Camp Boston Sderot – Virtual Camp 2020
Posted on September 14, 2020
Summer, 2020
This year the Boston-Sderot Project Team was given very sad and almost unimaginable news- that there would be no way to have Camp 2020 in person with the American counselors due to COVID19. Immediately the project’s core planning team decided that they couldn’t take no for an answer, and found a solution. Of course nothing can compare to the real camp, but doing something is always better than doing nothing.
To our advantage we are living in a time where a pandemic can be an overcomeable obstacle between groups of people wanting to reconnect. With this attitude, the Boston-Sderot Project team came together and created a solution-oriented virtual camp that attracted the Sderot campers, as well as American counselors. Together the counselors created and organized a two-week long activity schedule which was active from August 1-August 15. During these activities the campers logged on, danced, exercised, played cards, and caught up with their favorite American counselors from last year! Each zoom activity featured a counselor, a chaperone figure, and kids enjoying the fun and the banter.
Additionally each child was also added to a “Cabin Group” which was a separate group chat with counselors, mimicking the usual in-person cabins, where they got to interact further with their respective counselors.
The Zoom Camp showed us that there is always a solution to something no matter how ridiculous or impossible it may seem. Though our Virtual Camp was a success, the Boston Sderot team hopes that this is the last and final time there will be a virtual camp. It was very important for us to maintain contact with the kids so that it will not be lost for future camps.
During our Zoom meetings, we saw kids participating in activities they would usually be too shy to join, trying new things, and speaking outside of their comfort zone in English! It was also impressive to see the leadership of the older Israeli kids who made it a priority to join as many activities as possible.
Aaron Korsunsky
Adi Volosov
Ben Gribov
Dita Berline
Jacob Ioffi
Karin Ulanovsky
Laura Agarkov
Liz Logunov
Michelle Livshin
Yasha Shapiro
Tali Abayev
Stay tuned for what’s to come for Camp 2021!!