I love the program for kids so i would definitely recommend it to other parents.

I love that everyone is respectful and helpful. They are very motivating and uplifting my children love it. They feel safe there and they have honestly been asking to come here rather than go to the outside basketball courts so thank you guys for being who you are and being available to so many people adults and children that need you. Stay amazing and smile because you all deserve to.

Traditional camp offers no planned activities for children throughout the day besides swimming. Child complains they spend the entire day outside doing nothing. When inside, they are sitting in the room also not doing much. Pickup takes at least 15 minutes. Will not return next summer.

L

It was a vet camp and there was nothing really done in regards to hands on learning and vet related things like the description mentioned

Lots of outdoor active time, daily swim and the counselors are so nice without overdoing it

My daughter Jannel was very happy interacting with other children and sharing in a group. My daughter told me that the counselors are super friendly.

I think you do a fairly good job with programming for younger campers but have really declined when it comes to older campers. When my older daughter was CIT age, there were set tasks for them to do each day - coming up with new games for kids to play with a set of random props, helping lead activities, leadership activities, etc. There was also a teen travel camp. This summer my younger daughter is a CIT and does a lot of sitting around all day. She's been able to finish multiple large chapter books in the 2 weeks she's been there because she has so much free time. I'm not really looking to pay a camp for my daughter to sit around and read books and sketch when she could sit at home and do those things for free. There really seems to be little attention paid to quality CIT programming. How is this in any way actually training her to be a counselor? I would really love for Somerville to bring back some kind of teen travel camp - several other area YMCAs have them and I frankly may be switching my daughter to them next summer after this year's experience - which would be the first time in 11 years one of my kids wasn't enrolled in the Somerville summer camp. We are long time patrons of this camp and I feel as the kids get older the quality really declines (which didn't use to be the case). It was also really disappointing to find out well after all other camp registrations had closed that the Somerville facilty would not be available and two large camps would be sharing the Bridgewater facility. While I appreciate you offering full discounts if we didn't want to make the move, with nearly all other camps already closed it didn't leave parents with many options if they wanted to make a change. Surely you knew well before the summer was going to start that the Somerville facility wouldn't be available. It's also really disappointing to learn that multiple other camps were coming to use the pool at Bridgewater that already had twice as many campers in it as usual. It felt like to accomodate other camps who couldn't use ther pool, we were expected to have our kids sacrifice the quality of ther camp time. Then to top it off we learn the pool isn't even going to be available at all the last week of camp. Why were other camps able to come use our pool when theirs was closed but our campers can't do the same? Swim time is one of my daughter's favortie activities and to learn last minute this was not going to be an option was disappointing. Camp is literally over in one week. Could we not have planned better and had pool maintance occur one week later? How did you we not know until just recently this was going to happen and not forewarn parents who might not have signed kids up otherwise?

They were very active and attentive to the children and the trips weekly are a hit!

My child attended both Bridgewater and Somerville camps this summer. I was much happier with the Somerville side. First the enrichment camps were a great add on. More importantly I had a greater appreciation for the Director, Assistant Director, and counselors at Sunburst. They were professional and had situations more appropriately. I felt better about leaving my child at Camp Sunburst.

This program use to cater to somerville families, this year I was expecting and told that somerville camp would be held at Somerville Y which questioned before signing up my child. I then came to find out that not only were they canceling the before and aftercare program but that that camp was going to be held at Bridgewater. This was a big inconvenience for my work schedule. Bridgewater does not have the indoor space that Somerville would have been able to provide. I feel communication is key to this community and providing care that somerville residence depend on and has been offered in the past has change completely. It's sad that this was handled the way it was and it makes me not want to continue sending my child or signing her up for programs in the future.

It's incredibly disorganized.

I love all the counselors. This is my daughter's second year and we love it. The daily swim lessons have taught my daughter how to swim.

My daughter lives t this program

My kid likes it and enjoys the fun activities. He especially likes the gymnastics camp and asks me to sign him up next year. There are daily swimming lessons and extra time for free swim.

My daughters are so busy with fun and creativity. The counselors and staff are amazing!

last minute told parents that somerville summer camp was being moved to bridgewater ymca for safety reasons because construction still going on. they had to know that the construction was still going to go on during the summer camp. so having the courtesy to tell parents sooner would have been better. not having college student coaches teaching gymnastics camp the first week. the college student coaches look overwhelmed. i work inside a big company as a contractor and use to tell people how the somerville ymca was a great place to send your child for summer camp and gymnastics from my child's experience. but have been disappointed at many occasions in the past years from what my child has told me from their day.

I love the camp counselors. They do a great job keeping the kids busy and communicating with the parents.

My kids liked the specialty camps, and the pricing of camp is very reasonable, but they found the regular day camp chaotic and boring.

Better weekly camps and better communication

The actual field trips always take place during gymnastics camp, forcing my child to choose between activities. The field trips on the off weeks is always ice cream and water play. $12 is a lot to pay for ice cream! Plus, the scream truck is terrible. If not for friends, I think camp is pretty boring for her. Gymnastics camp is good. It would be nice if there were more availability for your specialty camps, like art. Thanks.

to include more physical activities/games

More pictures and daily updates through GroupMe.

