It was a hot summer day just a few years ago. I was working as a counselor in a day camp on Staten Island. Each year as the summer comes to a close, it is customary to have a few days of color war. This isn’t just any ordinary color war; it’s a combination of lots of screaming, composing songs and skits, playing sports, a whole lot of competitiveness, non-stop meetings…all with about one hour of sleep. You can imagine how much caffeine is consumed throughout these few days!
The first two days of color war had gone by very smoothly. The kids were having a blast cheering and playing games and everything was working out nicely. Each year, the last day of color war is always a crazy day. It starts off with a huge race that is made up of activities involving physical strength, mental capability, patience, and stamina. We like to call this the “Apache Relay”. Following this race, there are several cheers, a comedy song, comedy skit, and various other activities. At the end of this long fun-filled day the director announces the winner of color war. Well, the day was just beginning and it was about one hundred degrees outside. I could already imagine what kind of day this was going to be. The race was about to start. I was chosen to run around to the various booths with all the kids. They were spread out across two large baseball fields, a park, and a basketball court – you can imagine how much running that would entail! The judge blew the whistle and the first kid started to run to his booth as I ran alongside him. Then the second kid ran, then the third, and so on. All I could think of was the heat of the sun shining down on my back. As I was running with the fifth kid I started to lose my breath. I was approaching the basketball court and all of a sudden fell right onto a bench. The next thing I remember is opening up my eyes and seeing a bunch of paramedics standing around me with all their equipment and lots of water bottles. “She’s up!” I heard one of them call out. They started asking me lots of questions, like “what did you eat this morning?” and “how much sleep did you get last night?” They gave me lots of water and I began to feel a little better. Then out of nowhere a boy came running towards us and yelled, “Mikey fainted!” Then, a few minutes later I heard someone shout, “A counselor is dehydrated and needs your help!” Within 30 minutes there were about ten counselors that had either dehydrated or fainted. The paramedics rushed us all inside, gave us lots of liquids, and had us lay down in a room that had suddenly become an infirmary. One girl was even rushed to the hospital. Everyone’s parents came with worried expressions on their faces. Nothing like this had ever happened before!
We all stayed in that room for the rest of the day, while color war went on. We were all curious what was happening; who won the races, how the cheers and songs were going, etc. You can tell how seriously we take color war! At the end of the day we all came back to watch the final performance. All the kids wondered what had happened to all of their counselors. We didn’t want to scare them, so we didn’t tell them exactly where we were, but most of them were able to figure it out. The day came to a close as they announced the winner of color war and everyone went home. Thank G-d, we were all feeling much better by the next day and were able to joke about the crazy day we had!
The first two days of color war had gone by very smoothly. The kids were having a blast cheering and playing games and everything was working out nicely. Each year, the last day of color war is always a crazy day. It starts off with a huge race that is made up of activities involving physical strength, mental capability, patience, and stamina. We like to call this the “Apache Relay”. Following this race, there are several cheers, a comedy song, comedy skit, and various other activities. At the end of this long fun-filled day the director announces the winner of color war. Well, the day was just beginning and it was about one hundred degrees outside. I could already imagine what kind of day this was going to be. The race was about to start. I was chosen to run around to the various booths with all the kids. They were spread out across two large baseball fields, a park, and a basketball court – you can imagine how much running that would entail! The judge blew the whistle and the first kid started to run to his booth as I ran alongside him. Then the second kid ran, then the third, and so on. All I could think of was the heat of the sun shining down on my back. As I was running with the fifth kid I started to lose my breath. I was approaching the basketball court and all of a sudden fell right onto a bench. The next thing I remember is opening up my eyes and seeing a bunch of paramedics standing around me with all their equipment and lots of water bottles. “She’s up!” I heard one of them call out. They started asking me lots of questions, like “what did you eat this morning?” and “how much sleep did you get last night?” They gave me lots of water and I began to feel a little better. Then out of nowhere a boy came running towards us and yelled, “Mikey fainted!” Then, a few minutes later I heard someone shout, “A counselor is dehydrated and needs your help!” Within 30 minutes there were about ten counselors that had either dehydrated or fainted. The paramedics rushed us all inside, gave us lots of liquids, and had us lay down in a room that had suddenly become an infirmary. One girl was even rushed to the hospital. Everyone’s parents came with worried expressions on their faces. Nothing like this had ever happened before!
We all stayed in that room for the rest of the day, while color war went on. We were all curious what was happening; who won the races, how the cheers and songs were going, etc. You can tell how seriously we take color war! At the end of the day we all came back to watch the final performance. All the kids wondered what had happened to all of their counselors. We didn’t want to scare them, so we didn’t tell them exactly where we were, but most of them were able to figure it out. The day came to a close as they announced the winner of color war and everyone went home. Thank G-d, we were all feeling much better by the next day and were able to joke about the crazy day we had!
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