A Camper’s Outlook on CRS Amidst a Pandemic - Part I 

By Nidhi, Anahi, Liv, Halle, and Lisandro

This year’s virtual campers.

Day 1:

It’s the first day of camp! Though virtual, the spirit of CRS remains the same: strangers from around the world come together to learn how to take action in their communities, forge new friendships, and learn a little bit more about leadership. 

To start camp off, we went through some introductions and separated into breakout groups to get acquainted with our fellow campers. After the introductory activities, we split up into tent talk groups and spent some time getting to know our respective group members. A highlight of our tent talk groups was the creation of our odd but unique tent talk names. Our eight tent talk groups came up with the names: Little Einsteins, Sneaker Squad, Watering Cans, Koala-fications, Beverage, The Best Group with the Best Name which is not too Long, Ladybug, and - last but not least - Just a Name. 

Liv Speaking

We were also prompted to find something common amongst us in each of our groups. A personal experience of mine in the tent talk group (I’m in the Sneaker Squad), was the difficulty we faced in finding a common, yet interesting, trait amongst us all - not an easy trait like the fact that we all went to school, but something more discrete, more rare. We struggled over this, proposing a series of questions to no avail. In the end, we came up with the fact that all of the people in my group liked warm seasons. 

Halle Speaking

During my group's tent talk, although we all decided to choose a name for our group from the get go of our time together, who knew that talking about our similarities would lead into high school reading assignments, to the ACT, to beverages of our liking. Spending time talking comfortably about our lives and interests gave our group no choice but to name ourselves, the “Beverage” tent talk group.

• Halle and Liv

Day 2:

Today was the second day of camp. We started with a quick energizer, graciously led by facilitator Weronika, shaking out our limbs to wake us up. 

Our first activity today allowed us to explore the many facets of leadership and what leadership means to each of us. Each camper chose a different object from their desk and explained how it might represent a different aspect of leadership. There was a lot of variety; campers chose anything from pencils to patchwork rats. Through the lens of an ‘everyday’ object to describe leadership, campers were challenged to provide creative descriptions outside the norm of their go-to definitions.

Following that, a few campers had to pretend that they were an expert on the use and history of an object, which they then presented, while other campers asked questions. The catch was that they had to give the object a use which was not real. So, a pencil could be used as just about anything- except as a writing utensil.

Finally, campers split into project groups for the first time today! We (Nidhi, Anahi, and Lisandro) had chosen to contribute to the camp blog along with Halle and Liv, with Weronika as our advisor. Today, our group in particular worked together to organize the making of this blog (what we’ll be writing, who’s writing what, etc.). 

We’re thrilled to work on this project and relay the daily happenings of camp to you all.

We hope that you enjoy our blog! 

• Nidhi, Anahi, and Lisandro

Day 3:

Day 3! Today we dove into what specific characteristics a leader should have, how to give feedback, and what it means to be in a safe and comfortable space. Although I may think inspiration may be the key component to being a leader, someone else might think that popularity may be the key component. Reflecting and thinking about these different ideas and sharing all of our thoughts with an open mind is exactly what today's session entailed. A lot of reflecting on ourselves, what our values are and what our souls may look like. Once again, we continued our day with tent talks and finished the third day.

• Halle

Day 4: Camper-Led Day

Today was our first camper-led day! Campers led engaging and insightful instructions on topics ranging from healthcare systems to the art of debate.

I had chosen to attend Jaime’s instruction on how language shapes our perception of the world. We began the instruction with a brief introduction of our names and the languages we’re able to speak; I was stunned by the wide variety of languages spoken. Among our group of around 20, campers spoke English, Hindi, Spanish, Arabic, Gujarati, Romanian, and more. I think that really speaks to the diversity of cultures represented at CRS.

A memorable highlight from the instruction was the learning of how language affects the way we organize information. For example, when asked to order pictures of Einstein from youngest to oldest, someone who spoke primarily English would order the pictures from left to right while another individual speaking primarily Arabic or Hebrew would order the pictures from right to left. Similarly, we learned about Kuuk Thaayorre, a Paman language that uses directions to communicate. Its speakers demonstrate greater proficiency than English speakers in navigation and are always able to recognize the direction they’re facing (N, E, S, W). Fascinatingly, speakers of Kuuk Thaayorre arrange the pictures in the aforementioned exercise from east to west.

