Summer Camps Part 2: Leading through games

Summer in Monroe County isn’t just a break from school—it’s a time for young residents to learn and grow in different ways. The B Square visited half a dozen summer camps around Bloomington and met campers, counselors, and staff, to find out how children and teens spent their summers.

It’s fun to stay at the YMCA

Playing with water, crafts, and made-up games were all part of summer camp fun at the YMCA of Monroe County. The Y held various day camps at both locations, with full- and half-day options, split into age groups ranging from 3 to 13. Specialty and sports camps were also available, for kids with interests ranging from volleyball to Star Wars.

Campers participate in a variety of activities each day, including games and crafts.

Paolo Wu is a lead counselor for the Voyagers, which is 8-year-olds, the same age he started attending the YMCA summer camp. He said that counselors are expected to lead crafts and games. While they’re given some ideas, he said, “often it’s ... whatever you come up with.”

He continued, “We have different kinds of dodgeball. This morning we built forts, and then we made it a competition to try to knock them down.” Another game he plays with his group was a game another counselor came up with: Fortnite Tag.

Fortnite Tag is a version of tag that borrows elements of the popular video game. It is played with two teams in a corner of the soccer field. Two or more counselors act as a moving border, as the circle closes in throughout the game. If you get tagged by someone on the opposing team, you’re “downed,” and your teammates can revive you, which requires 10 seconds or less, depending on how many players are revived at the same time.

Another counselor responsibility is switching campers from one activity to another. “We’re having lunch right now; we just got back from the pool,” Wu said, as campers ate at picnic tables outside. “Going from the pool to the locker room to outside—that’s one transition.” This includes lining the kids up to move from one location to the next.

Wu said that every counselor’s main priority is safety. “Then a close second is engaging with the campers. You know, playing with them.” He continued, “A sign of a good counselor is someone who plays the games with the campers. Not just with other counselors, but right in there with the other campers.”

Preteen campers Ava and Olivia have spent their summers at the Y since they were 5 and 8, respectively. They like the camp because they find people to be more accepting at the YMCA than in school.

Wu said, “From the kids’ perspective[s], it’s a place where they can meet friends, they can play games. I know for me, when I was a camper, a lot of it was the friends I made.”

“For counselors, it’s really important to nurture that,” he added. “My role is also to facilitate people getting to know each other.”

Back for the first summer since the pandemic was the Y’s counselor-in-training (CIT) program. It prepares 13- to 15-year-olds for work as camp counselors once they turn 16..

Drake, an eighth grader, served as a CIT this summer after being a camper for a couple years. “I wanted to get training so I could babysit, and also be a counselor here when I’m older,” she said. She helps the counselors with individual campers. “Usually, it’s one-on-one time with kids who ... run away, or need [more support].”

Drake has watched her two younger sisters, but said she is looking to start working as a babysitter—something she hopes the CIT program will help prepare her to do.

YMCA youth and family director Cole Rightley described the camp as “organized chaos.” He said, “I think our counselors do a good job of keeping the kids on track. But, they’re kids.”

He continued, “At the end of the day, we’re here to provide the kids [with] an awesome, fun summer experience and make sure that they stay safe while doing it. I think a lot of the kids really, really do have a good time.”

Raised in Kid City

City of Bloomington parks and recreation’s camp, Kid City, is held at the Allison-Jukebox Community Center on Washington Street. It’s a structured day camp that fits several activities into each day.

The camp also aims to build leadership skills. In fact, much of Kid City leadership, including assistant director of the program Tatum Rose, started as campers.

Rose has been at Kid City for 15 years now. She started when she was 5, as an Original camper, which is the program’s kindergarten through fourth grade group. She continued to Quest, which is grades five through seven, then was a CIT, assistant counselor, then counselor. Then, last year, she was CIT coordinator, and now serves as an assistant director. “So now I run the program,” she said.

Like Rose, Quest coordinator Colleen Maynard was a camper and CIT before working in leadership. “It was really helpful to have my first interview for my first real job be with people that I already knew,” she said. “That definitely helped build a lot of confidence.”

CIT coordinator August Mugele said CITs develop leadership and childcare skills. “We talk a lot about what kind of example that we want to set for younger people in our lives,” Mugele said. “We do a lot of activities [that are] meant to help the CITs think about the adults that they want to be and the kind of impact they want to make in the community.”

A CIT’s responsibilities are similar to those of a counselor. Mugele helps CITs lead team-building exercises, practice leadership games, and brainstorm craft ideas. Then, during the week, CITs get to be in charge for an hour each day, which is called CIT Fun Time. “That’s when they get to really lead games that they’ve thought of, or lead crafts that they’ve planned out,” Mugele said. “We did a CIT dunk tank a couple of times last week, and that was super fun.

“And then, when they’re not actively doing that kind of stuff,” he continued, “they will usually be assigned to a specific counselor or a specific group and go help ... fill in the gaps.”

Anamika Wolfskill, a high school senior, served as a second-year assistant counselor this summer. She was a CIT for three years, and before that, she was a camper since she was 7 years old.

She said that it’s important to encourage campers to participate in camp activities. “[Participating] teaches you to try new things and expand your horizons,” she said.

Wolfskill said that she comes back every year partly because of nostalgia. “I love being around Kid City, and our area, like the Allison-Jukebox is where I grew up. And I just really like the staff ... I’ve grown up with them.”

“Even though things might change throughout the school year,” she continued, “I think I’m always going to end up coming back to Kid City just because I really enjoy it here. ... Connecting with kids energizes me.”

Another assistant counselor, high school junior CeCe Merkel, said that she was taught a lot when she was a CIT for three years, so transitioning to assistant counseling has been pretty easy.

“The campers love the CITs,” said Mugele. “Last week, I heard one of the campers say that they like the CITs even better than the regular counselors.”

The camp’s roughly 60 total kids spend most of their time outside. “We like to say that we are ‘outsidesy,’ not outdoorsy. So we are outside a lot, but we’re not like climbing, and hiking, and archery, and all of that.” Camp activities often take place right behind the Allison-Jukebox building at the Waldron Hill Buskirk Park, which is still known to many Bloomington residents as the Third Street Park.

Another distinctive element of Kid City is regular field trips. On Mondays, the camp visits the Monroe County Public Library. Twice a week, the children visit one of the city’s two public pools.

The camp has full access to the city’s bus services, which it has used to visit the Bloomington Community Orchard. New to Kid City this year is a minibus, which allows the camp to travel beyond Bloomington. Field trips have included farther destinations such as a honey farm, Spring Mill State Park in Lawrence County, and several sites in Indianapolis like Butler University’s Holcomb Observatory and Planetarium, the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, and the Holliday Park Nature Center

Maynard said, “We try to leave the campsite every single day, which I’ve heard from the kids is very unique.”

Seven-year-old camper Esther said, “I like the crafts, and the CITs—I just like camp.” Esther couldn’t name a favorite game or craft, since she enjoys them all. She likes the pool, because “I like swimming and it’s good exercise.”

Jack, another camper, has been at Kid City for five years. He’s entering seventh grade in the fall. He said, “It’s a really fun summer camp. We get outside and do stuff while my parents go to work.” Jack plans to become a CIT next summer. “I like working with the little kids,” he said.

While Kid City is a day camp, campers get a taste of an overnight camp one night at the end of July. Campers bring sleeping bags and they stay in the building, and enjoy pizza, cookies, and ghost stories featuring Old Man Jenkins, a Kid City myth and legend.

“[He] lives in this building. He’s real,” Rose stressed. “But he makes overnight super fun because we tell ghost stories. and stuff like that.”

“This is my home and my heart,” she said.