Loving, inclusive and nurturing environment for our kid. We are so grateful to Y staff, amazing Creative Theatet crew led beautifully by Ms. Gail.

Communication was amazing, overall fantastic. Structure of first assignment, basketball camp could have been improved. No drills or organzied BB, too much free play not enough for CITs to do. Third we at YKnots was awesome as was prep week.

This is our 3rd year with the camps. If this would have been our first year we would not be back. The communication during camp was late and confusing. There were never any pictures posted. The trips were not engaging. We were there for the first 2 weeks and the trips got better after she left. I understand that there are not a lot of campers the first 2 weeks but you still need to engage them.

The way camp is split up meant that my almost 11 year old was with kids who were younger. To an almost 11 year old, a 9 year old is completely different and a little kid. She was annoyed that she wasn't surrounded by peers. She asked on day 2 if she had to go back. This is a kid who loves camp and is currently at a different camp and loving it.

I am happy she can't do Discovery again and we will look into Theater or the Teen camp next year. Discovery for the older kids needs more. It is great for the younger kids. Maybe different trips, maybe a different program. I don't know but I do feel like I wasted 2 weeks worth of camp fees this year.

Easy, fun, and affordable, with extended hours that make it one of the only local options for working parents. Thank you! I don’t know what we would do without the Y!

One very small piece of feedback as my daughter's experience in theatre camp is always great! The day of the show, it would be great if all kids could stay at camp so there is less back and forth. Willing to pay $25 or whatever it would cost just for this one day of "aftercare" built in. It seemed stressful for the counselors to also have to shuttle kids in and out.

Ms. Nicole Josey ran an amazing Summer Discovery Camp with tons of detailed info before leading up to the weeks and during and even after. I loved the variety of offerings throughout the week that covered everything from community service to stem to social emotional learning. Wish we were doing this the entire summer now!

My son was excited to go to camp every day and can't wait to return next year. He is very into sports, and the fact that camp got him into something else (theater) was so great.

Theater camp session 3 was great!

Great follow up. Attentive counselors. On top of their campers!

Trips

The camp was engaging. It offered a good blend of academics and fun. Our kids were able to make new friends and continue to learn and explore during the summer.

Communication; minimizing swim cancellations; notifying parents of scheduling changes sooner

I was impressed with Omar and summer discovery camp. Griffin had a wonderful time thank you!

The counselors and leadership care deeply about the kids and make sure they have a stellar time.

The camp counselors and leaders are awesome. My daughter really enjoyed the camp.

The counselors were great and interacted well with my child and I could tell really cared about the kids. As a long time Y family, we have lots of good things to say about the Y and previously would always wholeheartedly recommend it as a great place to friends and family. The reason I wouldn't recommend more strongly now is because of the disorganization we experienced this summer, especially the first few weeks, which created a lot of extra work and stress for the parents. Lots of items going missing (even though everything meticulously labeled), or wrong items being sent home. This did improve as the summer went on though.

the counselors are SOOO smily and sweet. I love that my kids spend the day with that energy.

My kid loves the field trips!

The staff is so welcoming and friendly! My daughter can be a bit shy at first, but she's really jumped into camp this summer and has been having a great time. She's excited to go to camp each morning and it's been great to see her having such an awesome time.

- Space out snack time to be after lunch time

The trips are great! The kids have a lot of fun and it's age appropriate. The only piece of feedback I'd have is it would be so great to find a way to have the kids swim on Tuesdays and Thursdays locally, without swim caps. I'm certain that you've tried to sort this out before and there are a host of reasons why it never has worked out. But I'll just reiterate that if we could continue to work on working it out, I think it would make such a difference.

Consistency in formatting of information with the different camps would be extremely helpful. The various emails, links and website information is confusing, and some information was not accurate. The address for dropoff camp was not correct and I had to call the main office to get the correct location.

The costs of these camps are getting much higher while what you get at these prices have remained the same or even decreased. We will find alternative summer camps next year.

Some Concerning things each week -they had camper walk around camp shoeless 1130-3 when they knew she had shoes and she was sent to camp in shoes. Last week they lost their first aid kit and another little boys Epi one, a week or so before that a little girl wasn't fed her lunch to at her parents ordered through simply gourmet, and her parents were never called about it - no one thought to ask why she didn't have lunch but they fed her clementines for lunch instead. Meanwhile her lunch sat outside the classroom in her cubby, because no counselors in the class asked . Just to mention a few concerns

The location is close to home. Great communication with the staff.

This year for Teen Adventure camp, it seems like there are not effective accommodations at Borden if it unexpectedly rains while they are on site. With the weather being so chaotic, this seems like a miss, and potentially unsafe.

