Summer Camp (3rd–8th grade)
During the 12-day session of Camp Gesher, campers will experience multiple activities that will bring them closer to the Russian Jewish community as well as allowing them to make new friends within that community. Campers also will do recreational activities and practice electives of their choice while learning about Israel and Judaism.
The program was divided into 5 main parts:
- Peulot: Educational activities led by counselors inside the age groups. The peulot about historical events happening in Israel, about Jewish leaders, and RSJ around the world, all through a Russian Jewish American lens.
- Chugim: Activities by choice led by counselors and specialists. The chugim for this year: swimming, arts and crafts, basketball, cooking, stand-up comedy, public speaking, soccer, first aid, social media, event production, hebrew, yarn mandala, economy, fun history, hip hop dance, coding, guitar, clay creations, Spanish, scrapbooking, fashion, photography, Mad Science, bracelet making, logic and math, chess, robotics, Russian, pioneer leaving and Israeli scouts. Each camper will choose 2 chugim per week, and experience 4 sessions of each chug. The number of campers in each chug was determined by the specialists and COVID protocols (mainly 10 to 15 campers at each chug).
- Rotations: Outdoors activities by age group led by camp specialists, such as: ropes course, pool, water slide, zipline, hiking, archery, Reptacular zoo.
- Evening activities: These usually started right after dinner and were led and organized by Evening Activity Specialists. Some evening activities were designed specifically for each age group, some were for the whole camp. This year’s evenings activities include: “Quest” (getting to know the camp quest and identity game), Clue night, Kabbalat Shabbat, Israeli Dance night, professional speaker night, derby night, talent show, silent disco, Judaism around the world, Avatar night, showcase of chugim, theater and more.
- Special activities: Camp-wide celebrations and special programs. For this year, special activities include: color war, J-Fest (prepared by LIT’s), showcase of chugim for campers, happiness happens day, international lazy day, social security day (community care projects) and more