Compared to other camps in the area the facilities are very limited. There was no communication with the parents throughout the week my children attended, and when I asked basic questions of the staff at drop off (i.e. do we send lunch for a field trip) they did not know the answers. Overall the staff are kind and the kids were safe, but communication and organization could be improved.

Friendly staff, activities and experience.

Unprofessional still waiting to get a call back from Wayne in July and have not reached baxk to solve the problem.

Es un programa muy divertido donde los niños dusfrutan de sus actividades y comparten con otros niños. Muy recomendado.

My daughter loved the camp Counselors and TJ friends she makes every summer

That the kids really enjoy it

I would like to see the full roster of camp trips and specialty camps to return. While it was clear that during the pandemic and shortly thereafter these would not be possible, nearly every other local YMCA has brought these back. Other Y's have different trips by age and are going to fun and exciting places like the Philly Zoo, Statue of Liberty, etc. They have sports specialty camps, various art camps, STEM camps, etc. Somerville Y used to have such an incredible set of offerings and it is what originally drew us to the camp. It now seems to be a very basic day camp which is fine if you're just looking for childcare but I'm looking for my kids to have the opportunity to have varied and exciting enrichments.

Better Communication with the leadership and director.

There are a few reasons why I'll not recommend this camp again. This is based on what my kid experienced in the camp. 1. The camp coordinators had a rude demeanor. Their interactions with my kid and around her included non kids friendly language. I understand most of them are teens (from what I saw) but I still expected some maturity and training. 2. I unfortunately missed out paying for the ice cream services on time that week. That being said, I expected that my kid will still be allowed to participate and I can pay for ice cream on that day. Instead, she ended up watching others eating ice cream including the coordinators. Not one adult decided to make an exception. She's 8 years old!! 3. My kid has a very friendly and outgoing personality. She has always found it easy to fit in and have fun. This is the first and only camp where she cried and pleaded (!!) me to not send her to this camp. I was pained to see her like this. Her overall experience, here, was bad. Her previous camp was Bridgewater Y and she had a great experience there. I had received a negative review from another family regarding Somerville Y summer camp but still decided to try this. I repented my decision.

My daughter had such an awesome experience enjoying gymnastics camps with great people and great staff. We highly recommend this program to anyone open to fun and creative activities. Thank you YMCA at Somerville!

La recreacion, la piscina, la amistad, las actividades .

We've had nothing but a great experience! The young adults running this program are doing a fantastic job! Our kids are always telling us about the games and fun things they did. Program is well organized and the counselors care and do a great job

Everything is great. I'm hoping there could be additional options for hot food added to the future similar to Pizza Fridays. Maybe Chicken Nugget Tuesdays.

No communication, my son was put on a waiting list because of their missed communication and he was left without pizza and no lunch on a Friday because we were new at the program and we did not know the money had to brought on Thursdays morning and nobody call me to let me know that or to bring him food.

Better field trips Better camp leadership More and better specialty camps that actually have a curriculum and aren't run entirely by the counselors More counselors - there's no yellow swim stage this year because there aren't enough counselors? More scheduled and structured activities during the camp day There aren't many pictures posted to GroupMe

The swim lesson daily and the fun my child always said she has with the campers and staff

The kids showcased all they learned in the gymnastics week with an end of the week performance. It was great.

Mi hijo se siente muy feliz y disfruta de los juegos , la piscina y los amigos en su campamento de verano.

My kids are having a blast.

The staff is very attentive. My daughter comes home happy every day.

Great

Better communication is needed. Camp drop off/pickup was always communicated as being outside. It was moved inside due to rain (which is totally understandable) but this was not communicated out to families. Very few photos are being posted in the photo stream compared to previous years. And there are so few specialty camps and fun trips being offered compared to what was done several years ago. It was understandable when these things were phased out during COVID but now that the pandemic has passed why do other local Y camps such as Hillsborough have TONS of specialty camps and fun trips like going to places like the Statue of Liberty and half of our "trips" are for "water games and ice cream"? Bring back Teen Travel Camp and Kidventure where kids got to go on a fun trip weekly. It just feels like this camp has been stripped down to the very bare minimum of offerings. We keep waiting for these things that were only phased out because of COVID to be restored but sadly it seems that will not be happening. We've attended for many years but will likely choose to go elsewhere next year because of it. Also where is the weekly newsletter sent out to parents letting them know the week's upcoming activities, themes, etc.? Why was there no option as in years past to sign up for text notifications too? Very disappointment in how much has been stripped out of this camp that my kids used to really enjoy

Well organized, great hours, lots of kids, many activities.

Nice counselors, well organized, a variety of activities. What I didn't like was that for kids not in traditional camp, it seemed like the special activity “trip" offerings weren't always available despite having signed up. Also, kids complained that pool was too crowded during swim time Overall, kids had a good time, were active, and made new friends which is why I would recommend it.

Both my kids love this camp. The counselors are excellent. The brag tags keep them wanting to behave in a fun way. The activities are great

Great staff. Good activities and field trips. Daily Swim lessons and free swim time make this a great experience. Cost is economical

My daughter used to love going to camp at Somerville but this year was very different. She didn't do as many activities as normal, some days just watching movies inside. It's very expensive for not getting a lot of activities. She even saw other groups doing activities that her group did not do. Ultimately she was very bored this year and we probably won't be back for the price.