For All Children

CYO summer camp on Staten Island is something special

By VINCENT F. IOSUE

They were playing catch, practicing dance steps with friends or just chatting with one another in groups.

This is the way the day started this past Thursday at Father Drumgoole CYO Summer Day Camp, in its third year of operation on the spacious grounds of the Mission of the Immaculate Virgin, Mount Loretto, on Staten Island.

The camp, which offers 175 kids a week of activities--swimming and other sports, arts and crafts, nature hikes-seems at first glance to be a typical summer program. But, in fact, it has a special mission.

Most of its campers are mainstream youngsters. But the camp also welcomes learning disabled kids, offers tutoring to underprivileged kids sent there by the Board of Education, and this year it trained counselors who are legally blind.

The visually impaired teens were offered the jobs by camp director Frances Militieri, who got a call from the Vision Center at Susan Wagner High School that it had "teenagers who are ready, willing and able to work."

One of them, Nicole Klimuk, 16, of St. Patrick's parish on Staten Island, said she was interested because she "enjoys working with kids."

This day she was sitting at poolside playing the card game Go Fish with some kids who didn't want to go swimming.

"She's a capable young lady who can make a contribution," Mrs. Militieri said. "She can do something meaningful with children in spite of her limitations.

"And that's what camp is about. The whole goal is to do that with every camper--to have them reach their full potential as a loving person."

The mainstream campers are grouped by age: Suns, 5to 7-year-olds; Moons, 8 and 9, and Stars, 10 to 12. The Comets group was created for youngsters with learning disabilities and includes kids with Down syndrome, pervasive developmental disorders, autism and epilepsy.

This year the Meteorite group was added for 20 students from PS 57 in the Park Hill section of Staten Island. They received a New York City Board of Education grant which paid for three two-week sessions.

Mrs. Militieri, who is also director of the Staten Island CYO Community Center, said the kids did so well the first three weeks that the camp picked up the tab for the last session.

They received three hours of tutoring in the morning to develop their reading skills and make them more receptive to learning. The rest of the day was spent with the other campers.

Campers began to gather in a playground at 9 a.m. Within a half hour, it was abuzz with kids eager to get the day under way. Mrs. Militieri called them to order in a big circle around the flag for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Then they were off with their groups to different areas of the grounds trying their hands at sports, arts and crafts, nature, drama, swimming and camp newspaper--with each camper picking a favorite.

"I like to shoot hoops," said Amelia Rosinger, 10, of PS 55.

"I like to swim," said Samantha Tergia, 9, who was in the Comets group for children with special needs.

"It's really fun," said Louis Baldassano, 8, also a Comet, who said he enjoys swimming but also likes "playing sports in the gym."

The kids are fitted with life jackets and stay in the shallow end of the pool, watched by lifeguards and counselors.

Elizabeth Fortney, an inclusion specialist at the Tanglewood School on Staten Island, said that while it's tough to keep the learning disabled kids' attention on the activity at hand, it's special "when you break through" and "somehow manage to connect with them."

"They're just so loving," she said. "The littlest things make them happy."

Eugene Jaconetti, a counselor who switched from the Moons group to the Comets, said he's glad he made the switch.

"The kids are really fun," he said. "They're good kids, they just need help."

The camp was held in four two-week programs beginning June 29.