brought their children to Soyuzivka to participate in this year's camp. "We look forward to seeing you again next year and invite you to bring along friends and family to participate," she added.

| Home Page |