• Nidhi

So, today, I attended Adela’s Instruction on health care systems. The Instruction strongly reminded me of a couple of socratic seminars I’ve had in school. Honestly, I was super impressed by how well she managed her “class.” We got into a couple of debates, but she kept us on topic throughout the whole thing. It was really interesting to hear about different health care systems all over the world. Since we were all from countries with very different systems, Adela had all of us talk about the situation in each of our countries, and the problems within each system. I’m from the United States, which has the fairly obvious problem of private healthcare, which is ludicrously expensive. Because of this, I had no idea about any of the difficulties that public healthcare might pose. Frankly, I thought this Instruction was super cool, and took full advantage of the international nature of this program.

• Anahi

For today's camper-led day, we allocated time for three different activities: Online games, Cooking food, and a movie. The online games portion was not only very fun, but we got to know one another better while bonding over a common interest. Not only did we have fun with the games suggested, but we came up with other ideas as well. We continued our SST session with cooking! I know I was very hungry by the time the SST session rolled around, and the cooking SST was the perfect activity to prepare for the next activity: Movie! We finished off our day by watching Mama Mia with one another virtually of course. Overall, our first SST session was a huge success and gave everyone time to learn more about one another and have fun!

• Halle

Day 5:

Hello! You might remember from the Day 1 post. Today, we had a discussion about defining views, intersectionality, and power. First, our second-year campers led us through an activity in which they proposed a series of questions to make us think about how a disability should be defined. For example, a long time ago, having bad eyesight was considered a disability. Now, however, it isn’t, because glasses and contacts have been popularized and so everyone just accepts people having poor eyesight as part of the norm. Another scenario suggested by one of our peers was one in which an astronaut went to another planet, adjusted to the environment there, and then came back to Earth’s gravity. If that were to occur, there would be an adjustment period in which his body would no longer be fit for Earth’s environment. In that case, could you say that the astronaut had a disability? How would you define a disability? In this exercise, the second year campers explained that the term “disability” is very broad and isn’t fully explained by science. 

Our next topic was intersectionality. It was a new concept for me. I knew what it was, I just didn’t know the word. Intersectionality is the overlapping of social categorizations. We looked at a historical case about intersectionality. In 1976, Emma Degraffenreid and some others sued General Motors for segregating based on race and gender. Unfortunately, General Motors was acquitted because they did hire women and they did hire African Americans. However, the company did not hire African-American women, thus this case shows the importance of defending intersectionality. 

Our final discussion was about power. First, we had to ask ourselves what we defined as power. We also learned about three different power dynamics. Then, we went onto an activity of going through different scenarios, focusing on how these scenarios dealt with intersectionality and power dynamics. 

Today was quite an exciting day. I got the opportunity to discuss topics that I rarely ever talk about in my life. It’s only been a few days, but with these truthful and open discussions, I already feel that I have come to grow closer with my peers in Camp Rising Sun.

I look forward to tomorrow!

•  Liv

Day 6:

I presented today! I did an instruction on “Diseases in the Global South.” It was actually a really fun instruction to prepare and to present, although I can’t say that I enjoyed reading through a 17 page WHO report on diseases of poverty. I was pretty nervous about the instruction the day before, and I presented it to my friend who also happened to be doing an instruction. Hers was on beauty standards; her instruction was also really interesting. Overall, it was a great experience, the attendees of my instruction were actively listening and clearly interested in my topic. Although it did end quite early due to my mistake, we still had a great time and if I had the chance, I would do it again!

• Liv

In the instruction about Politics we could see a little of its history, organization, ethics and effects. Also, there was a debate activity where two people defended a position in favor and against about "LGBT+ Community and Immigration". After that, a discussion was initiated among all the participants.

• Anahi

For today’s Self-Structured time, the SST leaders and I wanted to focus on language learning, bonding, and relaxation.

We began our afternoon after instruction with a language learning Kahoot; each camper was provided with a word in a ‘non-English’ language and had to guess its translation. The words quizzed in the Kahoot were composed of campers’ individual submissions (compiled the day before) and ranged from Spanish to Hungarian. For the remainder of the first activity, we played an exciting game of Hangman where a word in a ‘non-English’ language was given and its English translation had to be guessed. During this time, we also were able to observe the artistic talent of CRS, as campers adorned the sides of the Hangman board with drawings using Zoom’s annotate feature.

