While we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Clinton campus and CRS girls’ programming this year, we also reflect on the 50th anniversary of the 1969 season. It was a turbulent time of conflict with the Vietnam War at its peak and the student protest movements growing, but also of wonder as the Apollo astronauts were preparing to reach the moon for the first time in human history. We asked ‘69 alumni to share some of their experience in this year’s Sundial. Chuck Wardlaw, Dick Simon, and Roland Ho gave insight and context to the 1969 Camp year and collaborated with LAJF to create the Sundial article reflecting on their summer. They were asked to reflect on what Camp has meant to them and how their experience in 1969 impacted their futures. Below is a bit about Chuck Wardlaw and Dick Simon’s experiences at Camp and their post Camp life.

Introduction to CRS ‘69 alumni

Chuck is married to his college sweetheart (who was born in New Delhi, India) and served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for more than 10 years. They live outside of Philadelphia and have two daughters, one of whom lives with her husband in West Hollywood, CA and works for Facebook. The other lives in Brooklyn, NY and works for North6. He has served on the boards of the Louis August Jonas Foundation and The Settlement Music School in Philadelphia. LAJF is grateful for Chuck’s service on our board from 2011 to 2016.

Chuck holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and Imperial College – London, respectively, and has an MBA in Finance and International Business from the Fox School of Business, Temple University. Chuck’s passion is helping clients manage and accelerate measurable improvements in performance throughout their enterprise. These improvements enable the organization to better connect supply-related people, processes and technologies internally and externally across functions. Chuck has been a senior level executive, managing billions of dollars in annual direct, indirect and capital spend.  He has deep international market perspective gained in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia/New Zealand and has led geographically dispersed teams across 4 continents and in 25 countries.

Dick Simon is an entrepreneur, social enterprise philanthropist and catalyst for change. After September 11, 2001, Simon left the for-profit real-estate development world to co-found and chair the Peace Action Network (PAN) of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), a network of over 27,000 CEOs in more than 130 countries. In addition, Simon received the Making a Difference Award from Harvard Business School (where he received his MBA) and was one of Real Leaders Magazine's "100 Visionary Leaders."

Currently, Simon has been involved with organizations pursuing FDA and European Medical Association clinical trials of psychedelic medicines as treatments for mental health issues (PTSD, depression).  He is working to shift public perspective and reduce stigmatization (THEMification) related to the use of these medicines and is also working with researchers studying psychedelic treatments for various indications as well as their possible use in conflict resolution. You can see his full bio on his website: www.dicksimon.com for additional background.

1969 Reflections

While 1969 was certainly a year of turmoil, Camp felt very insulated in a positive way. There were no heated interactions because it felt like all campers there were generally liberal, open-minded, and we shared a similar value-system.

As with many alumni, CRS was the first real opportunity for some of the boys in 1969 to experience the world outside their relatively sheltered local existences. For Chuck, the beaches of Long Island were the extent of his experience outside of New York City. And for Dick, “CRS was my first international exposure and it shaped my lifetime passion for travel and sense of purpose around making a difference in the world, which has been a major theme of my life since Camp. I much more consider myself a citizen of the world and my community being global rather than from any nation, religion, or other group.”

Among the key lessons from Camp that Chuck tries to impart to those he meets is to always remember that leadership is also a service to others, to be a positive force on the world around you and make it as big as you can, to be honest with yourself, and to embrace life-long learning and to remember that you can always learn from everyone around you.

For Dick, Camp provided an opportunity for growth, openness, and shared intimacy. But he also laments that he was not able to keep in contact with many of the friends he made that summer. “My hope is that in the future there will be far more done to sustain the community that is created in Camp. My sense after leaving Camp, as I’m not from the New York City area, was that there was very little ongoing interaction, apart from when three international campers stayed with me the week following camp.”

Reunion

Join us in celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Clinton campus and CRS girls’ programming at this year's Alumni Weekend, Friday, July 19th to Sunday, July 21st.  Since this is a special year we will have special speakers and activities. The reunion occurs between the two Camp sessions, allowing our alumni to step back in time and be campers again. We welcome alumni, families, and friends to Camp Rising Sun to join us for singing, dining, projects, council and more - in short, a weekend full of CRS!

Dick and Chuck would love to see their fellow 1969 campers to celebrate their 50th anniversary this summer at Camp for the Alumni Reunion. At the reunion alums will meet up at Camp to reconnect with Camp and each other. Alumni from CRS 1969 are celebrating a special anniversary this year and can register at a 50% discount (along with several other anniversary years)! Please, check out the program and register for the reunion now!

Dick and Chuck (with input from Roland Ho) started the website www.crs1969.com to share pictures from their days at Camp.  They haven’t identified everyone in all of their photos.  If you are alumni from 1969 please reach out to Dick Simon (rsimon@rsiholdings.com) to help identify more campers.