Canaan’s Lynn Nania Organizes A Whirlwind of Summer Fun
By Colleen Gundlach

Canaan’s Lynn Naia works with budding future furniture designers in the art room at Camp AHA!, Canaan’s unique summer program. Photograph by Bruce Frisch

Lynn Nania can be found most mornings between June 24 and August 9 enthusiastically greeting children at North Canaan’s unique summer program, Camp AHA! She welcomes each child by name as they arrive, eager for a day of fun. After talking with Nania for a short while, it quickly becomes apparent that she may be even more excited than the children about the upcoming day’s activities.
Nania’s exuberance is contagious as she talks about the summer camp program, now in its third year. The acronym AHA! emanates from After Hours Activities, the name Nania gave to an after-school program she organized in 1991 at North Canaan Elementary School (NCES). At the time, she was a member of the town’s Recreation Committee and recognized the need for an after school program.
Also a member of the Board of Advisors of the Northwest YMCA , she approached that organization for assistance and was told she would need to raise money for a feasibility study.  Not one to sit still and wait for a study, Nania approached the school principal who gave her the green light to look into an after school program. Within a week, Nania had recruited Jeanne Jacquier to teach Acro, a form of gymnastics without equipment, and had 60 children enrolled in the program. Curriculum soon expanded to include cheerleading with Marcia Rammuni, and volleyball instruction.
These initial classes were held for an hour and a half after school at a charge of two dollars per hour, just enough to pay an honorarium to the after school teachers. Though the need for after school child care was firmly demonstrated, it was not the primary impetus for AHA. “I wanted the kids to be able to learn things they might not otherwise have the opportunity to experience,” Nania says. She purchased sports equipment at thrift shops, and other supplies were donated. “We had one person donate keyboards a few years ago, and the kids had a chance to try out piano playing without the huge commitment, to see if they like it,” she says.
For nine years, Nania served AHA as a volunteer, until the Town of Canaan adopted the program as an official school activity. She then became the director of the town funded program, and soon was developing a new program, Camp AHA!, a self-supporting summer version of AHA.
Camp AHA! operates out of NCES and spreads out to the sports fields, playground areas, and the town swimming pool. Children from Canaan, and many surrounding towns, can attend from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, or partial days or even partial weeks. With walk-ins welcome, it is a tribute to Nania’s organizational skills that there are always exactly the right number of staff members to supervise and care for the children, and it’s obvious that the camp runs like clockwork.
Last year, Camp AHA! had 50 attendees over the course of the summer. This year, 85 campers attended in the first three weeks alone. “I enjoy it,” says Nania. “I love organizing, creating and making lists. It’s right up my alley.” Nania’s vision for the camp is for kids to “have the kind of fun we used to have when we were kids.
Camps With-in a Camp is one unique aspect of Camp AHA! These mini camps run for one week at a time. This summer, the children had the opportunity to attend Cheer Camp, taught by Carrie Desrochers, a former coach and cheer coordinator for the Torrington Youth Cheer League; Art taught by Doug Murray, a NCES teacher; Robotics, led by retired veteran science teacher David Lindsay, who is also the founder of the Housatonic Valley Regional High School robotics team; Lost Art Workshops with Joe O’Brien, and many more.
Camp AHA! also has weekly field trips to places like Hancock Shaker Village, Catskill Mountain Railroad, Dinosaur State Park, Saratoga Battlefield, and Howe Caverns. The Town of Canaan owns a small bus that is used to transport the happy campers. Field trips are optional, and, for those who choose not to go, Camp AHA! goes on as usual in Canaan
The AHA programs are not Nania’s only summer occupation. As part of the Canaan Community Trust, she organizes and directs the town’s summer jobs program. This year she has placed 16 young people between the ages of 14 and 16 in jobs at non-profit organizations throughout Canaan, including serving in the dining room at Geer Village, assisting with maintenance duties at NCES, caring for children at Canaan Day Care Center and, of course, working at Camp AHA!.
For more information about Camp AHA! or the summer jobs program for youth, contact Nania at lcnania @yahoo.com.