An ideal summer school curriculum would consist of courses like Trail Hiking 101, Swimming Pool Study Hall and AP Archery. A real summer school at Camp Colonie does consist of that curriculum.
Founded 26 years ago by Easter Seals Disability Services, the seven-week camp, held at the Colonie Town Park, has been providing a summer of outdoor activities and education for children with disabilities, as well as children throughout the community. The camp program caters to the educational summer school needs of those students who are required by the state to extend their schooling through the summer, by having trained teachers on the staff as counselors.
Students who need to meet such requirements participate with other campers throughout the day and are pulled out on occasion to receive one-on-one educational sessions.
The camp is under the direction of Chuck Paravella and Mitch Hahn, both educators in the Capital District. According to Paravella, the camp serves as an alternative summer school, enhanced with the asset of taking place in the outdoors.
Paravella said that for the students who attend camp as summer school, most schools pick up the funding since it is mandated that they attend summer school. Schools can choose whether or not to count the camp as summer school, he said, and in Colonie, the South Colonie Central School District participates in this program while the North Colonie Central School does not because it has its own summer school program.
As far as how many campers attend the camp to fulfill summer school requirements, Paravella said, It’s about half and half. But according to Hahn, `all of the kids are integrated,` when it comes to activities.
Paravella said that the camp chooses activities that all campers can participate in regardless of their abilities.
`It is tailored so that every kid participates in every activity,` he said.
For Philip Isaac, a 17-year-old Colonie Central High School student, his two favorite camp activities are swimming and lunch. While swimming, Isaac said he enjoys going under water and for lunch, he said he enjoys eating bologna, which he brings with him to camp. Isaac has been attending Camp Colonie for 10 years now, because, he said, `I like this camp.`
Jocelyn Heermance, 15, of Schenectady, said she likes the camp as well, but for different reasons.
`I love the pool. I like the boys too,` she said.
Heermance said she has been attending Camp Colonie for eight years, and that her favorite camp-time activity is `rec,` or recreation, in which campers play various sports. When asked what else she enjoys about camp,
Heermance said, `Everything. I love everything. If I wasn’t here, I don’t know what I’d do.`
From the outside, Camp Colonie may seem like a typical summer camp, but for those deeply involved, it is more. It is, in fact, a step toward a career.
Meagan Farrell, 18, and Joe Mooney, 18, both of Troy, said that by working at the camp as counselors, they were able to choose a career path as they get ready to go to college this year.
Farrell, a Colonie Camp counselor of four years, said she plans to attend SUNY Cortland in the fall, majoring in speech pathology.
`I never would have considered that major if I didn’t work here,` she said.
Mooney, a counselor for three years, said he plans to attend Skidmore College and major in pre-medicine to become a pediatrician, an interest he also attributes to his work at Camp Colonie.
Other counselors consider working at the camp a stepping stone for their already-begun careers.
Danielle Schnieble, of Berne, a middle-school specialized teacher at Berne-Knox-Westerlo, said, `For teaching, you get to see the kids in a different setting.`
Schnieble said that the close interaction she is able to have with the students in the setting outside of the classroom allows her to build stronger relationships with them.
`A lot of them are growing, but not socially,` she said. `By the end of the summer, they’re hugging you.`
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