Apachi Hyde Park

Friendship requests

Campers can submit friendship requests in the spring, and we will do our best to accommodate mutual requests as long as campers are entering the same grade. For Explorer 1 and older, campers have the opportunity to request either same gender or all-gender groups.

Our traditional camp experience encourages campers to try everything! Artists-in-residence visit weekly to teach magic, juggling, percussion, cooking and more. Campers participate in a wide variety of activities ranging from arts and crafts, sports, drama, swimming, martial arts and gymnastics to name a few!  And everyone comes together for Friday Shabbat celebrations, cookouts, theme days, and our annual Maccabi games.

British Swim School Swim Program

Campers are taught to swim at Apachi Hyde Park using the British Swim School swim program, which is dedicated to excellence in safety and swimming skills. British Swim School has honed its teaching method over fifty years and the cornerstone of the program is using a fun and gentle approach to build water survival skills. Safety is our priority and all members of our Aquatics staff are American Red Cross certified lifeguards with CPR training for the professional rescuer.

Apachi Hyde Park campers swim four days a week.

Testing, Placement and Progress Reports

Campers are tested at the beginning of summer and placed in an appropriate swim level based on their skills. They pass through levels based on both formal and informal testing. Progress reports are available each day through the British Swim School app.

Convenient carpool and drop-off and pick-up

We work to make your camper’s arrival and departure from camp as easy as possible. During drop-off, just pull up to the front door and wait for a counselor to help your camper out of the car.

For pick-up, please form two lanes of traffic (either lane is fine) and follow the directions of the staff in the lot (very important). Our staff will ask you who you are picking up and will bring your camper(s) to your car. Please do NOT get out of the car. Once your camper is safely in your car, please exit going southbound on Hyde Park Blvd.

Optional round-trip bus

For an additional fee, families can select to have their children take the bus to and from camp. Buses are driven by licensed, professional drivers and supervised by Apachi staff. Campers are required to wear seatbelts at all times. We have bus stops available in the South Loop and West Loop. Our bus stops are “cluster stops” for groups of campers, not individual stops. We try to make the cluster stops convenient for families as well as safe and efficient.

For campers registered prior to April 15, you will select your bus stop from a list. Campers who register after April 15, will be assigned to a stop close to their home.

View our proposed bus stop map.

Food at camp

There is a hotdog cookout every Friday. The remainder of the week, please send along a sack lunch that we’ll refrigerate.

Food allergies

Safety and inclusion are top priorities at JCC Chicago Day Camps. Our camps are committed to being allergy-safe. While our camps are not allergen-free, we strive to make our camp environments as safe as possible for children with food allergies using a customized approach and working closely with each family to develop an action plan for the child. More information can be found here.

Immunizations & Health Forms

To participate in camp, campers must have a completed health form signed by a physician on file. We also require documentation of immunizations.