S
ummer camp: a time for roasting marshmallows for s’mores,
exhausting your supply of bug spray that your mother made
you pack, hiking through the wilderness and fostering
friendships. But kids aren’t the only ones enjoying their time in the crisp,
mountain air. For some adults, it’s not too late to head back to
camp this summer, too.

Susan Silverman has been an avid camper since she was a
kid herself.

She will be heading to Camp Nock-A-Mixon in Kintnersville
for her ninth summer this June, three of which were spent as a
counselor when she was in college.

Her job at the camp has varied over the years, but she is mainly
in charge of running the cooking class, where she and the campers
make one or two recipes each week based on a different theme.

She also has been a supervisor to the junior and middle girls and
still teaches swim to the junior girls, tutors Bar and Bat Mitzvah stu-
dents and transports staff to the bus or train station on their days off.

“I love interacting with the kids. I love interacting with the
staff. I enjoy being away from home in summer,” said Silverman,
who lives in Chalfont during the other three seasons of the year.

14 MAY 12, 2016
And during that time, she teaches preschool at several Bucks
and Montgomery county schools, as well as Hebrew school.

Silverman has such a strong connection to summer camp be-
cause she attended Adventureland Day Camp in Bensalem for
18 years growing up.

“I am still friendly with some of those kids that I grew up with,”
she added. “When I worked at Nock-A-Mixon in college, I made
some really good friendships that I still have. There’s just something
so special about spending your summer with a group of girls or
boys that you just have special bond with that you can’t get with
anybody else.”
The majority of the campers at Nock-A-Mixon are Jewish, and
Silverman said she hopes her own children maintain these special
bonds over the years.

Chalfont isn’t a predominantly Jewish area, so she emphasized
that “it’s important for me that my kids developed relationships
with Jewish children.”
“They have these bonds with these kids that they don’t have
with anybody else,” said Silverman, who belongs to Congregation
Beth Or in Maple Glen.

In addition to her own children fostering friendships, she has
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