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Today was the last full day of Hye Camp 2005. Even though wake up was scheduled for an hour later than usual this morning, continuing what has become an unusual pattern this year, a number of campers were up before the morning siren went off. By the time 8:30 rolled around, camp was already in high gear. Badarak, celebrated by Archbishop Khajag Barsamian was the first event of the day. During the service, Srpazan re-introduced the topic of the Armenian Genocide, relating it to the Crucifixion of Christ as well as sharing with campers stories of his Grandmothers survival. He also highlighted his Grandmothers strong faith, and her forgiving attitude, based on her strong faith, towards the killers of her family. He completed his thoughts by expressing his joy at the loving spirit, goodwill, and friendship at Hye Camp.
After a light brunch and our camp picture, everyone said farewell to Srpazan and campers separated to their cabins to begin cleaning and packing, working on their skits, and then working on completing the Olympic team flags. The final major Olympic competitions took place this afternoon. A basketball tournament as well as a volleyball tournament were both dominated by Hye My Name Is…, Team 3. The second to last competition was the shoe kicking contest, where campers got to see how far they could kick their shoe off their foot. Paul Oganyan, representing Team 2 The Hye Rockers, won the shoe kicking competition.
After some more free time to complete skits and Olympic flags, everyone gathered for dinner and the final Olympic competition, the judging of the Olympic flags. Going into the flag competition, Team 3 had made a strong comeback on the strength of their sweep of the basketball and volleyball brackets and was only 1 pt behind Team 6 for first place. However, Team 5, the Hye Pods, won the competition and when Team 3 and Team 6 both failed to place in the top four with their flags, the top of the points competition remained the same and Team 6, The Khentanots, was crowned 2005 Hye Camp Olympic Champions. Congratulations to Captain Talin Hitik and the rest of her successful squad.
After dinner, it was time to see some cabin skits. MC’d by staff members “Uncle” Harry Kezelian and Matt Derbabian, each cabin was given the opportunity to display their creativeness and talent and each skit seemed like an effort to out-do the last. In the end, judges voted the skit created by a combined effort from the 13 year old boys and 13 year old girls, acting out and singing the words to the Armenian Folk Song “Chara-gigi”.
The last event of the day was the highlight of the day, the much anticipated Hye Camp Dance. Campers got to show off their freshly acquired dance skills, while proud Performing Arts instructors Yn. Patty Dagley and Debbie Der Asadourian happily enjoyed watching the fruits of their labor, and even joined in the fun for a couple songs.
Tomorrow morning is going to be a busy morning and everyone eventually, reluctantly, made their way to bed to get a little rest for the hard work ahead of them. Busses will be loaded and leave, parents will fill their trunks with luggage and backseats with campers, and the staff will clean up all of the supplies and files necessary to run camp for the week. In the coming weeks and months, planning for next years Hye Camp will begin and one year from now there will be 140+ campers arriving back at Hye Camp with wide eyes and excitement. For now, we all can look back on another successful year at Hye Camp. A special thanks must go out to Lisa Mardigian, Staff Coordinator, Jenni Morris, Programming Director, Debbie Der Asadourian, Hye Camp Board Chairperson, and Fr. Aren Jebejian, Hye Camp Director. A special thank you also goes out to all the staff that donate their time and energy to make Hye Camp such a fun and enjoyable place for children to come, to learn, to play, to make friends, and to make memories that will last a lifetime. We all look forward to next year as we close the door on a spectacular Hye Camp 2005.
