Canada Art, Sport, and Music Association (CASMA) Toronto is an organization providing year-round programming for students aged 4-16. Programs are bilingual, offered in English and French, and are: chess, public speaking, basketball, violin, soccer, arts & crafts, robotics, biking, tennis, dance and musical theatre, volleyball, and more. Their summer program runs for 9 weeks from late June to late August in Junior Academy, North York.

On Tuesday, July 9, the FOY Media Team spent a fun morning with the happy campers in Week 3 of their program. Activities included outdoor soccer, biking, tennis, indoor badminton, and basketball. Despite the heat wave, students thoroughly enjoyed running around the spacious soccer field and winning tennis matches—perhaps more so because of the gracious air conditioning providing relief when they enter the building!

Some enthusiastic campers also loved the attention, waving joyously to the cameras when one panned by.

Mr. Michael Dmitrik, the head facilitator at CASMA, noted during our interview that “the best part about working with kids is the fact that all children are different. At [CASMA], there are kids ages 4 up to 14, and a lot of them have different interests, different needs [and] passions. What they want to do is different and managing the skill levels [among campers] is one of the biggest challenges.”

Mr. Dmitrik also stated that the FOY counsellors working at camp have played a large role in minimizing those challenges. “So far, they’ve been doing a great job. They’ve been with us for a week and a half now and they’re excellent. They’re great leaders, mentors; the kids look up to them and I’ve only received positive feedback about the entire Focus on Youth staff.”

CASMA Toronto will continue to run its summer camp until Friday, August 23rd, and our FOY counsellors will continue adding to the memories until August 9th.