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Harriman Group Camps: Day Camp in the Park - 2 August, 2006
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Youngsters swim, fish, make jewelry at lakeside park
By ALICE GOMSTYN
agomstyn@lohud.com
THE JOURNAL NEWS
A counselor's well-positioned jump sent 10-year-old Madisen Anderson flying several feet high before she dropped down into the lake below.
Madisen said it was her third time on "the blob" — camp slang for the giant floating trampoline that includes an inflated appendage often put to altitude-climbing use: When small campers sit on its edge and counselors jump on its base, the little ones are often sent shooting into the air before landing with a splash.
"It's actually fun," said Madisen, a Manhattan resident. "The only side effect is your bathing suit rides up."
Some 380 area children are spending their summer at Day Camp in the Park, a 500-acre camp straddling the Rockland and Orange county border in Harriman State Park. The blob is one part of a small, floating water park the camp has erected off the banks of the park's Lake Tiorati. It's one of several lakeside camp amenities, including a zip line, a fishing dock and a boating center.
Perhaps more impressive than what's on the lake, though, is what's on the ground: towering trees and rolling hills as far as the eye can see.
"The natural beauty of this place is second to none," said Ken Glotzer, the camp's executive director.
"It's like going to the Berkshires," he said, but much closer.
Once home to a sleepaway camp, the Day Camp in the Park's property includes over 20 indoor cabins, a pool, two indoor gymnasiums and a variety of other sports facilities. The camp day is divided into seven periods, each about 47 minutes long with two periods of each day reserved for swimming. During other periods of the day, campers — who are grouped based on gender and age — take part in a variety of activities such as jewelry-making, skateboarding, hiking and tennis.
Some activities are clustered together so that campers have more choices in how they spend their time. For instance, even if most of a group is going boating but one camper prefers fishing, a counselor's assistant can take him fishing while the group's counselor oversees the rest of the children.
Campers range in age from 4 to 13. Those ages 14 and 15 attend camp as counselors-in-training and split their time between helping counselors and enjoying camp activities. Campers are provided door-to-door transportation.
About of half of the campers come from Rockland, while the rest hail mainly from Manhattan, Orange County and Bergen County, N.J.
Youngsters swim, fish, make jewelry at lakeside park
By ALICE GOMSTYN
agomstyn@lohud.com
THE JOURNAL NEWS
The camp prides itself on having a number of education professionals on staff, including Andy Verebes, a full-time social worker in the Port Chester school district, and Paul Finkelstein, the assistant principal at Chestnut Ridge Middle School in Pomona. Most of the counselors are licensed teachers. Glotzer, who has previously worked as the director of Camp Ramaquois in Pomona and Rockland Community College's Sports Academy, is a social studies teacher at Clarkstown South High School.
"We think the most important thing for a child is to be in a safe and secure situation," he said, "where someone with experience will deal with them directly."
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