"Best Summer Ever": Reflections on Camp Settoga's Inaugural Year
The JCC purchased a beautiful 21-acre property in Pomona, NY, in January 2016. The site, formerly a German biergarten known as the Platzl Brauhaus, quickly morphed into a state-of-the-art Jewish day camp we named Camp Settoga, complete with a heated Olympic-size pool, a 16-element challenge course, tennis courts, basketball, gymnastics, golf, culinary arts, a working garden, and much more.
"The goals were safe kids, a happy summer, and getting off on the right foot in our new home," says Adam Metzger, director of Camp Settoga. A fourth—figuring out how to live in our new site—may have been more abstract, but “all of those things were accomplished,” he says. Our first summer in our new camp home was excellent in every way imaginable!
In a summer of firsts, there were many highlights.
For Metzger, the best moment was the creation of a new tradition—the first Shabbat stroll. “After our weekly Shabbat reflections, the oldest campers would walk through camp together and pick up the younger kids as they went. To see the kids walking through the trees together… was an amazing juxtaposition of nature and city kids.”
For Director of Camps Genna Singer, a memorable moment was the final Shabbat stroll. “We had this grand plan of finishing the stroll in the middle of the camp. The older kids had written a song on huge pieces of paper that we were going to hang above the stage, so all the kids could sing it. Just as we were about to start, the skies opened up.
"In our former campsite," she continues, “it would have been a borderline disaster. There was no space in which everyone would fit comfortably. This time, we brought everyone into the main building and we were able to still hang the songs on the wall and sing.”
This summer, the goal is to “go deeper,” Singer says. “We want the kids to have experiences in more areas of camp, and to feel more deeply connected with the rest of the camp community.”
Helping campers connect to Jewish values is something Singer and Metzger are excited to continue to develop. The camp’s Jewish life and leadership team, known as the Values Squad, encouraged kids to add their reflections to rocks painted with Jewish values. “Kids are going to swim, they’re going to do yoga, but if we can enable them to have the deeper piece,” says Singer, “we’ll have done our work well.”
"This was our pioneer summer," Metzger says. “My excitement for next year is seeing those pioneers come back and showing their friends the camp. I’m looking forward to continuing to build on traditions that were created, the level of program excellence we have established, and the deep sense of community.”
To learn more about Camp Settoga, visit campsettoga.org or call 646.505.4430. To support Camp Settoga, visit mmjccm.org/give-settoga.
Sherri Lerner is the former editorial director at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan. She has written and edited for numerous publications and is currently on the staff of the Wechsler Center.