By: Molly Mahoney ’18

For ten months of each year, pupils at Staples learn and study endlessly. Even weekends throughout the school year are spent preparing for the next school week’s onslaught of projects and tests. So, when students are released for the better part of June, July and August for summer break, they know they need to make the best of their time before they fall back into their school year obligations. For many, this means finding a job at a day camp where they can earn a bit of pocket money and have fun doing it. Some Staples students’ favorite places to work over the summer are as follows:

Camp Compo
Camp Compo is, as the name states a day camp located directly on Compo Beach. Designed for children going into kindergarten through first grade, the camp features special events such as trips to Lake Compounce and Launch Trampoline Park, according to their website. Counselors, like Hannah Roseme ’18, enjoy all the fun alongside their campers. “I definitely love being at the beach all day,” Roseme said.

RECing Crew
RECing Crew, a day camp for kids in grades five through eight, stands out from others with not one, not two, but three field trips per week. Every Friday, all counselors and campers meet at Longshore Club Park instead of the usual Coleytown Middle School and spend the day on the playground and swimming in the public pool. At some other point in the week, RECing Crew takes trips to two other, new places. Some of the annual trips include visits to Brownstone Quarries, Rye Playland and Lake Quassy, as featured on the RECing Crew website. Counselor and past camper Meghan Johnson ’18 said: “I wanted to be a counselor ever since I was in the camp so I could give back the same experience I had to other kids.”

Wakeman Town Farm Summer Camp
Wakeman Town Farm, or WTF for short, is run by the Aitkenhead family and is home to plenty of plants, such as strawberries, carrots and grapes, and animals, including goats, chickens, and alpaca. Counselor Aly Sivinski ’17 said “It was really nice to watch the campers smile and enjoy playing with the animals while learning about that animal”. As described on their website, during the summer WTF is also a host to elementary age kids participating in the Junior Farmer Summer Camp or Junior Chef Summer Camp for toddlers ages three through five in the Little Farmer Summer Camp. In their time at Wakeman Town Farm, campers interact with animals, care for plants, play games, prepare food or do arts and crafts alongside counselors like Anna Sivinski ’18. “It’s really a wholesome experience,” Sivinski said.