More Than Just a Summer Camp

The children knelt around the small blowup pool, each clutching four rubber ducks that they’d plucked from the “pond.”

“How much do you have?” Max Kashtan asked, making eye contact with Kit Kat Lotti. “Read them off to me.”

“Eight, three, three, seven,” she said, then thought for a couple of moments. “Twenty-one,” she said.

“That’s right,” Kashtan said with a grin that drew a similar grin from the 8-year-old from the Bayville Elementary School.

Nearby, another group of children sprawled on bean bag chairs and beach mats on the floor of the H.M. Potter School gymnasium, books in hand, reading silently or sharing the book with one of the other helpers. Another group counted change they’d sifted out of the sand in another pool to figure out how much each could spend at McDonald’s.

The noisiest group, however, were those shouting out words in a grid of 16 letters written on “shells” and hung on a dry erase board.

“Bin!” “Fun!”

The “Beach Day” event was a cooperative effort between Camp Paw and the Berkeley Municipal Alliance, which promotes activities that educate children against drug and alcohol use and abuse. Debra Nichols, the Municipal Alliance coordinator, said the program also provides an opportunity to bring senior citizens from the community together with the township’s students.

It’s an opportunity that Ray Hutnik of Holiday City appreciates.

“It means a lot to have the opportunity to help these children understand the difference between good and bad,” Hutnik said, as he helped two of the youngsters count change they’d sifted out of the beach.

Camp Paw is a 20-day summer reading camp program for students in the Berkeley Township School District who are identified as at-risk, either socially or academically, said Linda Waldron, a gifted and talented teacher in the district and the program’s director. It's funded by a grant from the Learning Disabilities Organization of Monmouth and Ocean counties that H&M Potter Principal Jeffery Zito obtained.

“At first it served about 20 kids,” Zito said.

But now, in its sixth year, the program serves 62 students from Potter, Clara B. Worth and Bayville School, and has been expanded from two grade levels to serving children entering second grade to those going into fifth grade.

Camp Paw is run with the assistance of Georgian Court College in Lakewood, which provides facilities for the campers, including pool time, according to Michael Conforti, one of the program staffers who’s also a physical education teacher at Berkeley Township Elementary School.

It focuses heavily on improving the students’ language arts skills, but there’s also emphasis on activities that teach the students to work in teams and that are designed to build their self-esteem – all in an effort to make them stronger students and leaders, Zito said.

“It’s the best 20 days of the summer,” Waldron said.

Josephine Reno stood back, warily watching as the group of students she was with got their hands gloppy as they mixed sand and corn starch to make moon sand.

“I came and helped last year,” she said. “It’s very nice. I really enjoy reading to them.”

“It’s wonderful for the children,” said Adele Hutnik.

Zito noted that the program also targets high school students who may be headed down the wrong path. They are recommended by Central Regional to serve as counselors.

“They get exposed to the college environment,” Zito said.

Two of them are now in college.

“To know that we’re helping them is very satisfying,” said Brett Lyons, one of the high school counselors.

“You see them learning,” said Patrick Tuzzo.

And the kids really become family, they said.

“You get five kids running up to you to give you the biggest hug,” said Dillion Titus. “It’s a great feeling.”

The grant of $30,000 pays for the program, including daily transportation from Potter to Georgian Court by bus. For two years the camp used federal stimulus funds to help expand the program. Now the parents and the camp are trying to raise money to enable the program to continue to serve the expanded level of students, Zito said.

“It’s a great program,” said Steven Pellicchia, a member of the Berkeley Board of Education. “We get an education out of it, too.”