End of First Session, Beginning of Second Session

Gilboa's first session came to a climactic close over the weekend. After a week that included World Cup celebrations, a late night Aliyah simulation, and Yom Israel, we said goodbye to half our campers. Thursday night was "Gilboa Idol" in which Gilboa's finest performed for each other and tried to gain the admiration of three off-kilter judges. A relaxing Shabbat followed before our final messiba (party) on Saturday night – a celebration of the session with dancing, a moon bounce, and a screening of Free Willy.

Sunday morning, we said goodbye to our first session friends and the thirty remaining chanichim embarked on intersession – a spy themed 2 day adventure with the madatz (junior counselors). The kids played a soap hockey match in the chader ochel, watched a couple of movies, and launched a massive game of capture the flag. Monday night, the madatz led a Tisha B'Av tekes (ceremony), singing and lighting candles with chanichim.Tuesday morning they greeted their friends arriving for second session from Irvine, San Diego, LA, the Bay Area, and even Connecticut. After getting to know the other chanichim (campers) in their shichvah (age group), the chanichim toured different areas of machaneh to learn about the rules and ropes. From safety and emergency procedures to important songs to know, they did it all.
After learning what their options were for the session's chugim (clubs) and anafim (chore groups), the chanichim had a "meet the madrichim adventure" evening program, where they were led through the machaneh (camp) and got to meet different madrichim at different stations, and hear about their camp experiences.

So far second session has been even more loud and energetic than the first. The thirty bogrim are making their presence felt and a number of new chanichim are already throwing themselves into our intense shira sessions.