Her eyes shining, her face glowing with a pure smile, she looked at me: “Tomorrow’s erev Shabbos!” she exclaimed. 

From that very first day of camp, I realized I would learn a lot. But I never could have fathomed how much I would really learn. 

It was my first day in camp, and as I sat on the floor davening with my little campers, I couldn’t help but laugh along with Country Yossi’s Modeh Ani song. It’s a cheerful ditty, one that thanks Hashem for our neshamos and giving us the gift of another day. And then it continues in a humorous way, expressing gratitude for Noskes and for Paskesz and, of course, for snow storms that keep us home from school. Obviously, yummy snacks rank high on the scale of importance for kids, and students of all ages anxiously await snow days. But does that mean that kids dread the end of these last drops of summer sunshine and the imminent start of school? Does even the deluge of crisp new notebooks, spanking new school bags, and colorful new shoes not tempt them?

Personally, I always looked forward to school. As the last weeks of summer vacation faded ever so slowly into oblivion, I spent much time peering excitedly at my school supplies, dreaming of that very first day with friends and teachers and learning. Was I alone in my excitement?

Can they vacuum your carpet? Check. Can they check out your grocery items? Check. Can they collect your toll fees? Check.

Robots: They’re everywhere, threatening to overtake our lives with their calm efficiency, swallowing up thousands of manual jobs. They seem so simple yet so complicated, smoothly doing what they are preprogrammed to do.

Robots are fascinating, yet we often do not see what goes on behind the scenes: the tedious job of building and programming these metallic “creatures.” Six girls in Bais Yaakov high school, supervised by Mrs. Ora Attar and Mrs. Sarena Schwartz, set out to do just that: build and program their own robot. Practically from scratch.

Summer beckons. The good news? School is out: no more shiny metal desks, and there’s plenty of time to run and jump under the dancing rays of the sun. The bad news? Spring fever has magically morphed into summer fever, and boredom has crept in. Cabin fever now refers to your own backyard, with its shiny new swings and overgrown dandelions. Little feet itch to explore the world; they want to go somewhere!

So where do the kids want to go? Are they longing to travel the world, to explore the stunning volcanoes of Hawaii, to marvel at the gigantic Eiffel Tower? Or will that bore them too? Then the bickering, which never quite ended, will pick up speed with the dizzying force of an erupting volcano.

We asked the kids and listened to their opinions. What do they remember 10 years down the road? What do they still laugh at? What was most conducive for family bonding time?