The Beck Sisters Are Back!
- andreasachs1
- Jul 25
- 4 min read
Summer Camp Cometh!
By Willa Beck / New York City
This summer marks a milestone in my life. Not because I’m traveling to countries I’ve never been to before or to ones that I’ve been to on the other side of the world or because I’ll be playing piano in front of 150 people at my aunt’s wedding, or even my approaching first year of middle school—all of which are true and exciting. But there is nothing as exciting as my first time at sleepaway camp!
If you look up sleepaway camp in the dictionary, the definition should say, “see ‘nervous’ and ‘exciting.’” I am going to spend 11 days at a camp called WriCampia—without my parents, from whom I’ve only been away for one night—while at the same time, I hope I’ll be making new lifelong friendships and having the time of my life!
I’m going to a place where all my favorite things are mushed together: fun activities, even some academics in the writing category, and other new beginnings coming my way! I’m excited for everything, from writing with new people and making films with the instructors and other campers, to going on and on about how bad the camp food will be, and even early wakeups, which I usually hate. I’ll be sleeping in a new place. Or, being in a new place, period.
Camp Danbee is three hours upstate from Manhattan, where I live. There’s the con; really the only con. I’m only a phone call or email away, and I’ll probably be having too much fun living my first un-parentally supervised experience and doing whatever I want to do!
However, I won’t be living alone. I will stay in a cabin, or whatever there is in WriCampia, with 7-13 other girls and two counselors. But in total, there will be so many kids, coed, from rising fifth graders through rising twelth graders! And at least one of them has to be the one to make my summer camp experience shine brighter than all my other summers.
In a way, this will feel a bit normal for me because I go to WriCampia’s annual after-school program, Writopia, which is all writing. In my years of writing for The Insider, my mind has never wandered far enough to even think about going to sleepaway camp for the summer. But as I’m writing this article, all I can do is sit and imagine what new chapters await me!
Willa is a rising sixth grader in Manhattan. She loves writing stories but loves reading them even more. She enjoys traveling and taking more pictures than an iPhone allows. Willa likes being alone and bored because she gets her best ideas then.
Hot Times in the Tropics
By Olive Beck / New York City
When I went to Barbados, one of my favorite things was the bar. you would sit and order. My favorite was either a chocolate milk shake or lemonade. We would tell my parents first then off we went. Another thing I loved were the shows at dinner. One act was of a girl called the "Queen of Fire." She would set everything on fire and do crazy things. The heat outside was intense, like 98-99 degrees F and to top it off, it was humid. Cats were all over the resort and one I named Stripe. He (or she) had a stripe down the back.
At dinner, we were called up to dance. Let's just say my mom humiliated me. She would shake her butt, and my face was super red. The cats were super smart and covered their business in sand on the beach. We also fed them. So so so so so so cute. We saw my cousin Carly who was going to medical school there. There were so many bugs, small and big. There was a monkey hiding in the trees. As soon as it came down, a white cat started chasing it all over the resort. In conclusion, those were the only things worth mentioning.
Olive is a rising fourth grader in Manhattan. Her favorite color is pink and she has a huge sweet tooth. Olive enjoys writing fantasy and loves reading. She also loves having alone time away from her two older sisters but still loves them.
My Poetic Pandemic in Haiku
By Sienna Sachs Beck / New York City
Four long, grueling months
Spent isolated, lonely,
No new companions
Following that time
Two school years spent online
Seeing only faces.
Relying solely,
Entirely, on writing
Filling pages’ worth
I missed company
Someone my (eight-year-old) age
Wanted normal life
I came back to school
Fully masked and so nervous
And really bossy
Paranoid i'il me
Yea, always going around
Fixing people’s masks
For two years
At my new school (fourth and fifth)
No one saw my face
Around this very time,
I wrote for The Insider
(Monthly columnist).
I wrote what I saw
I wrote what I heard, what I read
Pouring emotions
It has been two years
Since last article came out
I miss reading them
And so, dear Andi,
I’m so happy for new issue,
Congratulations!
Sienna Sachs Beck is a 12.75 year old going into the eighth grade at Booker T. Washington MS54 in Manhattan. She loves to travel the world with her family, having most recently been to Uzbekistan and China. Sienna has been writing since she was really little, and has always loved reading books. She recently had her third play in four years performed in the Worldwide Plays Festival. Sienna has recently been into poetry, and she is so excited to share this collection of haiku with the readers of The Insider!
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