Girls' Week 2: Hikes, Leaders, and Bridges

The girls have come to the end of their second week of camp!

The hikes went out yesterday! Campers are going to build community in small groups by learning to rely on each other, support each other, and trust each other.

In addition, this week, campers have been working on some projects to improve camp! They've been working on repainting their bathroom and dining hall, fixing a bridge across a river, and clearing out trails in the surrounding forest.

Instructions this week included discussions on current events, bookmaking, Hungarian dance, forum theatre, songwriting, and price-tagging. Evening programs included a discussion and activity about educational systems and learning styles and a camper-produced variety show.

This was the first week that first-year campers had the opportunity to lead the community in an official capacity. They took on the challenge with gusto, and led CRS 2016 through a very successful week.

Don't forget - this summer's alumni reunion is RIGHT around the corner! Starting on Friday, July 22nd, and ending on Sunday, July 24th, the reunion will give alumni the opportunity to connect, reconnect, spend time with old friends, and make new ones. There is a 20% discount for all committee members and a 50% discount for all students (high school and college)! Please email alumnireunion@lajf.org for more information, and register here!

Girls' Week 1: Suitcases, Hellos, and First Impressions

Our campers arrived this week! They're ready to begin the experience of a lifetime. Over the past few days, they've started to get to know each other, their surroundings, and their counselors. After the first day and a half of activities, campers began to settle in and adapt to their surroundings, and soon it began to feel like they'd known each other for a lifetime.

Starting on Day 3 of camp, campers experienced normal program: projects, instructions, and thought-provoking evening programs. Instructions in the first week included The Nature of Ethics, Craftivism, Working with Multicultural Teams, Hip-Hop Dancing, and Chinese Food Culture & Prejudice. Campers quickly took a shine to instructions, and they've begun to submit their own instruction proposals for next week.

Acro-Yoga!

Building a "CRS Constitution"

Craftivism

Evening programs this week included an activity on choices developed by the second-year campers, an identity-and-community focused spectrum exercise, a staff variety show, and of course, Council. 

Starting tomorrow, first-year campers will be serving as leaders of the day, projects, and instructions.

Don't forget - this summer's alumni reunion is RIGHT around the corner! Starting on Friday, July 22nd, and ending on Sunday, July 24th, the reunion will give alumni the opportunity to connect, reconnect, spend time with old friends, and make new ones. There is a 20% discount for all committee members and a 50% discount for all students (high school and college)! Please email alumnireunion@lajf.org for more information, and register here!

Second Years!

Our girl second-year campers arrived today! They're a dynamic team of six girls who are excited and enthusiastic about making CRS 2016 an amazing experience for every first-year camper. Over the next few days, they'll be working with Michael Sheldon, this summer's Leadership Education Coordinator, to build their team, make decisions about the upcoming season, and plan the first week of camp.

Staff training is drawing to a close, and staff are preparing their program areas for campers now. Our staff has used the past week and a half to bond and grow together. They've put up tents, moved beds, held a council, attended workshops on adolescent development and critical pedagogy, completed first aid and CPR trainings, and prepared for every eventuality that could arise during the season.

Don't forget - this summer's reunion is RIGHT around the corner! Starting on Friday, July 22nd, and ending on Sunday, July 24th, the reunion will give alumni the opportunity to connect, reconnect, spend time with old friends, and make new ones. There is a 20% discount for all committee members and a 50% discount for all students (high school and college)! Please email alumnireunion@lajf.org for more information, and register here!

Photo credits to Tim Bozyczko, our Medical Director.

​The World Needs CRS

By Helene Mattera

Recently, I found myself explaining Camp Rising Sun to a new friend.  As I described how we build an international community of tomorrow’s leaders, I felt my heart glowing.

I detailed how campers get to run the program each day and learn how to be effective leaders, sensitive to the needs of others. How they collaborate to build things, learn how to manage projects and their peers. How to act in teams to clean camp, motivate each other through difficult tasks, humble them to care for the property. How we create a special space for them to ponder their identities and their connections to the citizens of the world.

By that point, I apologized for going on and on. There was a pause and she said, “thank you, thank you for doing that work.” She felt comforted to know that such a place existed, and expressed how important it is to invest in young people in the hope they will use their influence to improve the world, acting with a conscious and caring about the impact of their decisions.

This is why I love my job. I believe so strongly in the mission of LAJF and the value of Camp Rising Sun to our future. This is a Good Place and this summer continues the legacy of Rising Sun. Please join me in wishing the new staff good luck as they help to create a powerful 2016 Camp Rising Sun season.

Lauren Paley '98, '99, '02-'06

Lauren Paley ‘98, '99, ‘02-06 is a New York alumna who graduated from George Washington University. Lauren initially went to college with the intention of being a journalist; she had even taken time off from school to work for a news service. However, working as a counselor from ’02-’06 and working with other non-profits ignited her passion in non-profit management. As it turned out, the news service was a nonprofit too, where her reporting work quickly changed to grant writing. 

