Summer??? What??? When???
Do you ever get the feeling that life is flying by?
I do.
I seem to remember that June 1st happened and then I looked at the calendar this morning and it is already mid August. What happened? Where did summer go? There were leaves on the ground earlier this week. What the heck!
One reason that summer has flown by is that we have returned to “normal” at the Y. That is great news. How do I know this? Here are some summer highlights that I have seen and experienced:
- Mini Camp – Each morning over the last 8 - 10 weeks I have had preschoolers show up outside my office door and greet Jesse and the team with smiles. They have sung songs, gone swimming, and been out and about on field trips. The growth of kids over the summer has been great to see.
- Camp Koda – A school-age day camp program that we run at the Schlossman YMCA has an energy of its own. The kids and the staff experience themed programs and field trips around town. Each summer the kids head out to Camp Cormorant for a day of swimming, high ropes courses, and fun. The kids have had a great summer by the smiles I have seen on them. All brought to them by a staff team that is showing what impactful work means.
- Summer School Age Care – We also run our school-based summer day care programs around town. The kids have had a special summer of doing field sports, participating in a youth Olympics, and running lemonade stands for a social cause of supporting a local animal shelter. One of our causes is social responsibility, and this program teaches it in spades. Again, staff have had a special impact on the kids and it shows.
- Camp Cormorant – What a special place. A camp that has been working on youth development, again one of our main causes, since 1903. One of the best decisions we made this year was having one of the staff be the “Camp Photographer”. Pictures of kids at camp fires, swimming, fishing, and playing in the Gaga Pit have filled Facebook and have told the story of what a week of camp can do for a child. The team at camp lives with the kids and brings them all of these activities throughout the summer. We couldn’t do it without them.
These are just a few examples of summer at the Y. Add in all of our group exercise classes in parks and pools, food trucks showing up in our parking lots, swimming lessons and pool parties, sports classes, and other key activities that you find all year at the Y, and it has been quite a summer.
The summer has flown by and the impacts our staff have had on the kids and families of our community have been immense. There is a good reason it has gone fast.
So, when I say, “Where did summer go?” I know that that I can answer, “It happened at the Y!”
Enjoy our picture of summer.
See you at the Y!
Steve Smith, President