Hye Camp Day 5

Hye Camp was lavished by some very special treats today, courtesy of the Chicago area churches. We indulged in choreg & cheese for breakfast, donated jointly by the Womens Guild from both the St. Gregory (Chicago) and St. James (Evanston) parishes. Surpazan led us in morning prayers, and took a final tour around camp to see our campers in their classes, before heading back to New York.

Armenian Language classes continued to use the new laptops, and campers made “Eyes of God” in Arts & Crafts. Yn. Tirouhe Boyajian taught religion classes & Debbie DerAsadourian led Armenian dance instruction with Megan Jendian during Culture & Heritage.

Hye Camp is also blessed to have a number of accomplished Armenian dancers as campers and staff, primarily from the Arax dance group in Detroit and the Sardarabed dance group in Chicago, and their assistance and participation in Culture & Heritage classes has been a great addition. All the campers have been practicing their steps so they can show off their moves tomorrow night at the Hye Camp Dance.

In the afternoon, campers competed in the “Closest to the pin” Frisbee toss during their sports sessions and everything was running smoothly until a full blown water balloon fight broke out, creating a slight distraction. Unfortunately, yours truly was offered no media immunity so the camera was unavailable at that time. As sports wrapped up, the familiar smells of Kef Time wafted across campus. Haig Pedian had the grills stoked and a couple hundred kebabs cooking for our second special treat of the day. The Knights & Daughters of Vartan (Chicago) served up the kebabs, salad, and pilaf for our traditional Shish Kebab Dinner.

Full on good food, it was time for our second Hye Camp Olympics competition, the Hye Camp favorite Capture The Flag. The eight Olympic teams are joined into two groups, and over 150 campers and staff battle to steal the opponents flag and safely recover it back to their home base. The Red Team, consisting of teams Supa Hye, The Hills Have Hyes, Hye School Musical, and The Hye Knight, won a close competition, giving all four teams first place points. After two events, The Hills Have Hyes and Hye School Musical are starting to distance themselves from the rest of the field. To calm down before bed time we had Hye Camp Movie Night, before finally turning in for the night. Hye Camp would like to thank the Womens Guild from both St. Gregory and St. James for their delicious choreg, John Paklaian and Haig Pedian for cutting all the lamb for our Shish Kebabs, and the Knights & Daughters of Vartan for providing everything we could ever wish for a great Armenian cookout.