The village of Sinajana is holding its 12th annual “Sensational Summer Camp” program.
The summer camp was put on hold last year due to the pandemic. This year, the summer camp is able to function by modeling their COVID safety protocols through Guam schools and daycare centers.
Sinajana Mayor Robert Hofmann stated in an interview with NewsTalk K57 that one of the most difficult parts of opening the summer camp at this time was finding a way to adhere to COVID safety protocols
“One of the biggest obstacles we have is that sanitation protocol that always has to be in place. The kids are used to it from school time, washing their hands, sanitizing their hands. We reduced the number of touch surfaces that are available. But that was kind of the difficult part. During summer camp you wanna get together, you wanna be around each other. These kids love to hug each other, it could be only a weekend and you would have thought that they were off somewhere for so long. It’s just been two days but you just saw them,” Hofmann said.
The summer camp is currently in its 3rd week out of its scheduled 13-week run. The summer camp is set to run for 13 weeks to accommodate both public and private school students.
The camp is running from Monday to Friday from 7:30 am to 6 pm.
The summer camp activities include learning about countries around the world and their cultures through food and arts and crafts.
“What’s interesting about our camp is that we take them on this journey throughout the whole summer. Many people do not have the ability to travel. So we cover a different country, and there are 190 countries in the world, and we only have 13 weeks of summer camp. So we sit down and we pick what kind of country we want to best showcase. So we learn about their culture, their food, we learn about arts and crafts about that place and traditions. They kind of end up having a great discussion and I think that’s the best way to bring peace around the world. Is to learn more about their neighbor,” Hofmann said.
At this moment, the summer camp is at capacity at 30 kids. Mayor Hoffman stated that pre-pandemic, the summer camp would normally accommodate an average of 60-80 kids.
The 30 kids are divided into two groups of 15 kids each. They alternate the rooms at the Sinajana community center in order to accommodate for sanitation.
When asked if they are keeping the 30-kid capacity for the camp, the mayor stated that once the community arts hall is opened up, they would be able to have more space and hopefully accommodate more children and have more activities.
Mayor Hoffman added that being outside or being together amongst their peers is what the kids miss and need.
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