Community Corner
RVC Youth Inspires Others by Battling Own Weight Issues
Daniel Kriss, once a camper at a weight loss camp, now counsels youths with weight problems.
When Rockville Centre resident Daniel Kriss finished his freshman year of high school, he had gained 40 pounds in the course of one year.
“My weight was around 225 at that point, which wasn't normal,” he said. Today, with the help of Pennsylvania’s Camp Pocono Trails, the 18-year-old has dropped down to 175 pounds.
To help with her son’s weight problem after he began high school, Kriss’s mother looked into several weight loss camps before settling on Camp Pocono Trails. One of two camps owned by New Image Weight Loss Camp, Camp Pocono Trails teaches children and teens about proper diet, nutrition and exercise while helping them to gain self-esteem.
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“One of the things Camp Pocono Trails is good about doing is working on both the inside and outside of a person,” explained Kriss, who graduated from South Side High School and is now a freshman at Wagner College in Staten Island. “The whole program is about loving yourself and changing your attitude so that you stay positive as much as possible in your life.”
Tony Sparber, founder and owner of the New Image camps, said that Kriss had a difficult time when he first arrived at camp, but once he got involved in their theater program, he began to gain confidence and lose weight.
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“Daniel is a superstar,” Sparber said. “Camp helped him grow tremendously and his success is typical of what we do here at the camps.” Sparber noted that Kriss was even featured in an MTV documentary called Return to Fat Camp.
Kriss explained that some of the major challenges he faced at camp were homesickness and feeling sore from the intense exercise during the first few weeks of camp, but that meeting new people and becoming a healthier person made the experience worthwhile.
“I'm so much more comfortable in my body and myself now,” Kriss said. “I used to be afraid to talk to and meet new people and go out and have a good time. Now, these are some of my favorite things to do.”
This summer, Kriss will return to Camp Pocono Trails for his third summer as a counselor. “I do plan on staying involved,” he said. “It's great to help a group of kids lose weight and become happier, healthier people over the course of a summer while having the opportunity to do the same for myself.”
