When summer camp makes a lasting impression
Adam Kolodny’s experiences in summer camp were so profound, he chose a profession that allowed him to continue going even as an adult. “I went into teaching because of camp. I wanted my summers off,” said the 32-year-old who teaches Grade 7 and 8 English at Rosemount High School.
His parents sent him to day camp when he was 8; in 1991, when he was 11, he went to
Camp B’nai Brith in Lantier, an hour north of Montreal. “I didn’t go to a Jewish school and my parents saw camp as a good outlet for me,” he said. “I liked day camp, but sleeping camp – I fell in love with it right away.”
Highlights of his summers included performing on stage, telling scary stories by the campfire, being surrounded by nature, and the comfort of routine. “The world changes; there’s a lot of things that change, but every year for 20 years, I knew where I was going. I liked going on stage and being funny or being a scary-story teller; camp gave me a platform to do that.”
Recently, Kolodny shifted his focus in another direction. Last year, he spent his summer supervising 45 kids and a staff of four on a 25-day Western U.S. and Canada tour as part of
Westcoast Connections, a summer travel camp for teens. “I always knew when my CBB days ended, I would make that move,” he said.
Camp is a lifestyle, one that he doesn’t see giving up any time soon. “I reflect about camp every day – what it’s done for me, what it still does for me and what it instills in me. …Professionally, that got me going on a track working with kids. In camp you have to be prepared for anything, you have to be creative and think by the seat of your pants.”
For Hillel Greenbaum, attending day camp didn’t leave him feeling one way or another. But in 1973, when he finally went to the Harry Bronfman Y Country Camp in
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“I REFLECT ABOUT CAMP EVERYDAY–WHAT IT’S DONE FOR ME, WHAT IT STILL DOES FOR ME AND WHAT IT IN STILL SIN ME...”
Adam Kolodny, 32 “I LIKED GOING ON STAGE AND BEING FUNNY OR BEING A SCARY-STORY TELLER; CAMP GAVE ME A PLATFORM TO DO THAT.”
Adam Kolodny
Huberdeau at the age of 13, he fell in love with the sprawling, 300-plus acre residential camp located about 90 minutes north of Montreal. So much so, that when he was 24, he left a full-time job in the construction industry to go back for one final summer.
“I had been out of camp for eight years and working in my dad’s office,” Greenbaum, now 51, recalled. “I was called by the camp director, who said he didn’t have anyone to run canoeing. I said: ‘Let me think about it … yes.’ It was the best thing I ever did. I turned back the clock and I stole a few weeks that were my last sniff at freedom.” He met his wife-to-be a few months later and, once married, was no longer able to take the two months off.
Some of his most memorable moments were spent in 1975 and 1976, living in the camp’s CIT (counsellor in training) unit, a tent village set apart from the rest of camp. There, 14- and 15-year-old girls and boys experience a variety of traditions upheld almost yearly during the camp’s 50-year history. These included week-long canoe trips to Quebec’s La Vérendrye Provincial Park; a trip to Stratford, Ont.; weekly bunk placements; and the CIT play, written and produced by the senior CITS and presented to the whole camp. “Of course, there is also the CIT plaque and the alma mater. Every CIT unit writes their own song; there are now 15 to 20 years of alma maters.”
“IT’S ALL GONE, YETITHASN’T CHANGED.IT WAS A REALLY AMAZING EXPERIENCE.”
Hillel Greenbaum, 51
Busy with marriage, work and a family, Greenbaum was finally able to return when he began sending his children to the camp. Driving down the dirt road was an emotional ride that brought back a flood of memories. “I remember going back to the camp and it was surreal. I got very emotional. It was like someone had turned back the clock. I can’t explain to you how the time faded away and I remember the working boots, and overalls and clogs, all the stories.
“It’s all gone, yet it hasn’t changed. It was a really amazing experience.”