With many long summer days ahead of us, rising freshmen Yaeli Greenblum and Dalya Brickman have chosen to fill their free time by hosting a backyard camp for eight to ten year olds.

The camp will be held in Greenblum’s backyard in Potomac. The schedule includes arts and crafts, swimming, hiking, and more games from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. 

“I helped my neighbor as a counselor at her backyard camp and it was really fun so I wanted to make my own,” Greenblum said.

Greenblum’s mom, Dr. Tova Rubin, is excited about Greenblum and Brickman’s decision to start the camp.

“I’m really glad she took the initiative and is not only going to have something to do, but something where she has a chance to have some leadership and responsibility, and make some money,” Rubin said. “All of it’s great.” 

To keep campers safe from COVID-19, Greenblum and Brickman plan to keep all campers six feet apart and wash hands before and after every activity. The camp is completely outdoors, and when it rains they will utilize the garage with the garage door remaining open. 

“I think it would be crazy not to have some concerns [about COVID], and I think we spent some time thinking about ways of making sure that everybody stays pretty safe, so I trust Yaeli that she’s gonna take good precautions and not get lazy about it,” Rubin said.

Planning for camp can be challenging, but finding the campers is also a struggle, since many other teens are running similar programs. Advertising is key to bring in campers.  

“We advertised our camp on the JDS babysitting Facebook page, as well as just telling family friends about it,” Brickman said. 

The camp has a limit of six campers per week, which they have not filled for this coming week. They plan to continue with the camp even with few campers. 

“We are so excited about camp this week and hope that the kids have a great time,” Brickman said. 

After a few successful weeks of camp, Greenblum and Brickman have loved getting to know the campers and doing many different creative activities. They have gone on hikes, made slime and bracelets, bought a slip and slide to use, and baked. The three campers and both counselors have really enjoyed the past two weeks of camp, and hope that the campers continue coming back. 

“We plan to continue running camp for as long as the campers want to come!” Greenblum said.