Summer Comes to a Rockin’ Finale!
By Sylvia Arias

As another summer comes to end, we can look back on many good times! The city’s annual summer camp program has continued to be a huge success every summer, even more so this summer with the introduction of a teen camp called Adventure Camp. Our programs provided activities and a fun-filled environment for more than 200 children from Sunny Isles Beach and the surrounding communities. The children from the 4 different camps went on over 40 field trips to different places throughout Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, including Florida International University, Broward Museum of Science & Discovery, Wannado City, Parrot Jungle Island, Ruff & Tuff Paintball, and many more!

Adventure Camp was thrilled to spend a day with city lifeguards to learn how they use special rescue equipment such as jet skis and ATV’s. Each camper was taken out on a banana boat that was attached to the jet ski, as well as given a tour of the beach on an ATV. They also spent a day at Florida International University, learning teamwork and conflict resolution through several ropes courses taught by trained instructors. Although the summer heat was especially grueling, the kids enjoyed the opportunity to try something new.

Camp SIB enjoyed a variety of activities at camp, aside from outdoor field trips. Every week, the camp was visited by Ceramics on Wheels, who did many different projects with the campers, including sand art, plaster art, sun catchers, photography, textile art, and plane gliders. The campers also learned how to decorate cakes with Celebration Cake Design, who brought pound cakes and taught the children how to use different icings and baking tools to do interesting and unique designs for their projects. The campers really enjoyed a presentation by Javier Vazquez, with Taifu Shoi Karate-Do, who came to camp with several of his karate students and taught the campers different self-defense techniques to use when being approached by a stranger or dangerous person. He went over several methods on how to distract or injure your attacker long enough to get away. Along with these special presentations, the campers also spent time learning different games such as box ball, kick ball, guard the pin, soccer, tee ball, dodge ball, and many more.

In order to celebrate their time together and give them an opportunity to share their experiences and new found friendships with others, we held an “End of Summer Celebration” at Camp SIB on Friday, July 29th. The children worked for several weeks preparing different musical acts and performed in front of an audience that included their parents, families, friends, and prominent members from the community, including our Mayor and several commissioners. Along with the performances by our campers, the show included a special presentation to Sunflower Society Inc. and Concerned Citizens of Northeast Dade in appreciation for the generous donations they made to the city in order to financially assist several children with camp fees.

Our final days of summer have given some children a chance to cool off from the summer heat by participating in our Junior Lifeguard Camp. This program was offered for children between the ages of 6 and 15 for a one-week session. Campers were instructed daily by our certified lifeguards, on how to monitor the conditions of the ocean, how to perform rescues, how to use special rescue equipment such as paddle boards, buoys, jet skis, etc., how to use radios for emergency communication, and also how to stay healthy and physically fit in order to be a lifeguard. Miami Dade County Parks & Recreation Department generously sent representatives from the Sea Turtle Relocation program to present their program to the campers and gave the campers an amazing opportunity to release baby sea turtles into the ocean. In a short period of time, these Junior Lifeguards gained a wide range of skills and knowledge that will be useful to many in their future.

Overall, the summer has been an amazing experience for all who participated in our summer camp programs and we look forward to planning an even more successful program next year! Keep a lookout for Summer Camp 2006 information coming out in March!

View Photo's "Summer Campers 2005"

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