What's Happening at Camp: Swim Program

We are particularly proud of our swim program as it has evolved over the last two years under the direction of Waterfront Supervisors Hannah Braunstein, Jenn Hutchinson, Katherine Carder, and Vicky Schmidt. Last summer we revised the program as a result of parental feedback on the previous year’s satisfaction surveys, returning to grouping lessons by swimming ability to maximize teaching effectiveness, but grouping free swim by tribes to maximize the fun. We think it’s the best of both worlds. Our swimming levels are: Red (stroke introduction), Orange (stroke development), Blue (stroke proficiency), and Green (stroke refinement & Junior Life Saving skills). In addition, this year we have added two dedicated Junior Life Saving classes for our oldest qualified swimmers.

Visiting the waterfront on Wednesday with the sun sparkling off the water and the thumps and splashes of many feet and hands providing background music, we were impressed by what we saw. Jackie had her advanced (Green) group doing breaststrokes across the pond. The three Supervisors were all in different areas of pond and pools mentoring instructors with salient tips. Tricia led her intermediate (Blue) group in working on their crawls, first modeling the stroke herself, then watching their imitations. Sam tutored her Blue group inside the H of the dock as they practiced sidestrokes. The thing we were impressed with was that all focus was on the campers, and every instructor was fully involved.