This week is our Wizarding World summer camp, affectionately known as Hogwarts. We are living in the world of Harry Potter—magic, fantasy, and fun. We have 37 campers joining us, many who have been coming for years. It’s an amazing week that takes a certain amount of creativity and stamina.
Our service project this year is for the Humane Society of Tennessee Valley (HSTV). The campers have already started writing and practicing skits about the various issues surrounding rescuing and placing dogs and cats: overpopulation, the no kill movement, and pet health care. Volunteers from HSTV are coming in twice this week to work with the campers, to help them learn more about these issues and to give them the opportunity to visit with the animals they protect.
Other classes this year include herbology, in which Rev. Carol taught the campers about where food comes from and how our food gets so delicious through the growing and drying of herbs. It takes a lot of work to be a farmer and to grow your own food, so we gave the campers an opportunity to try it first hand. We planted a small herb garden and learned about the different types of herbs and companion planting.
We’ve tie-dyed t-shirts, gone to Diagon Alley for wizarding supplies, and all sorts of other fun things. Tomorrow we get some amazing classes with Anne Scott leading musicology and Grechen Wingerter teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. We continue with Quidditch tournaments led by Beth Sandidge throughout the week, as well as some of our other yearly traditions including the Daily Prophet photo album. Linda Chavez has spent countless hours gathering materials and helping to organize camp.
Every year we do this, we completely fall in love with our group of campers and this year is no exception. What a really great group of kids—they’re fun, creative, curious, playful, respectful, and are loving everything we do at camp. This program is such an important part of Westside and we always leave camp wishing we could do something like this on a regular basis throughout the year. There’s nothing like spending a day living in the imaginative world of children! Westside has a lot to be proud of in offering a camp of this quality and creativity. Check out the photos on our Facebook page that we post (almost) every day. Be sure to thank our team that makes it possible!