We are thinking about summer J-Camp at the Dwares JCC, are you?

The dunk tank was popular at last year’s J-Camp end-of-summer carnival.March is right around the corner, which means it is time to start thinking about the summer! Seems far away but your children will be out of school before you know it. What should you do with your children this summer? Send them to the Dwares JCC J-Camp – of course!

The Dwares JCC will be going through renovations starting in March, but J-Camp will be open through it all. We are well under way to planning an even better summer than last year. We will continue the tradition of variety for campers. They will be able to discover activities they enjoy. In addition, new this summer,  we have more opportunities for your children to experience theater as well as the spoken word. Campers will be able to make, and take home, pottery, do building challenges and tie-dye their very own shirts. We will continue to have special guests on Fridays, and I am pleased to announce that the award-winning Rhode Island performer, Keith Munslow, will return.

Campers will not want to miss our Creepy Creatures week. Dave Machetti will be back with his snakes, turtles and alligator. Thursdays will continue to be field trip day. In addition to some old favorites such as the Boston Children’s Museum and EcoTarium, we will head to Mystic Aquarium, Southwick Zoo and Yawgoo Valley Water Park.

We are excited that Absolute Fun Party Rentals in Rhode Island is helping to sponsor our end-of-summer carnival, where we will have a selfie booth and carnival games as well as the very popular dunk tank. Will you be able to dunk the director? All campers and their families are invited to this end of camp event.

This summer we will once again be hosting an Israeli shaliach or emissary. The shaliach we bring to camp goes through very intensive training in Israel. Here, he or she learns about how to bring Israel to life at camp. The shaliach program helps to enhance our Israeli and Jewish culture at J-Camp. The training occurs in April on a kibbutz outside of Tel-Aviv. This year, I will be going to the training in Israel. The JCCA selected only 10 camp directors from throughout the country to attend this training for free through a program called Israel Up Close. I feel fortunate that I was one of the 10 selected to participate. I look forward to letting everyone know about the training and about the shaliach who will be joining us this summer.

Summer will be here before you know it, and we are looking forward to a fun-filled, amazing and exciting summer here at the Dwares JCC.

SETH FINKLE is director of Camp Haverim and teen programming coordinator at the Jewish Alliance.