As I write this on Thursday night, we’ve just wrapped up the July Olympics and the Closing Show. Campers proudly wore their unit shirts (and some wore their third summer lanyards, fifth summer backpacks and ninth summer jackets – it might have been a bit odd to be wearing the seventh year blanket), and Rocky’s pizza was arriving on every bunk porch.

We have also wrapped up the first session of our Centennial Summer. I know it makes sense to pace ourselves, but we have been celebrating all session long, and we’re excited to keep on going when new campers arrive on Monday.

The Olympics featured our familiar Green vs. White teams. Congratulations to General Charlie and his White Team who bested General Blake and the Green. Both teams deserve credit for their sportsmanship as well as their perseverance – which also happened to be the middah (value) of the week. The teams, shrewdly guided by the Airy Olympic Committee, navigated heat, rain and schedule changes throughout the Olympics. Although the camp was divided into two teams, everyone persevered together. I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised – our two generals are close friends and shared their camp stories at Shabbat last week. They collaborated so much throughout the Olympics .. of course the teams followed suit.

At the end of the closing show, we took time to recognize nominated campers and staff who demonstrated the middah of the week. Those “mensches” (good, selfless people) are awarded certificates, a bracelet naming the value in English and Hebrew, and a photo opportunity together with the Mensch mascot dolls.

Some of those images accompany this blog post. Congratulations to these PERSEVERANCE mensches!