This year was the 10th Annual CRS Alumni Picnic in Central Park! Thank you to the New York Alumni Association for hosting and for everyone who joined us. Click the post to check out photos from the event.
Read the highlights from our annual LAJF Board Retreat at Camp! Big thanks to the incredible members of our Board of Directors who volunteer their time and give their energy to ensure the foundation and CRS continue to thrive.
Thank you to all of the CRS Alums who gathered together in Poland for the World Reunion in September 2024! Click to check out photos from the weekend.
We are excited to announce the winners of the 2024-25 GEJ Scholarship Awards! These recent CRS alums, staff, and volunteers embody the values of leadership, excellence, and commitment to social justice across a variety of fields and disciplines. We congratulate them on all of their achievements and look forward to seeing what they do in the future! Please click to meet this year's scholarship recipients.
If you missed the board meeting on January 6 and would like to know what happened, then read this blog post. Updates were provided from LAJF staff and committee members, such as the Programs and Strategic Planning, and the Clinton renovations, summer-staff hiring, and Camper selection were discussed. Read the details here.
Today, in the final post of the CRS-Program Area Highlight series, we hear from Eva Stylianou and Sofia Logan, former CRS Art and Music Counselors. Creative expression is an integral part of the CRS experience, and providing a space for campers to engage in the arts and music, provides campers the opportunity to “explore music and dance as tools for social change, telling different cultural stories through artistic expression.”
This week’s CRS Program Highlight comes from Amit Singh, a counselor on the 2017 Wilderness Team. He discusses how the Red Hook camping trip was created, and the lessons the campers learned. He also discusses the ongoing need for purchasing new camping equipment. “The biggest advantage of this trip was that the campers got to experience Red Hook, and it was no longer this mystical place that the counselors talked about.”
This week, we learn more about Instructions time from the 2016 Instructions Counselor, Ritham Mehta (‘11, ‘14-‘16). Instructions are vital to the Rising Sun program. Instructions provide Campers an opportunity to demonstrate their leadership skills by teaching an instruction to their peers. It also provides alumni and friends an opportunity to engage with the campers, as they visit Camp for the day and share their professional knowledge.
This week, in our CRS summer staff series, we hear from Sonia Wargacka (‘10, ‘16, ‘17), the 2016-2017 Projects Counselor. Sonia discusses why she values projects, and how projects empower campers. “There is a lot to say about empowerment when we talk about hammers, table saws, construction, and painting. Enabling all of our campers to make projects happen and be the change they want to see first at Camp, and then in the world, is for me one of the most important elements of Camp Rising Sun.”
Throughout December, we will be highlighting the stories of former Camp Rising Sun counselors to hear what they valued most in their program areas. This is to increase awareness and understanding of how donations make these opportunities possible. This week, Antonella Cornejo (CRS ’16-’17) reflects on two summers working in the CRS kitchen and the importance of cultural meals to the camp experience.
Applications for the 2018 Rising Sun season is now open. We encourage you, alumni and friends, to nominate a camper or staff member for CRS '18, as you know better than anyone else what qualities are needed for campers and counselors to thrive at Camp Rising Sun. Read more about the qualification here.
LOUIS AUGUST JONAS FOUNDATION 6 RISING SUN LANE RHINEBECK, NY, 12572, UNITED STATES +1 (212) 686-1930 CONTACT@LAJF.ORG
The Louis August Jonas Foundation (LAJF) and Camp Rising Sun (CRS) have a long-held commitment to the principles of diversity, stemming from our mission. In that spirit, LAJF and CRS do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, creed, color, sexual orientation, nation of origin, gender, sex, or gender identity.
