Joshua Grynbaum Week 1: Camp at the J 2022


    This past summer was probably one of the best, if not the best summer of my life, due to the incredible job opportunity I was able to experience. For eight weeks during the summer, I was honored to work at the Levis JCC Marleen Forkas Summer Camp, and during that time, I learned so many life lessons and met so many amazing people.

    The first few weeks of camp were pretty difficult to get through. The days felt twice as long and the kids were not so cooperative. They would fight, hit, and touch each other which always led to at least one of them bawling their eyes out. Another thing I just could not stand was when the kid was under the weather and the parent still decided to send them to camp, especially with Covid-19. The kid would be coughing, sneezing, and have snot dripping out of their nose all day and would sometimes use our shirts as a tissue which was nasty. We even had a Covid outbreak during the second week of camp and were forced to wear masks indoors for the following two weeks. With all this being said, there were many good things to come out of working with these children. 

Because of this amazing opportunity, I was able to meet and become friends with so many great individuals from work. Initially going into the summer, I only knew a few of my school friends and close friends who were working at the camp and didn’t really know anyone else. Right after the first day of orientation, I met one of the most caring guys I have ever met. He made sure the kids were all having the best summer they could possibly have, while also keeping everyone under control and safe. I was also introduced to so many amazing people working in other groups that mean so much to me. Without them, summer would not have been as fun and enjoyable as it was. In addition to my friends and colleagues, the campers also contributed to all the fun I had this summer.

One of the most meaningful things that happened during this summer was realizing that I was the reason my kids had such a great time at camp. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the kids looked up to me and really enjoyed spending their summer with me like I enjoyed mine with theirs. I have heard from so many of their parents about how much their kids enjoyed the summer and how much they loved having me as a counselor, and that just makes me feel so happy inside. To top it all off, most of my campers actually attend Donna Klein so sometimes I see them walking around campus and when they see me they get all happy and excited and it’s the cutest thing I have ever seen. I am so happy to have worked with these children and would like to ask you, what was the most meaningful work you have done and what did you take away from that experience?

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