By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The jumping fifth graders in tie-dye shirts created a shifting kaleidoscope of color in Conneaut Elementary gym Tuesday evening.
Their teachers set the stage, explaining the lack of seating for adults in the room.
“We went to camp. We didn’t sit in chairs,” fifth grade teacher Paul Reinhart said. “It’s not a park your buns kind of evening.”
The evening was a show-n-tell opportunity for the students who recently returned from a week at Camp Michindoh in Michigan.
Fifth grade camp for Bowling Green City Schools is a week of firsts for many students. First week away from home. First time holding a snake. First time testing themselves to perform skits, climb walls and being in charge of themselves.
Tuesday evening was divided into opportunities for students to show off their skills in camp songs, skits and sharing highlights of their week.
It was a snapshot of their week spent at Camp Michindoh with their teachers Tammy Beauprez, Bob Marzola and Reinhart.
Marzola assured the parents their children represented their school, community and families well. “I was 100% proud of them,” he said.
The fifth graders sang silly songs at the top of their lungs – further cementing songs that they will remember for years to come. The verses got louder each time, until it seemed the small voices could get no louder. But they did.
The camp songs were led by students, then echoed by their classmates who mimicked exaggerated gestures. The songs found nonsensical ways to rhyme nickel and pickle, dime and lime, and five and hive. They sang about the pizza man, Jackie Chan, Peter Pan, rubber band, and a Bieber fan.
On stage, the students acted out comical skits involving antics about unwitting campers mistaking dirty laundry water for bad coffee, and students under blankets stepping over a teacher with the last one dumping water on the teacher – you guessed it – a “centi-peed.”
After each song and skit, the students would retreat to the posters they created about camp lining the gym wall. Parents and others attending were encouraged to quiz the campers about their experiences.
Nolan Schumacher listed the highlights of his week as fishing, dodgeball and of course, the reptiles and amphibians. While some students were a little freaked out by the scaly and slimy creatures, not Nolan.
“I really wanted to touch everything,” he said.
And Nolan gave the camp food rave reviews, with one exception. “One morning the eggs were soggy,” he lamented.
Lyndsay Ashman also loved the “creepy, crawling” creatures at camp, including a tarantula, cockroaches, and beetles that pretend to be dead when they suspect a predator nearby. And she had no qualms about handling a python.
“I loved it,” Lyndsay said. “I know I keep saying that…but I loved it.”
The highlight of the week for Allison Devries was new friendships formed and old friendships reinforced.
“It was really fun to bond with my classmates,” she said. “I made stronger friendships.”
Freetime was often spent playing games and braiding hair with friends – and acting repulsed by their male counterparts at camp.
“I got really grossed out by the boys who would eat too much and throw up,” Allison said.
Elijah Baldonado particularly enjoyed canoeing for the first time – without tipping over – and learning how to climb a wall. He was quick to list all the safety steps taken with the wall climbing.
“They made sure the safety helmets were tight on us,” he assured.
For Peyton White, the drama night and the digital campfires were hits.
“All the classes were really fun,” she said.
So fun, Peyton said, that even an injury couldn’t keep her from camp. Peyton said while at camp she was stung by a hornet three times near her eye, “but I stayed.”
Caleb LeMaster also ranked the camp food as top on his list, with the roast beef and mashed potatoes being especially delicious. He also enjoyed the living history portion of camp.
“We went back to 1835 in Michigan,” Caleb said, describing that as a time when people had to hunt their own food, when Native Americans were plentiful in the region, and when Andrew Jackson was president.
It was also a time when walking on stilts and pulling someone into a potato sack passed as recreational activities.
Jackson Duncan explained that the hand signal for quiet used by the campers was the same used by settlers in the early 1800s urging silence among hunters in pursuit of deer, “so they could hunt it, and kill it, and eat it.”
Ellie Shaal also loved the living history lessons and performing skits. And the girls’ cabin dance parties during free time were a blast, she said.
Lucas Kern said there was no dancing in the boys’ cabins, but there was plenty of arm wrestling.
Lucas said he loved learning about reptiles and amphibians, but he had to overcome some personal limits. “Definitely some of the scorpions creeped me out.”
After long days of learning, campers were sometimes treated to bedtime snacks from their teachers.
“He stuck marshmallows and lollipops under our pillows,” Lucas said with a wide grin.
“I just loved being there,” he said.
