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The Year-Round Program The Project Morry Campers keep close contact with camp throughout the year as they gather for monthly meetings with other campers in their area. During these gatherings fun activities lead the way to important discoveries and lessons about the importance of goals and the steps that are necessary to achieve them. The campers also receive monthly newsletters, which send consistent and supportive messages about what was accomplished at the meetings, along with specific things to look forward to as they count down the days until camp starts. The trust and strong relationships that we form and maintain, give us the ability to have active and productive communication lines with the children's parents, teachers, guidance counselors, social workers and after school programs. We are realizing how vital these open lines of communication are as we are notified weekly about important successes and challenges the children are experiencing. The unique relationship that we have with the campers and their families continues to help the children reach for their goals. The Summer Program The Music Ascension Program (M.A.P.)
"We believe that children hold within themselves their own music". During the summer, our campers get together to write and sing about life and life at camp. This is a great chance for the children to find creative ways to express their ideas. After writing and rehearsing their songs, Project Morryers then performed their music in our music studio. These performances were all recorded live. The albums produced this summer captured the most spirited of those performances. The great variety of song on those recordings is testament to the boundless imagination of children given the opportunity to speak, write and sing. "The Music Ascension Program at Project Morry is a collaboration of many children working together to create something beautiful, something funny, and something of which they can be forever proud." These words were written by Peter Kalvert, who created the Music Ascension Program - M.A.P. during Summer 2000. Peter is an Camp Echo Lake alumnus and currently works with the NYC Public Schools on a variety of music awareness programs. Summer 2001 saw the continuation of this wonderful program. The children spoke and sang of heroes, community, sports, camp friends, their hopes and dreams and of Morry. At the end of the summer they each took home a copy of this wonderful collaboration on their very own CD. One CD was produced for our first session campers and another one for the second session. In a word, it was MAGIC. Song and word brought groups to a starting place, enabled kids to step forward who had only found comfort in the back of the group and allowed pride to appear in their eyes in celebration of a job well done. We take time to thank Peter for his commitment to the beginnings of this wonderful venture. Without his tenacity, knowledge and vision the program would not have existed. The Educational Component The Project Morry summer program focuses on a combination of recreational and educational areas as well as values and personal development. We work with campers and encourage activities that develop their skill in personal communication, team building, personal responsibility, time management, tolerance of differences, decision making, problem solving and negotiation. Project Morry concentrates on the eight areas that have been identified by the New York City Board of Education that have implications for academic reinforcement or social development. They are as follows:
Using these areas as a base, each day a camp is divided into 5 activity periods, 1 direct educational reinforcement period and a structured evening program. The program format for these activity periods, as well as any elective opportunities, focus on an educational theme with goals and outcomes that are designed in conjunction with the Educational Coordinator, Program Director and Camp Director. After lunch the whole camp participates in an hour of All Camp Read. We also offer "E-club" a program that gives campers the opportunity to receive tutoring and assistance in areas such as reading, writing, math skills or language proficiency. Project Morry Graduation Every September Project Morry holds a very special Graduation ceremony for our Senior 4x4 Campers. Friends, Family, Board Members, Donors and Staff gather to celebrate this wonderful accomplishment. The Campers beam with pride as the walk across the stage to receive their Project Morry diploma signifying their successful completion of the four year program. Now these extraordinary campers are eligible to apply for the Post Grad Program. |
What Makes Our Program Unique?