Later that day, we relaxed with a “craft-hour.” Playing chill music while painting, crocheting, drawing, and painting with each other was a nice opportunity to enjoy each other’s company and recharge. We also used a portion of this time to play a blindfolded drawing game where a five-minute time limit was given along with a theme like “Animals” or “Sports.” I have to say, I’m quite proud of the elephant I created during that time. 

Finally, we finished the day with a thrilling game of Mafia in which there are two secret “murderers” and the group must figure out who they are before they’re all ‘killed.’ Chase and Amanda proved to be wonderful narrators of this game – their attention to detail and commitment to suspense was truly impressive.

• Nidhi

CAMPER TESTIMONIALS

Expectations and Conclusions from VCRS Campers

Collected by Lisandro Rosal

Dev Madhavani (From Connecticut, USA) applied for CRS because It's an unparalleled opportunity to meet so many people as a high schooler. Also, as a competitive debater, he loves to talk and hear about different opinions about global issues. 

VCRS was definitely an experience he’ll  remember for a long time. Meeting people from all over the world is a change while being virtual, but it was still incredible to see how different yet similar people can be. He hopes to be in the CRS community for a long time!

“I’ll try to inspire and create change through leadership. Using my knowledge about what social issues are, hopefully I'm able to utilize my leadership skills to attack issues in my community that I can influence”.

Valentina Espinoza tells us that Ecuador has four different regions in such a small territory (the Galapagos Islands, the Coast, the Highlands, and the Amazon). She decided to apply to Camp Rising Sun because she always wanted to participate in an international camp to make friends from all over the world. Also, to learn more about leadership and to expand her knowledge about different topics such as gender, race, and the environment.

With the movement to a virtual format, she believed it was going to be difficult to make friends through a computer. But, immediately she began to feel part of the CRS community.

Finally, thanked all the facilitators and second year campers for creating such an inclusive space for everyone. “When looking at a problem, I would look at every aspect of it, like what we learned with intersectionality class. I would also have in mind internalized oppression so that I can stop social injustice starting with my own thoughts.”

Amanda Li is from Brooklyn, New York. She never went to sleep away camp as a kid and being able to spend a few weeks with people from all over the world sounded great. Even though with the virtual modality it's not possible, being able to get to know people of her age with diverse perspectives is still absolutely amazing.

She told us something interesting that happened to her during VCRS, “I was in a Tent Talk and was getting ready to go outside so I checked with everyone to make sure I didn’t forget anything. It seemed like all was good and we kept talking until I lost internet, and once I got off the phone I realised I forgot to bring a mask and had gone ten stops on the subway maskless (which wasn’t allowed) and panicked”

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Meet the Blog Team

Anahi

Hi! My name is Anahí! I’m a rising senior at Hunter College High School in New York City. I’m the leader of this blog project. While it is not my first experience with blogging, I usually blog about books, so this was, in some ways, new for me. I hope you enjoy reading this blog!

Liv Chung

Hey! My name is Liv, I am the other team leader of the blog team. I consider it a great opportunity to get some more experience in leading a team, especially about a subject that I have not had much experience with (writing blogs).

Nidhi Gosalia

Nidhi is a rising junior at Livingston High School with a passion for both the arts and sciences. 

Working on the blog alongside the talented young minds on the blog team has allowed her to rediscover her love for writing and preserve the memory of what was a transformative experience at camp. In her free time, she enjoys fencing, painting, and computer programming.

Halle Park

Hi! My name is Halle Park and I am a rising senior and currently live in Princeton NJ. I love to spend time with friends and family and I have a huge passion for education. I am very adventurous, I love to socialize and meet new people. Being a part of Camp Rising Sun and the blog team has been one of the highlights of my summer and I hope you enjoy what we have prepared for you!

Lisandro Rosal

Hello everyone! My name is Lisandro, from Venezuela. I’m a Student of International Relations and also, I´m a member of the “Venezuelan Association for International Analysis” (understanding the different situations that can arise in the world is one of my favorite things to do).

I had the pleasure of compiling opinions from the campers during the program and recording our experiences within “Virtual Camp Rising Sun - Session 2”