Vacation Bible School

Campers discover their faith at St. William’s

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“Camp Discovery” was the theme of the annual St. William the Abbot vacation Bible school, as children participated in music, arts, crafts and sports while learning about God.

The camp was designed for students and parishioners who, in the fall, will be entering pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. The campers were broken up into groups by their age and participated in different activities. According to camp Director Sister Meghan McArdle, there were approximately 50 volunteers, in seventh grade through college, who helped run the camp.

“It’s been great to be involved with the camp as a volunteer,” said Alex Figueiredo, 21, of Lindenhurst. “It has been interesting to see the different personalities of all the kids.” Figueiredo is a student at Molloy College, studying speech pathology.

“Once the week starts, the volunteers make the camp really run smoothly,” said McArdle, who has been the director of the camp for 15 years. “The volunteers have the most responsibility. They need to know how to relate the Bible stories to the kids while maintaining structure.”

Timothy McLaughlin, 10, of Seaford, has been attending the vacation Bible school since he was in kindergarten. “The leaders are all nice,” he said. “They’re fun. You can make new friends.”

McLaughlin who will be entering fifth grade at Seaford Manor, said he learned a lot about Jesus through the different lessons over the course of the week.

This was the first year Figueiredo has been involved with the camp. She said that she always wanted to be involved in some sort of summer program. Her aunt, who is close friends with McArdle, was able to get her involved in the St. William program. “The kids are great, the parents are great, the community is great,” she said reflecting on her experience so far as a camp volunteer.

Another young camper, Allison Cortese, 7, will be entering second grade at St. William the Abbot school in the fall. She has been attending the camp since she was in pre-K. Cortese said she enjoys “how we learn about Jesus and God” through the Bible stories. She also added that her favorite craft completed at the camp was a sock puppet.

Vacation Bible schools have always been something very important to McArdle. She said when she was a young child she attended the camps during the summer months. As an Ursuline Sister, directing a vacation Bible school at St. William is especially important to her because the Ursuline Sisters originally founded the school in 1954. “This is a great way for me to give back to the community,” she said, “and bring the faith to young people.”