Coach Paul, the School Based Program Coordinator at Gunsaulus Scholastic Academy made sure his students kept active this summer by running Summer Camp at their school. Coach Paul shares his Summer Camp experience at GSA in Chicago’s Brighton Park community.
UI and Gunsaulus Scholastic Academy continue their partnership this summer with another action-packed Summer Camp. Due to renovations taking place on the GSA field, camp relocated and took place at McKinley Park. Our kids took full advantage of the location change as they played group games on the large turf soccer field, utilized the playground slides and swings, and even hiked around the pond to look for fish and other city wildlife!
Throughout the month of July both boys and girls have mixed some of their favoirte UI games like Line Soccer and Star Wars with camp classics such as kickball, dodgeball, and a seemingly endless number of variations of freeze tag. Of course, the kids aren’t the only ones getting in on the fun. Our awesome team of camp counselors — Coaches Anthony, Earl and JP– kept busy leading health discussions, supervising games, and challenging kids to relay races.
On July 22nd GSA joined forces with the UI camp at National Teachers Academy for a day of extra-exciting activities. Fast-paced rounds of Banana Tag and penalty kick shootouts served as ice breakers for the kids to get to know each other. Once everyone was ready to really start moving, the Chicago Cubs On the Move Fitness Trolley stopped by and led students in a variety of fun games. Clark the Cub even made a special guest appearance and made sure everyone was having a fun and active time.
The day ended with volunteers from Guggenheim leading the kids in painting and planting activities. Students got to really roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty as they planted flowers in newly built flowerbeds. Of course they wanted the flowerbeds to be just as colorful on the outside as the inside, so they painted creative designs onto the the sides of the flowerbeds. As camp came to an end kids and families are getting ready for the coming school year. However many of our campers are already planning their camp activities for next summer!