After returning to college and taking up a part-time job at a law office, Lauren learned about the pro bono work of many law partners there. The law firm job was meant to just help pay bills while in school, but it led her down a path that ultimately shaped her career. 

Lauren currently works at the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center where she helps match community nonprofits and small businesses in the Washington, DC area with free legal assistance. “Nonprofits and small businesses are the back bone of a healthy community," Lauren says. "They offer essential services to the public and are the top job creators toward a thriving local economy.”

However, paying for an attorney can significantly deplete the funds a nonprofit needs to keep programs running or a business needs to grow on start-up capital. The D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center runs classes on legal basics, brief advice clinics where organizations can meet with attorneys for the day, and a match program that creates long-term relationships between lawyers and organizations. Attorneys from large law firms, solo practices, the federal government, and local corporations all donate their time through the Pro Bono Center to help these small businesses and nonprofits. Lauren adds that, “When I hear people get frustrated about Washington, DC, I like to tell them about the Pro Bono Center and remind them that public service is alive and well in this city!” 

Lastly, we asked Lauren for one piece of advice she would like to give to our younger alumni. She stated, “Sometimes we’re so narrowly focused on the ‘right way’ toward our goals, we prevent ourselves from trying unrelated experiences. It’s okay to try out things that aren’t part of the plan. Some may not stick, but often you’ll be surprised.” 

Big Appreciation for Alumni Associations

by Michelle Beaver, '99 - '04

You go to camp, your mind expands, you make friends, a community, a family, and then you go home. 

And feel lonely. And maybe you cry. 

It’s called camp sickness. The best cure: an alumni association! In its base form, an alumni association gives former campers and staff members a new version of camp, a lasting “part two” after a transformative experience. Alumni associations provide a common ground and a meeting space for people who share a place, ideas, and experiences. 

Members of alumni associations understand how powerful camp can be. They also know the same songs and understand references to, for instance, “Mandy Day,” “Cabin Hill” and “Emily Dickinson Hall.” And of course alumni associations are integral in choosing participants for the next season of camp. 

An alumni association can be as small and informal as three people from the same state getting together for coffee once a year. Other alumni associations, however, go way above and beyond that modest prospect. The Danish Alumni Association, for instance, is so large, organized, motivated and creative that they started a camp. 

Several other groups of alumni have also made big contributions to the Camp Rising Sun community and can always be counted on for help and insight. One such group is the Minnesota Alumni Association.  

Members of the Minnesota Alumni Association have served on the Louis August Jonas Foundation board of directors and several committees. And members of the association, Nita and Rick Luis, have been incredibly generous with their donations. 

Recently, this fine group of Minnesotans compiled a sustainability report about how the group helps LAJF. They wrote this in hopes that other associations can learn from what the Minnesota group has experienced, said Minnesota member Dan Pierpont, who was a legacy camper in 1992 and 1993 and was the art counselor in 1996.

“My hope is that it will show others a path to raising more money for LAJF, staying passionate about CRS, and having fun with your fellow Rising Sun brothers and sisters,” he said. Many alumni associations spend their energies selecting campers, but that is only the beginning. Some associations fund travel expenses for their campers, but a few exceptional associations have led fundraising efforts to support the Camp program. In Minnesota, there is a board member dedicated to organizing and leading fundraising efforts to support LAJF. 

Dan added that he believes alumni events lead to more engagement and giving. 

“Alumni associations need a few dedicated people to make gatherings happen and stay in good communication with the local alumni,” he said. “There area people that care enough about CRS to do something about it and spend whatever time it takes to get the job done.”  

Another alum, Dorothee Pass, agrees that it’s important to designate someone to lead events. Pass, a 2000 Clinton camper, a 2001 Stendis camper, a counselor at Red Hook in 2006, and a member of the German alumi association, said a successful association “is not a one- or two-man show.”

She added that it can be hard to find people who can commit to what they want do for camp, but that even in that case, alumni associations continue friendships and form new ones, particularly across generations. 
“Although it has been 16 years since my first and 10 years since my last summer at CRS, I remain bound by heart,” Dorothy said. 

Harry Hamstra, director of the Dutch Alumni Association from 1999-2007, and a long-time board member of the Dutch alumni association, agrees that having at least one very dedicated person makes a big difference. 

“For a successful alumni association it is vital to have a few persons that like to invest in keeping people connected, by personal contacts, by newsletters etc., and by organizing at least one association meeting per year,” he said. 

The Dutch groups meet at least twice a year. During the fall meeting, the association members ask the newest campers about their experience. The tradition continues …

According to Harry, the main point of these groups involves, “Sharing of the special emotions that one has at camp, with people that really understand, and finding a group of interested and interesting people of different ages and backgrounds—with a common base in their CRS experience.”

It all makes coming home from camp a little easier. Thank you to all of our alumni associations! If there isn’t one in your state or country, please consider starting one. You could end up being the sachem every association needs.