GONZALES — Gonzales youth and counselors had fun during Gonzales Recreation Department’s Summer Youth Camp program, swimming, taking field trips and seeing what is around them in town.
The Summer Day Camp is open Monday through Friday starting at 7 a.m. and ending at 5 p.m. It accepts youth from kindergarten to eighth grade for Gonzales residents. As long as the child goes to school, a parent works in Gonzales or lives in Gonzales, they are eligible for summer camp.
“Kids play games when they first get to camp and then we do a camp rally,” Youth Program Coordinator Julie Parola said. “We’ll do little cheers and then the kids go into their groups and do arts and crafts or a sport activity.”
Parola said that the summer campers do team-building activities and learn skits or songs that they will perform later at a campfire. The campers also visit local parks, the gym and the swimming pool on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The Summer Camp weeks end with field trips on Fridays, and this past Friday they visited the San Jose Tech Museum. Some of the other Friday field trip stops included ice skating rinks, Maya Cinemas in Salinas, Tatum’s Garden, the Marine Lab in Santa Cruz and Golfland Waterslide.
“Two weeks ago the kids went to the farm in the morning and they got tours,” said Recreation Coordinator Sara Papineau. “They got to learn the difference between a vegetable and a fruit and there is a petting animal area.”
The summer campers learned about how the windmill pumps water and picked strawberries. Later that afternoon the campers were able to bowl.
“My favorite part about camp is swimming,” said camper Julian Papineau. “We get to be in the water with a lot of friends.”
Alicia Brand is also in her second year as a summer camper and enjoys when the counselors play with the kids because they are all having fun. Another second-year camper Stephen Papineau echoed Alicia and Julian’s favorite times as swimming and interacting with the camp counselors.
The Summer Camp is partially funded through proceeds from the Measure K half-cent sales tax measure. The measure was passed a few years ago by voters and includes $30,000 to cover the cost of staffing the camp. This year Summer Day Camp filled up with 80 youth in the first two weeks and actually increased its service to serve 100 campers due to the long waiting list.
In charge of those 100 campers are 12 youth camp counselors and up to 14 volunteer interns who also help out.
“It’s a really rewarding opportunity to work with young kids in the community and see them smile at the end of the day,” Counselor Cruz Gonzalez said. “Working as a group and having fun together. It’s a great honor to be working with the people I work with here in Gonzales.”
Andrea Almanza Amador represents the city of Gonzales as a lead for Summer Youth Camp and started working as a camp counselor and went onto work in the after-school program.
“I just feel that I get so much out of this job from every kid,” Amador said. “We get to put a smile on their face. They get to learn how to swim and we’ve had so many kids pass the swimming test.”
The Youth Summer Camp will continue for two more weeks and the three days leading up to school resuming Aug. 10. The Gonzales Recreation Department also runs camps during winter break and spring break, and when City Hall is not open, such as Labor Day and Fourth of July 4, there is a camp program.
