Briarwood Bugle 2024 – Week 2

Check out our latest Briarwood Bugle! You can read it below or see it in glorious color and with photos here.

Briarwood Bugle 2024
Week 2

From Mike and Matt
We hold these truths to be self evident: that Briarwood is awesome . . . and that among this awesomeness are friends, laughter and the pursuit of gaga.

We had another great week! July 4th week barreled along and the kids had a great time swimming, playing, painting, Zoom Flooming, participating in the Gaga Tournament and everything else!

Can you believe that two weeks have already passed? Of course, we prefer to look at things as we’ve got 75% of Briar-awesomess left. Next week: Tie Dye Week, Wednesday Themeday is Crazy Hat Day, CIT trips and so very much more!

And if we can editorialize for a moment, we are very lucky to live in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Have a great weekend!

Notes from the Lifeguard Chair by Rob Resnick, Briarwood Pool Director Greetings from the pool staff! Camp is off to a great start and our campers are improving rapidly. Water safety is a major part of what we do at Briarwood and our lifeguards here have more than 80 years experience lifeguarding here (yes, seriously). We get a lot of questions about deep water testing for kids as well as some other items so we thought we’d write a quick note here.

• Lower pool deep water testing requires treading water for one minute, front crawl 15 yards, back crawl 15 yards, jump in and swim under water 15 yards.

• At the upper pool, due to the depth of the water, you must be Level 3 or higher to swim in the deep water.

• No snorkel goggles at free swim.

• We know some campers complain about instructional swim. Parents, please encourage your camper to keep trying. It’s an important life skill and we’ve been teaching it well for years!

MEET OUR BRIARWOOD STAFF!

STACY MCCOWAN is a fabulous addition to the Briarwood pool staff for her first summer. During the school year, she teaches at Council Rock South. She and her son, who attends camp, read books every night. They’ve completed 1,000 books before he starts kindergarten in the fall. WOW! Her favorite food is Caesar salad and she loves Philly sports. Her goal is to do a full marathon in all 50 states. Happy running Stacy!

LIZZIE GOTTLIEB rejoins the Briarwood family for her 11th summer and has been attending since she was a Robin at 9 years old. She attends Syracuse University for Broadcast Journalism. Her favorite event at Briarwood is the Bunk Shows. She loves strawberry shortcake and Back to the Future. If she could be any animal, she’d be a panda and if she could travel anywhere she would go to Greece!

JENNA GARBER returns to Briarwood this summer for her 13th year! She is a student at West Virginia University. Her favorite thing about Briarwood is all of the friends she has made along the way. Her favorite food is a cheeseburger and she loves to watch The Bachelor. If she were an animal, she would be a cheetah and if she could travel anywhere it would be to Hawaii. Jenna has NEVER broken a bone.

DREW WEITZMAN debuts at Briarwood Day Camp for his first summer as a Senior Counselor for the Otters! During the school year, Drew teaches 4th grade at Abrams Hebrew Academy. His favorite food is sushi and if he could travel anywhere in the world, he would go to Aruba! When Drew isn’t watching Seinfeld, he loves to go to trivia. He is a 3x Trivia Night Champion! Ask him anything!!

LUKE BLUM joins the Briarwood team for his first summer and we are happy he’s here! His favorite thing about Briarwood are his campers. His favorite food is brownies and if he could travel anywhere in the world, he would love to check out Greece or Italy. If Luke could be an animal, he would be a sloth. His favorite TV show is Game of Thrones.

The Briarwood Bears by Jack Morgan It has been a fantastic start to the summer for the Bears! From gaga to nature and everything in between, this group of 14 has been a joy to be with for myself, Asher (JC), Nick (JC), Matt (CIT), Seth (CIT), Scottie (CIT), and Anderson (CIT)! In gaga, Miles and Ashton have excelled and represented the Bears well against other bunks. Baseball is a strong suit for many of our kids, especially for Malcolm, Timothy, Cole and Odin. Stanley loves to fly high on the jumper, and Ezra is having a blast in the cooking club! Scott is turning into a very skilled marksman in archery and it was amazing to hear about the fun he was having during clubs this past week! Andrew and Ben have made our hockey games every Monday feel like game seven of the Stanley Cup with the skill and energy they bring to the table, which is impressive in its own right given that it’s the last period of the day! Henry, Alex and Ethan have been very active and competitive in all the activities we play, which just makes things even more enjoyable for us! Overall, this is a great group. My JC’s, CIT’s and I are very excited to continue working with the kids to make this the best summer possible for them!

SOME FRIENDLY BRIARWOOD REMINDERS:
• If you want to reach your camper’s counselor during the camp day, call the office at 215-598-7143 and we will gladly relay your message. Please do not TEXT or CALL your child’s counselor directly during the camp day. Our counselors are busy watching children and we have asked them not to check their phones during the day.
• Early and Late Care is available from 7:30 am—6:00 pm sharp. Please call the office if you will need this service.
• While it never rains at Briarwood, in the event of a passing shower, please send your camper with the appropriate rain gear should the forecast call for rain.
• Camp is for sneakers! Crocs, sandals and flip flops should only be worn to the pool
• Apply sunscreen daily prior to coming to camp.
• Please label all clothing and personal items. That said — and because we know kids — our Lost and Found is located by the Sports Center on Upper Field.
• Did you miss a Bugle? You can find all of this summer’s Bugles in the news section of our website.

PLEASE DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD TO CAMP IF HE/SHE IS NOT FEELING WELL.

Important Dates

•Week of July 8-Tie Dye Week

•July 10th-Wednesday Themeday: Crazy Hat Day

•Week of July 15-Tie Dye Week Part 2

•July 16th-Lower Camp Bunk Show at 10:30 am

•July 17th-Upper Camp Bunk Show at 10:30 am

•July 17th-Wednesday Themeday: Disney/Marvel Day

•July 19th-Halloween in July

•Week of July 22-Briarwood Fishing Derby

•July 19th-Wednesday Themeday: Hawaiian Shirt Day

•July 25th-Make up Picture Day

•July 26th-Goofy Day

•Week of July 29-4th Annual Campwide Mini Golf Tournament AND S’mores Week at Nature

•July 30th-Busy Bee Show

•July 31st-Wednesday Themeday: Sports Jersey Day

•July 31st-Gymnastics Show

•August 1-Carnival

•August 6th-Mystery Day

•August 7th-Wednesday Themeday: TBA

•August 12th-Briarwood Birthday Celebration

•August 14th-Wednesday Themeday-Briarwood Spirit Day

•August 16th-Last day of camp – early dismissal at 2:30

EARLY DISMISSAL NOTE: Early dismissals after 2:45 pm can be very difficult because the “regular” car line begins filling. If you’d like to be sure that you can “get out” before 3:00 pm, please try to arrive before 2:45 pm. Thanks!