Dozens of children had fun at The Isle of Skoo's summer camp, which ran this year from July 6-24. It was held at Christ the King Lutheran Church.

The summer camp was divided into four one-week sessions. It paired kids ages 4-8 with a high school-aged mentor for the whole week; together, they watched puppet shows, sang, danced, and made arts and crafts.

Campers became lighthouse keepers on the Isle of Skoo, a colorful, imaginary place where animals and objects can talk. They got to befriend Skoo Sil, the lighthouse keeper, along with many other fun characters along the way. This included Freddie the Foghorn, an anxious foghorn who worries about his job, and Shelly the Clamshell, a shy clamshell who struggles to even say her own name.

To help, campers used the isle's magical mystery box, which always had just the right item to save the day. On the first day of camp, one of the items campers got from the mystery box was a kazoo, which made them all very excited. They used their kazoos to play Guess My Song, a game where someone plays a song on the kazoo and someone else guesses what they were playing. Through playing their kazoos, they learned they can let go of their worries by playing music and being together with friends.

No matter the situation, the kids and mentors put their listening ears on and did what they could to help the many characters they met along the way, all while learning important life lessons. Children learned how to stick up for themselves when someone treats them unkindly and that it is okay to make mistakes and not be perfect.

The fun and excitement continued all throughout the week. The last day of camp was particularly special for the mentors and mentees, as it was the Carnival Extravaganza.

After their morning puppet show, kids got to participate in carnival games such as a dunk tank, balloon animals, ring toss, and more.

Then came the paper plate awards. Mentors spent all week getting to know their mentees, so in one last bonding experience together, mentors honored their mentees with a paper plate award complimenting something about their personality or character. Each paper plate was personally decorated by the mentor, themed after the award in question.

Parents came to see the special award ceremony, watching their child walk up and receive their award from their mentor. The mentors smiled as they gave the kids awards such as Smiler of the Summer, the Storyteller Award, the Queen of All Pets Award, the Teddy Bear Award, and the Best Athlete Award, among many others. Several kids also got a tic-tac-toe-themed award since they all loved playing the game, much to the amusement of the audience.

They ended the day for a final time with a goodbye from Skoo and his many friends. While it may have been sad for the kids to leave camp behind, they all sang "The Isle of Skoo Goodbye Song," smiling as they danced and looked back on all the memories they made together.

Shine Big, Shine Bright

The Isle of Skoo is offered by Ben's Lighthouse, a local nonprofit with a mission to foster children's potential to create a more compassionate and connected world.

Ben’s Lighthouse Creative Director Francine Wheeler, mother of the late Ben Wheeler whom the foundation honors, said they piloted The Isle of Skoo in 2018 and into 2019. They started by doing shows at C.H. Booth Library before also turning the program into a summer camp.

"At the time, we thought it would be a great way to serve the Newtown kids, to help the kids who survived the tragedy at Sandy Hook," Wheeler explained. "But also because we thought that building community and moving forward was important at the time."

Over the years, Wheeler watched as the camp developed into its own community. She called it a special camp, as kids do it to connect with others their age, along with their teenage mentors. Wheeler added that the mentors have a real chance to grow as people; many volunteer for the first time, and use this experience to help them prepare for college.

After this year, mentors reached a cumulative 9,500 hours of volunteer service since the camp started in 2019. Wheeler said she tells the mentors every year that they "can't do it without them.

"It's a natural progression of how it's developed over the years," Wheeler said with a smile. "I can't believe how long we've been doing it."

This year, The Isle of Skoo summer camp had approximately 220 kids between mentors, mentees, and junior mentors.

Wheeler said they want everyone to have a chance to experience camp. If a family cannot afford the material fees, the nonprofit pays for it just so they can come.

"Our motto is that, especially if you've never been before, is to have everybody get to camp once. If they can come back again, great. But we definitely try to have everybody. We try not to say no to anyone," Wheeler said.

Ben's Lighthouse Administrative Director Shannon D'Amico, who also writes grants for the nonprofit, said most of the camp's funding this year came through a grant from The Warner Fund. They also received funding from Give Back Brands, which has been a long-time supporter of the camp.

She and Wheeler said that the camp, and by extension Isle of Skoo, is always growing. They had a focus group on the week of July 6, where Wheeler invited a bunch of educators, teachers, and professional guidance counselors to give her some professional feedback and hone into ideas and themes for new shows appropriate for children, maybe even older kids in fourth or fifth grade.

D'Amico said each puppet has its own emotion and issue that they deal with, and, in the show, they discuss the coping skills associated with that emotion and how to work through them in daily life. Together, Wheeler said they hope to give kids a place of love and compassion, along with a drive to be kind to others.

"So, we're expanding our subject matter, I guess you would say. And we want to be inclusive to many different ... situations that kids can face, even at the young age of five," Wheeler said.

=====

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.