This has been such a great summer experience for my son! Between the pool and field trips, he's had a blast and made new friends. He's doing a skateboard clinic as well and is surprising himself with how much fun he's having. He's not usually a sports kid, so this has been very eye opening for him. Thanks so much to everyone who makes this program so special!

My daughter is having a blast this year at camp great experiences and trips, and the staff is incredible.

My children are always happy and tired from action packed days!

Hated that the overnight was mandatory with no other options. We signed up early before the schedule was published and had no chance to change after we saw it was overnight. So we paid for a full week but only got 3 days. Also, my child was not allowed in the pool on a very hot day because they didn't have a swimming cap. Horrible and very dangerous - could've given them heat stroke. Will not be signing up again

The variety of trips at Teen Adventure Camp. The staff has been so friendly and at Creative Theatre Camp as well. My very introverted daughter is having the "best summer ever" as she said! Thank you so much South Mountain YMCA for your dedication to children and quality summer programming.

SOMAPY 2 has been an incredible disappointment. There seems to be an utter lack of organization, engagement and planned activities for the campers. Other than the field trips, the campers have little to no engagement and are left to occupy their time themselves. At best, there seems to be one organized activity/sport. This is not worth the cost of the camp. In addition, we understand it is due to occupancy, but the fact that the campers have to be taken to Borden Park is something we would have considered, and most likely chosen not to do had we known. The remote pool situation is also incredibly disappointing - it is not the same experience or facilities and sounds quite bleak. With each week, we hope the situation will improve, but after a two week break and return to camp, it does not seem better from the first two weeks. If there were a way to cancel and get our money back, we would. SOMAPY 1 seems to be fine and what we have come to expect.

Clearer communication on supplies needed- where they're kept and how often to pack.

Great staff, fun activities!

It's well-run, there's a variety of activities, with lots of outdoor and pool time. The counselors are super friendly and my kid has fun.

We love theatre camp and have already made many recos for it!

The counselors are very nice and they are hands on. I like having the week poster in front of the camp because I get a lot of emails and having that poster is a great reminder. The timing of this camp is great. The early July start works for when my daughter gets out of school for the summer. Also the start time for the day is great. I have to be at work at 8 am and being able to drop off at 7:30 really helps. The late pick up time for aftercare also works well with my work hours. It was hard finding a camp that met all of my needs but my daughter also likes and this is top of her list. We will definitely be back next year.

The directors or Lead counselors of the program tend not to be consistent in their communication to parents in my case my grandson, Brayden BRAYDEN Silvera counselor .He was supposed to return 2 phone call I made to Gladys on two occasions and I never heard from him , on the other hand. The director for my granddaughter Lissette Silvera was much more communicative so there needs to be more consistency in training and follow up of the directors The other issue that I see if an event that is planned is canceled. There needs to be a reason so specifically my granddaughter was supposed to go to Governors Island, and it was canceled, but no explanation was given. I later found out from my granddaughter That the ferry to Governors Island was not running. I don't know if that's true, but that information should be coming from the counselors, not from the kids.

sweetest counselors, fun activities. the communication is also a lot tighter this year, which i appreciate. thanks for everything you do!

Warm staff, variety of activities, great trips

The worker are friendly and amazing. They have good trips for the kids.

Everything is very well organized, communication has been clear, and my son has been having a fantastic time.

Greater sense of what the kids do all day.

The counselors are very kind and loving. And I've been impressed with the range of activities offered. The aftercare hours are also great. My kids love going to camp every morning, which speaks volumes.

Omar was a great camp director. Very responsive and my child (Kyle Rufino) loved him and the program.

So far it's great! My family just moved here, and the transition has been a lot for my son. Camp has been such a fun and welcoming environment for him and has certainly helped with the adjustment. He couldn't run fast enough up to the tent this morning because he was so excited for the camp field trip. Thanks for everything.

Gail is the best!

great chance to hang out with kids from school in a different environment. the activities were fantastic, well-planned, well-communicated, and spaced out well. of course no pool was a big downside, but out of your control, obviously. a little more communication from the Y's end on that would have been helpful, as, of course, would even one day negotiated at a different pool. But to be clear, it was obvious that SO didn't have their schedule figured out well until very late. Finally--how fantastic for the kids to be able to sign themselves in and out. it's a really great way to give them some independence while also some structure. If AT ALL possible, I'd recommend allocating the resources to call parents if kids are absent without notice. I can't imagine it would take a ton of time, and it would help a lot for those of us who want our kids safe, independent and SCREENLESS. thanks for a glorious couple of sessions!

More parent communication via email.

The website is extremely confusing and it is difficult to manage the billing etc. We appreciate the camp and counselors very much, but it is really tough to manage. The dropoff time info was inconsisten throughout emails, I found out a couple days before camp that my kid needed a swim cap, it was indicated that both kids did but turned out only one does, etc. We are a divorced household and logistically it's a bit difficult.