This past weekend, we held an amazing 4th, 5th and 6th Grade Retreat at Camp Thunderbird. We gathered together fifty 4th-6th graders, along with teen madrichim, teachers, and a few brave parents. We centered the weekend around connection and community, with activities focused on building and strengthening friendships. Campers traversed the ropes course, climbed the alpine tower, navigated three-legged races and blindfolded obstacle courses, and had a lot of fun decorating with paint pens. Together, we explored different ways of praying together, utilizing music, movement, and costumes to experience Shabbat and our Torah portion with a little extra pizzazz. Saturday night was full of s’mores by the lake, havdalah on the basketball courts, and a dynamic “In The Spotlight” evening of acts, headlined by the “Front Street Boys” (aka the 4th grade boys cabin) and the “Firebirds” of the 5th grade girls cabin. After two full years of a global pandemic, many of our campers were new to sleeping away from home, and we were impressed by how bravely they dove into this new experience. Campers left on Sunday morning with promises to keep in touch, exchanging phone numbers and beginning group chats even as their parents arrived to take them home for a well-deserved post-camp nap. Or maybe the nap was primarily for the chaperones!
