We've had two sons attending Camp Mac-Kee-Nac since 2005 and our youngest will be headed back for his 6th summer in 2013. My greatest concern has always been the health, safety and well being of my boys and I feel completely at ease with the key staff, counselors and facilities. They are all are excellent and have improved significantly in the past 2 years with the new director and his team. While primarily a sports camp, MKN offers many other options including an amazing woodshop (my son never did woodwork before and loves it), media/radio, art and ropes/outdoor adventure program. The staff is very caring and responsive to camper needs. They've also made significant improvements to the facilities (new waterfront, bunks, gaga pits and programs). They've put a lot of effort into improving the camp wide events (Olympics, Green & White) making them more energetic, fun and exciting for all age groups. Mah-Kee-Nac provides a truly great camp experience in a terrific setting!
Mah-Kee-Nac is my home away from home. I have been a camper at mah-kee-nac for 7 years and I am going to go back for my brave year which is a CIT. i have only had good experiences at Mah-Kee-Nac, all of the staff is incredible, and they always do an amazing job. It has been the best 7 summers of my life, and I can honestly say when i get home that i have made at least 20 new friends every summer. You are never bored at camp, and you always have someone to talk to when there. All of the special events are fantastic and the breakouts get better and better every year. Program is always fun. Camp is a place where i can go care free and have an awesome time. Weather it is just hanging out in the bunks, down by the waterfront, or out playing a sport i always have a great time. I can honestly say that Mah-Kee-Nac is a big part of my life, and i cant wait to go back year after year to see all of my friends, and the returning counselors.
This year as a first year staff I had an amazing experience, I it was great to be able to see all of the children have such an awesome time and be able to also grow and mature. At camp Mah-Kee-Nac it is less about who is better than who at whatever sport, its more of how great are we all improving and I think that it something that makes us special. Mah-Kee_Nac is really a family, they open their arms for every new camper and staff while also celebrating the returners at the same time. As someone who went to other camps for seven years before hand I can honestly say that Mah-Kee-Nac is the greatest camp I have ever seen and I can't wait to go back next year!
I've attended Camp Mah-Kee-Nac as a camper for the past 7 summers, and I can truthfully say that its one of the best summer camps out there and its only getting better. Having gone to MKN for so long, I've experienced both the shortcomings of the old directors that are expressed in the older, more negative reviews, and the successes of the new director, Walter Synalovski. Everything that Bunkie and Lynn did wrong, Walter is doing right. Hes completely committed to making MKN the best that it can be and his confidence and positive attitude are contagious. There is more of everything at MKN now: More competition against other nearby camps, more focus on artistic activities, and more special events. The staff is now better than it was before due to a new emphasis on bringing back the best counselors and recruiting former campers to work as counselors also. In fact, many of my friends and I have had such a great time at MKN that we plan on returning to MKN as counselors this coming summer.
Having spent the last six years at Mah-Kee-Nac, I can honestly say there is no better way to spend a summer. The arrival of Walter two years ago has reenergized this camp in terms of the quality of staff, maintenance and improvements to bunks and program areas, and has led to what are imaginably the best special events of any camp in the country. Every counselor has a bunk that he lives in with campers, as well as a program area that he staffs. Campers develop an amazing bond with their counselors over the course of the summer, and every employee is knowledgable about their specific area of expertise, genuinely cares about each and every camper at Mah-Kee-Nac, and appears to have a positive relationship with their superiors that helps them improve at their position. Most campers and counselors are returning from multiple previous summers at Mah-Kee-Nac which cultivates a strong tradition of what the camp should be. Prospective parents will be giving their kids the summer of a lifetime
When I first came to Camp Mah-Kee-Nac four years ago, I had many notions running through my head about what my summer was going to be like. The last thing I expected to find there was the caring and welcoming community that has since grown to become a second family. Spending the last four years at MKN has offered me not only an opportunity to work with a great many campers, but to truly get to know them and watch them grow up to be fine, upstanding young men. The staff are of the highest quality, recruited from around the world not only because they are genuinely the best at what they teach, but because they demonstrate that they have what it takes to succeed in the high energy environment that is camp life, as well as to live by the Mah-Kee-Nac Way; a series of values at the heart of everything we do that extols the very best in everyone. While camp may have only just ended, I'm already beginning to miss my home away from home, and all the people that make it such a wonderful place!
