Saturday at Hye Camp was a day of uniting together as one. Many of our activities over the course of the week end up separating our campers by age groups, but today we were all together all day long. Fr. Tavit celebrated Soorp Badarak and everyone accepted holy Communion. Following Badarak we participated in the Antasdan (blessing of the fields) service for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, which was the theme of Hye Camp 2009. The morning wrapped up with a camp picture and brunch together.

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Olympics is a special at Hye Camp because it brings everyone together to participate in the same activity at the same time, from the oldest staff to the youngest camper. Hye Camp Olympics competition kicked off earlier this week with the team cheer / chant competition as well as the Capture The Flag competition. Saturday afternoon was busy with the bulk of the athletic competitions, including the basketball & volleyball tournaments as well as some individual events. The afternoon was fun and exciting, highlighted by Team 7 “Jackson Hye 5’s” winning the basketball tournament and Team 8 “Gaidzag” winning the volleyball tournament. Team 1 “Hye Risks” made a respectable showing in both team events, taking second place in each. With only the team flag competition and the poem / lyrics competition remaining, the race for overall champion was very close. The top three teams were only separated by a total of 10 points and no team was out of the running for the championship. The artistic talent on display was exceptional but the “Jackson Hye 5’s” managed to wow the judges with their flag and Team 3 “Hye-brows” proved to be mightiest with the pen. However, Team 6 “Hyely Skilled” stood by their name by taking second place in both events, which gave them enough points to be declared Hye Camp Olympics Champions for 2009!!!

As exciting as the Olympic competitions proved to be, in the back of everyone’s head throughout the day was the upcoming Hye Camp Skit & Talent Show. After dinner, final preparations for costumes were completed, routines were reviewed one last time, and everyone gathered in the chapel to see the all of our campers talents on display. The stage presence of our oldest campers dominated the evening, with the 14 year old girls cabin being voted best cabin performance and a select group of 15 year old boys winning best individual performance for a glow-in-the-dark routine almost one year in the making.

Please check back here soon for links to videos of all our Talent Show skits as well as our 2009 camp picture!!!