Thursday, October 1, 2026
Last week, several young Maria Regina parishioners participated in arts, crafts, singing, and games while learning about God at the church’s annual vacation Bible school.
The camp was designed for younger children, primarily students in nursery and elementary schools. Each camper was assigned a “big” — a middle school child — who participated in activities with their younger campers. According to Camp Director Tanya Tolentino, there were 57 volunteer counselors, 81 “bigs,” and 130 campers for this year’s camp.
“I want the kids to know that God loves them and I don’t want them to be afraid to say ‘I’m Catholic,’” Tolentino said. She explained that the goal of the camp is to teach the young children about God while having fun and relaxing during the summer months. This year’s theme for the camp was “Conquering Challenges with God’s Mighty Power.”
Tolentino has been the camp director for the past four years. She said it is her responsibility to plan the activities and make sure that the camp operates smoothly. She said that it takes her roughly six months to plan out the entire event and make sure the facility and volunteers are prepared for the week. Once everything is lined up, Tolentino said, “The camp runs itself.”
Makayla Murer is an eighth grader at Maria Regina School and has been doing the vacation Bible school for several years. She started out as a young camper, but is now a “big.” She said, “My favorite part about being a ‘big’ is getting to play with your ‘little’ and having so much fun.”
Murer added that one of her favorite activities during the week is playing the games. The campers took part in various games such as tag and duck, duck, goose.
Throughout the week camp music director, Angela Davi, taught the campers several and corresponding hand motions. Davi has been involved with the camp since 2003 and has been music director since 2012. “One of the biggest challenges we face is many of the kids are so young they are not able to read,” she said. “Since they can’t read, they have to memorize the songs.”
Tolentino says seeing the kids perform on stage inside the school is her favorite part about directing the camp. “The parents are always so impressed with the performance,” she said. “For many of the children, it is their first time performing.”
Davi who initially only became involved with the camp to meet her community service requirements, has since realized how special it is to be a part of the camp staff. “When I was a ‘big,’ many of the volunteer camp counselors were only young campers,” she said reflecting on her first experience with the camp in 2003. “It is really cool to get to watch everyone grow up right in front of you. I have met some of my best friends through this camp.”
