School's Out For the Summer, Now What?

The cold winter months have finally melted and in its place left sweltering heat waves, sweet summer breezes and the promise of summer vacation for Bed-Stuy kids.

With the school year coming to a close, the offers a variety of summer camps to keep children occupied during their time off.

There are a variety of camps to choose at the Bed-Stuy location, depending on age and interests of the child. The camps are established for children between the ages of 5-15, and all offer age-appropriate activities that follow the YMCA’s tradition of character development through enriching activities like arts & crafts, sports, games and trips.  

Offering a basic kindercamp for younger kids and swim, dance, sports, drama and cultural camp for tweens and a teen camp for the older kids, the YMCA is adaptable for most ages and interests. 

“I’m excited,” said Makeetah Cochy, the Youth and Family Director for the camp.  “It’s going to be a new experience for me and the camp this year. “  Makeeta has worked at different YMCA camps, but this year is her first in Bed-Stuy and she has brought a bevy of ideas on board to make this year new and exciting. 

The cultural camp is a highlight for Makeetah, a new idea to expose campers to other cultures through foods, tastes, smells and games. 

“The ultimate goal behind cultural camp is to limit stereotypes and promote anti-bullying. A lot of bullying has to do with not understanding other kids' backgrounds when they’re different from what our kids are accustomed to,” she said. 

Another highlight this year is the new outdoor space available for camp. The large space on the side of the building has been newly blacktopped and is ready for endless outside activity. 

For each of the different camps, swimming is highly anticipated, and the campers are in the water a lot!  Each program offers ample swim time and all classes are taught by certified instructors and are based on the Red Cross swim curriculum.

The staff has worked hard to prepare fun projects to last all summer long. Counselor Shaniqua Grant is looking forward to teaching the kids, and can't wait to help with one of the new camp activities, a weekly weather forcast that the kids will act out. 

“I like working with kids,” says counselor Brittany Logan.  “I want to teach them how to have fun before they get out of kindergarten.”

Parents are glad to have somewhere constructive to take their kids that's also close by, while school is out of session. 

 “There are lots of programs to choose from, my son will have fun this summer,” said Trina Brown, a mother of one of the campers. 

 “It’s good because it’s close by, we live in the neighborhood,” said Tamika Taylor whose 7 year old daughter Keziah will be attending camp.  Keziah is most excited to hop in the pool and go swimming. 

A 7-year veteran counselor at the camp, Marlon Stennett, can’t wait for the summer to begin. “I look forward to this every year, you learn from the children and they learn from you. I like earning the kids respect and preparing them for the future,”he says.  

Camp begins this Wednesday, June 29th and runs through August 26th.  The cost of camp is $275 for members of the YMCA and $330 for non-members, per 2 week session.  The camps also offer extended sessions for kids that need to be dropped off earlier or picked up later. Extended camp is offered from 7-9am and 4-6pm.