The summer of 2013 was incredible for many reasons. Our media outreach expanded exponentially, Color War 7 was the best program in the history of Camp Seneca Lake, Hobbies were extremely successful in progressing skills across all of camp, and the CSL buzz continued throughout the year with #SenecaLakeSunday and the like.
While we were able to accomplish many incredible things last summer, there is always room for improvement and growth.
CSL has teamed up with the Goodman Camping Initiative in an effort to improve the quality of Israel Education and Programming during the summers. The Goodman Camping Initiative for Modern Israel History engages independent Jewish camps in North America in the development of an Israel Education Curriculum. The goal is to enhance and expand the commitment of North American camps to Modern Israel History, and to enable Jewish campers across the age spectrum to have a deeper connection with Israel outside of Camp. Launched in December 2011, the initiative is a partnership between the iCenter and Foundation for Jewish Camp with generous support from the Lillian and Larry Goodman Foundations, with contributions from the Marcus Foundation and the AVI CHAI Foundation.
In December, Aaron Cantor and I traveled to Chicago to begin our partnership with the Goodman Initiative.
In late April, I traveled to Israel and was fortunate enough to spend a week with the 8 Israelis who are coming to work at CSL in 2014. We laughed, played, and planned our strategy for implementing Israel education this summer.
In mid-May a group of long time CSL staff and I attended a conference at Captial Camps, in PA along with 30 other camps. We continued the planning process and were given insight into the types of activities and learning that have worked elsewhere.
Our goal is not to make drastic changes, but rather to shift the culture of CSL. At this juncture, 75% of CSL staff have been to Israel in the past 5 years, and that number is growing with the newly reimagined CSL in Israel program.
Israel is a part of our identity as a camp and as a people, and our partnership with Goodman is going to enhance and expand our commitment to Modern Israel History and Education.
Associate Program Director, Media Director, and Goodman Educator
