Monday, May 9th, 2016
Celina girls start summer camp
Camp Kazoo will debut June 13-17 at Eastview Park
By William Kincaid
Submitted Photo
Celina High School sophomores Grace McGohan, McKenna Black and Hope Ebbing pose for a picture after recently speaking to the Celina Rotary Club. The girls have created Camp Kazoo, which will debut in June at Celina's Eastview Park. Applications are being accepted until May 15.
CELINA - A trio of Celina High School sophomores is organizing a new summer camp for children to provide wholesome outdoor activities and lifelong memories.
Camp Kazoo will debut June 13-17 at Celina's Eastview Park and feature traditional activities such as water balloon fights, games of capture the flag, relay races, arts and crafts and more.
Inspired by the wonderful memories she got from Springboro Sunshine Camp, Grace McGohan recruited classmates McKenna Black and Hope Ebbing to create a similar experience for local children.
All three girls are members of the student council, honor council and spirit squad and are student-athletes.
"I lived in Springboro and every summer my mom signed us up for Springboro Sunshine Camp," McGohan said. "It was awesome. It was just a good old-fashioned camp. A lot of fun. Water balloons. camp songs. That kind of thing."
Her family moved to Celina, and McGohan never had the chance to be a camp counselor. Her younger brother also missed out on the fun, she pointed out.
Black and Ebbing agreed McGohan had a good idea.
"They have the same personality that I do," McGohan said. "We're all in student council. We're all really outgoing. We like to be involved."
"We're pretty close as friends," Ebbing noted.
"We've never had anything around here, so we just really wanted to bring it back here," Black added.
They then recruited six other classmates to form a team of counselors. Eight to 10 children will be paired with a boy and girl counselor, they said.
The girls said city officials liked the idea.
"We went to the rec department, and they were really on board with it, and they were excited about it so they helped us out a lot," McGohan said.
The camp for incoming first- through third-graders will be 9 a.m.-noon each day, and incoming fourth- through sixth-graders can participate from 1-4 p.m. each day.
Spots are still open, the girls said. Registration forms are available at all Celina schools, the city parks and recreation department and the camp's Facebook page. They must be returned by May 15 to Camp Kazoo, P.O Box 696 Celina, Ohio 45822.
The cost is $60 and includes a T-shirt, bag, kazoo, daily snacks and drinks and arts and crafts projects.
"We tried to keep (the cost) low so everybody could be involved in it," McGohan said. "The community has been a huge help in this. We've had people coming to us to donate snacks."
