Blog

Every camp parents know this car-ride conversation: “How was it?” “Great!” “What’d you do? “Lots of fun stuff.” Sound familiar? After a session at camp, I’m sure your child has countless camp moments they can share – but will they? Getting kids beyond the “it was...

Prepared by Shirah Kraus Juice: Summit Rosenberg, the Gezah (7th-8th grade) unit head, enjoyed Yom Lilah, or Day of Night. Instead of attending the regularly-scheduled evening programming with the rest of camp, Summit surprised his campers with a camp-out on Gezah...

Written by Maayan Feintuch I’ve always known GUCI would have an ever-lasting impact on my life. I could feel the difference in my preteen/teenage/young adult self when I would come home each summer ten-fold times more confident, more willing to take new risks, bolder...

Written by Shirah Kraus Shavua Tov GUCI friends and family. Every week we have been making a havdalah-inspired post. In this service, we bless the sweetness of Shabbat (juice), the fragrant smells (spices), and the light (fire) that we hope to bring with us into the...

Written by the Garin Kallah Aleph Staff   During shiur, Garin studied The Jewish Family; a value that highlights how differentiation in family is positive. The campers participated in activities and group discussions regarding their families make up, Judaism, and...

Written By, Shirah Kraus Juice: Our long-time camp doctor, affectionately known as Scotty Doc, grew up at GUCI and has stayed in touch with many camp friends. This past week, he enjoyed celebrating a birthday with one friend who was once his Gezah camper. Spice:...

Written by Lauren Sharp Bernstein Did you know that attending Shabbat services could change your life, forever? Yes, I am serious, spending an evening at synagogue could change your life. Here’s how it changed mine. When I was 13, My mom and I were at Shabbat services...

The below post was written by Avodahnik Sam Steed, Blue Team Captain, following our Yom Sport (color war day). This summer I was given the remarkable opportunity to serve as a Yom Sport captain for the blue team and it was one of the most rewarding, amazing days of my...

Written by Shirah Kraus Juice: Stefanie, our camper-care intern is new to GUCI and just arrived at camp. She says “This past week has been a wonderful whirlwind of new places, people, and traditions! While this was my first week at GUCI, the camper interactions that I...

Written by Ethan Bennett   For me, camp is not just the special piece of land found along Moore Road in between 86th and 96th Streets in Zionsville. Rather, camp is and will forever continue to be this magical phenomenon that brings be happiness, that forces me...

Written By: Shirah Kraus Shavua Tov! We had such a great first week of camp! To start off our second week, we have more "Juicy, Spicy, and Fiery” moments/hopes to share! Juice: One of our assistant directors, Jillian Shkolnick, says she loved greeting families on...

Austin Zoot is so excited to be spending his first summer at GUCI as the specialist Coordinator. Austin has 8 years of prior camp experiences at URJ camps, including OSRUI, Kutz, and 6 Points Sports CA. He is a fifth year rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College in...

Written by: Shirah Kraus 8 June: Take a deep breath. As we transition from Shabbat into the rest of the week, members of the GUCI community reflect on the past week. Corresponding with the three symbols of Havdalah, our ceremony separating the holy from the mundane,...

Explaining to non-camp people anything about what camp life means is always a complicated undertaking. It was hard to explain to friends in middle school and high school, and continues to be a challenge as a 38-year-old that still loves camp. So last summer as I was...