One of my favorite (and most popular) new additions to Camp this summer has been our fantastic new climbing tower, funded by the Samis Foundation and the Holzman Family Foundation! Standing at over 40ft tall, it was built to have multiple difficulty levels, so it can be accomplished by all, yet also made difficult to the ability of each camper. One of the coolest aspects is the platform we built at the very top, so that when someone is successful, they can stand and look over (and down on) our upper fields!
We are planning on using it in all areas of our programming, from chuggim (we had MANY Bet campers sign up for “Climbing Chug” already!) to our Chevre (all-camp programming) and our adventure/challenge course programs. Our goal is for every camper to get the opportunity to climb to the top (or as far as they go, as we do “challenge-by-choice”).
As a Challenge Course facilitator, it’s amazing to see the personal growth that can come from the course. The self-esteem boost a camper receives by reaching his or her goals is wonderful to watch, and as we do “team belay” (the rest of the cabin helps belay each individual), it contains a wonderful team building element to it as well.
So thank you to our local foundations for their fantastic support of our challenge program, and “Climb On!”
David Furman
Camp Solomon Schechter, Assistant Director
