News From The Point

Category: For Staff

Team Sing 2023 goes to White, Team Competition won by…

August 9th, 2023

Update from Point O’Pines:

The best part of our camp experience is our Point O’Pines Community, and as we create wonderful experiences for your daughters we depend on the experience and energy of our leadership team. We’re excited to share some great news with you. We have been able to broaden this team with the addition of Nikki Zenkel and Max Grossman as Assistant Directors. We are so excited to introduce them to you, and you will quickly see why we are so happy that they are joining the Himoff family, Max Claman, Kelly, Annie and the rest of our team as we prepare for 2023.

Nikki has always had summer camp in her blood! When she was four years old, her father founded and subsequently ran CampGroup, a company that owns and operates summer camps in the Northeast. Nikki spent seven summers as a camper at a traditional girls sleep-away camp in Massachusetts. She also worked as a day camp and overnight camp counselor. After graduating from Vanderbilt University, Nikki enjoyed a successful, five year stint at media-ratings company, Nielsen. While at Nielsen, Nikki volunteered at Experience Camps, which serves children dealing with the loss of a loved one. Her time there was fulfilling and rekindled her love for summer camp, and she left Nielsen in May 2021 to pursue her dream of directing a camp. Since then, she has spent two summers as a Head Counselor at Camp Weequahic, a co-ed Pennsylvania overnight camp and also supported her father in operating his camp businesses.

Max has lived and breathed camp since the age of seven, when he first attended day camp in New Jersey. Since then, he has spent every summer at camp, intent on one day being a camp director. After spending 15 summers as a camper and counselor, Max worked at an all girls sleep-away camp in Pennsylvania learning more about the “behind-the-scenes” of summer camping. After graduating from Towson University with a degree in Psychology with a focus in Child Development, he joined the full-time team at a day camp on Long Island as the Operations & Special Events Director. Most recently, Max spent the last five years at Camp Watitoh, a co-ed sleepaway camp in the Berkshires, where he was the Assistant Director. In addition to serving as the Boys Head Counselor during the summer, Max oversaw staffing, social media and was involved in every aspect of running camp. Max is an active member of the American Camp Association, serving on the Tri-State Camp Conference committee, is an ACA Standards Visitor, and is a past member of the Emerging Professionals in Camping (EPIC) Committee. Both Nikki and Max are active members of SCOPE (Summer Camp Opportunities Promote Education), which raises funds to send deserving children to camp.

Nikki met Max…you guessed it…through camp! The two were introduced at the American Camp Association’s annual Tri-State Camp Conference in March 2020. They are now engaged to be married in the Fall of 2023 and are so excited for this next chapter together at Point O’Pines.

Nikki’s mom, Michele, was a Peaker in ‘74 along with her two aunts, Leslie and Stefanie. When they’re not at camp you can find Nikki and Max at concerts, traveling to National Parks, cooking at home or cheering on their favorite New York sports teams.

The Himoff family, as the stewards and owners of Point O’Pines Camp, has been building our vision for the “dream team” to support us for a bright future in the years and decades ahead. We will be excited to tell you more as we prepare for the great summer of 2023!

Wishing you all the best,

Brandon, Caressa, Jim, Sue, Kelly, Annie, Max, Max, and Nikki