Take 5 with Rebecca Campbell-McGonagle

This is Education Program Manager Rebecca Campbell-McGonagle's sixth year helming The Umbrella Arts Center's summer camp! In light of last year's milestone largest-ever class of campers, we “took 5” with Rebecca to learn what's next for summer camp at The Umbrella.

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TUA: What do campers enjoy most about their experience at The Umbrella's Arts Center?

Our campers are curious and creative, so of course they enjoy the rotating schedule of arts classes across Woodworking, Mixed Media, Animation, Dance, and Performing Arts! It's also nice that in the hottest days of summer we get to stay cool in our classrooms or in the shade of the outdoor classroom tent, but on each sunny day, our campers go to Emerson Field for lunch and free play. We also daily enjoy outside time at The Umbrella and in our outside classroom space. There are also a lot of more traditional camp elements like an end-of-week slideshow, camp songs and games, and spirit days that we incorporate for pure summer fun.

TUA: What are some things that have changed about Camp this year?

Many things have stayed the same, but we are always trying new things! This year we changed some of our themes based on recommendations from some of our returning camp families. We have added some new exciting ones like: Elements of Nature: Jungles & Rainforests and Art of Tomorrow - Futurism, Modernism & Abstraction. We also now have NEW Performing Arts Film Track, a NEW Performing Arts Camp Intensive for Ages 12-16 and a NEW Specialized Ceramics ProgramTUA: How many new vs. returning campers are enrolled this year? What does The Umbrella do to make everyone feel welcome?

This year we have approximately a 60% return rate and about a 40% rate of new campers! We strive to keep our camp program feeling small and intimate, we do this through making our group ratios of teachers to students a rate of 1:5 for campers age 6 and under, and 1:7 for ages 6-12. Additionally we encourage all of our Summer Camp team to find ways everyday to create magical, memorable moments with each of our campers.

TUA: Every camp week we have a different spirit day theme on Fridays. The spirit day theme changes each week, based on the theme of the camp week. What are some of the most creative costumes you've seen so far on theme days? Which theme day are you most excited for?

One of my personal favorite spirit day themes is Career Day. I always love seeing the campers getting excited about their future aspirations, but I especially love seeing campers walking in dressed up as future Umbrella Summer Camp Teachers, with a name tag lanyard, homemade staff t-shirt (with staff written on the back), homemade radios and their camp clipboards. Another theme I always love is on Week 7: Weird, Wild & Wacky Ways to Make Art. This week the spirit day theme is always Wacky Day – where campers can wear silly socks, crazy patterns, crazy hair, wacky hats and more. There is always a lot of creativity shown that day.

TUA: What are you hearing from families about summer camp this year?
It has been so wonderful hearing from returning camp families that they are so excited to be returning again this summer! I have also heard from new families saying that their friends told them about us and how excited they are to have their children come here since they have heard great things about the program. I also heard a glowing review from one family saying that this was the only summer camp their child wanted to attend this year! It is the comments like these that make me so proud of the work we do here and the whole summer camp team for making The Summer Arts Under The Umbrella camp experience so memorable that families look forward to returning year after year.