Last week was a big week for Bogrim (9th grade)! While Machon (10th grade) was out of camp on their trip around Wisconsin (check for another blog post on that soon), Bogrim had a week of special programming called Shavua Sababa (Awesome Week!). Each afternoon for five days, the campers spent three hours in one of six specialty clinics. Then on Friday, they had a chance to present their work to the aidah.
Twenty campers participated in the Kosher Pastry Baking clinic led by our own Registrar Alicia Vinocur. Before coming to work with Ramah, Alicia trained as a pastry chef at the French Pastry School and worked with the Wolfgang Puck group. Each day of Shavua Sababa, Alicia and her campers made delicious desserts to correspond with the Jewish holidays–from apple pie for Rosh Hashana to hamantaschen for Purim and cheesecake for Shavuot. The week ended with a cake competition, in which the campers used a recipe to make cakes from scratch and decorated them with great creativity.
In another part of the chadar ochel, a small group of campers rocked out with Ramah alumna Naomi Less (Nivonim 1989) to create their own rock band, Chadar Medu-rock (a play on the name of one of the rooms here at camp, Chadar Medurah). Naomi is the creator of the Jewish Chicks Rock Project and an accomplished performer and educator. The campers brought varying levels of musical experience to the group and learned what it means to be in a rock band. Ultimately, they performed a concert for the aidah and even wrote and performed their own song! Click here to see them perform their original song.
In the Sifriyah (Library), campers were busy writing their own short stories with award-winning children’s author and Ramah alumna Deanna Neil (Nivonim 1997). Deanna is a performer in addition to a successful writer, so the writing workshop was full of energy as Deanna and the campers worked together to create some fabulous stories.
Across the Kikar, in the art room, a group of campers worked with internationally acclaimed calligrapher and painter Sharon Binder. Using a variety of artistic techniques and Jewish text study, the campers created their own panels representing a favorite bracha. The campers then worked together to create murals based on the morning prayer service that will hang in the chadar ochel for the whole camp to enjoy.
On the more technical side, one group of campers worked with professional percussionist Glenn Grossman to learn how to record, mix and produce a song. Glenn has played and recorded with Bob Dylan and Paul Stanley of Kiss, and is currently producing Salt N Pepa. The campers in this clinic learned how to use professional mixing software and wrote, performed, recorded and produced their own song.
One group of campers spent two weeks working with animators from G-Dcast.com to create their own stop action film based on a midrash. The campers studied midrash about the story of the forbidden fruit and then learned all about how to storyboard, direct, produce and edit their own film. The film will soon be featured on G-Dcast.com!
After the intensive clinics of Shavua Sababa, campers had a chance to kick back on Friday afternoon as they presented the beloved annual “Synchronized Swimming” competition. Six groups of campers and a group of staff performed seven choreographed aqua dances, each based on the days of creation. Click below to see the videos!
