Set on 40 acres in the middle of Roslyn Heights, the camp, which offers activities for children 3 to 15 years old, has 200 employees in the summer and is so popular that some 200 are on the waiting list. The top six staffers each have been with the camp a minimum of three decades. Today, people want more for their children, Kulchin says. It used to be a playground and some crafts were enough. We offer everything from ice skating and rock climbing to swimming in heated pools, baseball, basketball, rollerskating and Rollerblading, soccer and even tennis and golf.
Enrollment is good, but the competition is very fierce.
You have to keep upgrading and offering more curriculum. Gary Turnier, a dean in Junior High School 93 in Ridgewood, Queens, and Joanne Turnier, a registered nurse, got the idea for the camps when their two children were young and they were both working. I was working summer recreation for the New York Board of Education, and we looked into camp programs and found they were unaffordable. So I had to quit the summer job to stay home with the children, he says. We call it day camp, but it essence, it is child care.