YPC Erie 2nd Annual Gala a Success!

The final full day of choir camp was a huge success! Everyone including our day campers had a later start time this morning so that everyone would be fresh and ready for the Gala performance tonight. The day began with an all-camp warm-up session and pep talk to get everyone geared up for the rest of the day. Campers had a short practice session to clean up a few items in their songs and then went to lunch. Campers were beginning to feel emotional about leaving camp tomorrow:

"I do not want to leave tomorrow! This week has been awesome and I just can’t wait until next year. I’ve made even more friends this year and I have special ones that I don’t want to say goodbye to. The dance last night was amazing. My best friends for life were all dancing with me and we played all our favorite songs. All the girls dressed up and I had the best time." - Jacob M.

"Choir camp ROCKS!" - Sophia S.

After lunch, the campers were off to the Ambassador to have a dress rehearsal for the Gala performance. The campers thought the facilities were especially beautiful and loved performing in the chandelier-filled ball room. After the dress rehearsal, the campers ate pizza and watched a movie to relax, and then the Gala was off and rolling!

All involved in planning the Gala worked very hard to put on a spectacular event, and they did a phenomenal job. All of the mountain-themed decorations were beautiful, and the campers were staring at the displays every time we walked past them to get into the room. The event opened with a bang when the residential campers performed "Jai Ho", and the energy level established early on in the event only continued to grow throughout the night. The day campers had the crowd laughing while they sang "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain", and then the program closed with our theme song for the week, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". The audience was immediately on their feet at the end of the song. All of the campers put on a top-notch performance, and the YPC staff are incredibly proud of the hard work and dedication of all involved!

After the Gala performance was over and the day campers were signed out, the residential campers came back to campus to have a campfire cookout and sharing session. The campers had everyone in stitches as they revealed some of their antics that they had been keeping under wraps this week, and many of the campers commented on how much they loved their counselors and how hard the counselors and staff worked to make camp such an amazing experience. It was great to see everyone having such a great time unwinding after an eventful day.

Our camp week is coming to a close with only a half day left. The concert for family and friends promises to be very enjoyable, and will be a great way to close our camp for the year. It will be a very emotional departure for many, if not all, of our campers. The concert is free and open to the public and will begin at 12:30p.m. in McGarvey Commons on the campus of Penn State Behrend. We hope to see you there!!!