This camp changed the lives of my children. They both returned home after this past summer more confident and happier children. One child being athletic and one child not, there was a place for both of them. They tried activities that in my wildest dreams I could never have imagined them trying, in sports, in the water, wood shop and arts and crafts. The key staff was amazing. Always putting the children first. The director and assistant directors are there to make the summer experience the best they possibly can for your child. They work so hard to bring this camp back to the spirit it once had. Truth be told, I did have inside information being that I had the privilege of working at this camp this past summer and seeing it all with my own two eyes. My kids can't wait to go back next summer, and I can't wait to send them!
Having had Mah-Kee-Nac in our family for over 10 years, the arrival of Walter has brought back the values and spirit that we remember from the early 2000's...there have been a lot of improvements in the facility, great returning key staff and a return to fun and instruction in balance...you can't go wrong with sending your boy to Camp Mah-Kee-Nac
MKN is on its way back!! We were apprehensive about sending our son there in 2011 based on everything we'd heard about Mah-Kee-Nac; and boy we are so glad that we went with our gut and sent him there. He has an incredible summer, and is already counting the days until he gets to go back to MKN!
My sons have attended Camp MKN for five years. The last two years it was a struggle to get them to go. I would have to coax them into going. What a difference one year can make! Walter has not only won over my acceptance about the difference he was going to make, but he has won over the children as well. This past summer was amazing. Walter has kept his word on every promise he made coming into this past camping season. You have truly made summer camp a great experience for my sons once again!
I can guarantee you that the new director, Walter Synalovski, will help bring Camp Mah-Kee-Nac into a total renaissance. When i met with him recently, I saw the trust in his eyes, I knew that whatever he was saying or commenting on was true, whether I liked it or not. He will bring this camp back to where it was during my first 3 years, a traditional and loving camp for all sorts of children, athletic to non-athletic. Camp will once again be seven weeks after a disgraceful change to a two session six week camp. Walter's most common saying when I met with him, "I will ALWAYS be straight up with you." Keyword, always. In past years, many age groups had tension and bad relationships with the old directors. These old directors had no intention of dealing with not only the campers, but the counselors, key staff, and even the parents as well. I believe and can guarantee that Walter Synalovski can pull this camp out of the dark ages, and send it back to glory, where it truly once was.
Great camp with an awesome location right in the heart of the Berkshires. Geared more toward those campers who are in it purely for the sports. Great international staff.
great camp...but the directors are just puppets and the owners tell them what to do...and they do it. The facilities need improvement immediatley, but otherwise the program is great. For a small 6 week 2 session camp...it is highly expensive.
camp is second rate but owners don't want to admit it and instead price it like its a top tier camp. one dimensional--all sports and limited facilities. two session summer is too disruptive. i do not see how the camp will stay in business if it keeps losing campers as it has been.
Pluses: the kids are well mannered, cooperative, and nice to one another. There are a lot of staff who really care. The pool is nice, and there is good comeraderie. The director and top staff try very hard. They play a lot of intercamp and tournaments. You can do well there if you are not Mr. Athlete. Minuses: the camp is small, it has had trouble attracting kids, and enrollment is way down. The ownership group doesn't think much of this camp, and the decision to offer partial summers was really poor. It is now half summer camp and that stinks. Too many coming in and out during the summer makes it lose its campy feel.
This camp is horrible for children, unless they are training to be pro-athletes. The arts are significantly down-played and used as a last resort for injured campers. The directors seem to care more about how much money the camp is earning rather than how much a camper is earning from being there. Some of the staff are great, however they seem to be more interested in their own lives rather than the kids.
This is the best camp! The kids are sooo funnyyy!!! To give you the heads up your kid doesnt have to be athletic they have art, or archery, and all that artistic stuff! Dont listen to the bad comments those kids just dont enjoy camp! You wont regret this i promise!
My kids can't wait for camp to begin. Our boys have been at Mah-Kee-Nac for 4 years, the youngest starts this summer. Camp has only gotten better every year. We want Bunkie and Lynn's jobs!!! We highly recommend Mah-Kee-Nac.
The directors are not as sophisticated as the other camp our children attended. They really only dealt superficially with the campers and their relationships. The camp was fine for my sports crazy son, but not really anything special like the expereience my other kids had.
