Alpha Summer Camp — Local services in New York

This place is clean but they need to be more diverse if they want to keep it summer camp for all. It's predominately Russian speaking so most staff members can't communicate with you if you have questions. The other day I tried to call the camp to see how my child was doing and not only did guy on the phone couldn't speak English but he didn't even try to get someone that can, he simply hung up on me not once but twice. I had one staff member yell at me in Russian and several times I had to tell him I do not speak Russian. Apparently, it is policy that parents cannot enter the lunchroom to drop their child off for camp. My child was throwing a fit and I was trying to carry her to the lunchroom. He also talks to my child in Russian and of course my child doesn't understand the language. Needless to say I have to call my union which paid for the camp to let them know my child will no longer attend the camp and that they should make sure to put down on the description of the camp that unless you speak and understand the language it's really...

An independent review on Big Apple Academy aka Bambi summer camp. My son went to this camp for the first, and absolutely the last time last summer. He would come home all excited, telling me that he watched 6 episodes of “ the flash” that day. Each episode is a little over 40 mins, and the rating is not age appropriate. The camp claimed they take the kids to the beach. My son, being an avid beach goer refused to swim, saying that with the clothes change, they only get a very short time to be in the water. It turns out the camp brought the kids to the beach for only 45 mins. They also drive the kids around on the bus for much longer than necessary, as it is for sure much more manageable to deal with the kids on the bus than at any other activities. Additionally, Bambi highly empathized their weekly talent shows, which as turned out was only for the kids who already knew a talent, such as a song, a dance, a poem. However, the staff did not teach the campers any new...

My kids like the camp; daughter has been going every year for the past 5 years. Activities do differ day to day, there are trips and contests. Looking over some other reviews - it's probably true that the camp mainly targets Russian speaking families - never thought about it since that is actually a positive for me. Also, both my kids go to school there as well, so they are familiar with the buildings, buses, and teachers. The backoffice/admin aspects aren't very well managed and can take some time to figure out - we sorted through all this when kids first started school, and hasn't been an...