Spotlight on the Teen Leadership Institute

Session 4 Update

Session 4 is in full swing! Today, campers loved trying out their third Floats experience of the session – choosing independently which program area around Camp to explore. This is a break from our typical bunk-centered approach, where campers do everything with their fellow cabin mates, from eating and sleeping to all of the activities Tawonga has to offer. 

Speaking of activities, campers this session are trying out some seriously creative programming. To name a few, we’ve got: Abandon Ship at the Lake, Conspiracy Theories (where kids come up with camp-related conspiracies!), Eras programmer block (Taylor Swift-themed), Jews and Pirates, Kitchen in-training with our K-staff, Jewish rap battles (between Moses & Pharaoh and Eve & Adam), Fairy houses at river spots, Mermaids at the river and Mikvahs (ritual cleansing dips in the Tuolumne). Lucky kids!

Plus, the excitement is building for our community Shabbat celebration, which begins tomorrow evening, once all campers have returned from their backpacking adventures. It’s so special being all together in Camp to welcome the Sabbath for a day of rest and reflection. 

Below, check out a special spotlight on the Teen Leadership Institute:

Spotlight on TLI

Starting last summer, our Teen Leadership Institute (TLI) has taken rising 11th graders on the road for service learning, community building and fun, followed by a week at their home away from home, Camp Tawonga. In prior years, teens spent the full three weeks at Camp. This new structure continues to be a hit for our teens, offering adventure and bonding – with an opportunity to give back, too. 

Check out the below behind the scenes peek into our 2024 TLI program!

🗓 On Thursday, July 11, We arrived at the Oakland airport and together flew to Portland! We arrived at Portland State University (PSU), where all the teens moved into the dorms and got settled. Next up: a fabulous opening ceremony in a beautiful park to set the tone for our three and a half weeks together.

🗓We then divided into small group units, with one counselor assigned to each group. The teens have been loving our small group structure this year, which we break into often,  allowing for more intimate community building. We later headed into an awesome opening campfire with all the camp classic skits, like Rattlin Bog, followed by a song session. 

🗓 Over the next four days, we participated in service work – a key component of TLI. We joined projects at different organizations that are supporting people experiencing houselessness in different ways. We visited a kindness farm, which is a community regenerative farm. We went to Kenton Women’s Village, which is a tiny home community for women experiencing houselessness. We also visited the community, Overlook Apartments, to help with landscaping work. 

🗓 We also had an especially meaningful visit with Hazelnut Grove, another houselessness community, by doing some construction work. Here, the teens helped to support one man who had a little porch; the group built a roof over the porch over the course of three days. Each of the small groups of teens had the opportunity to contribute to the roof. As each group worked on the project, they shared about how good it felt, knowing that their friends were coming to continue the project after them. This was such a powerful metaphor for our TLI program, that we all can make an impact as individuals, and we’re also all in this together to make an even bigger impact. 

🗓 Next up: Exploring Portland! We enjoyed food trucks, went on a mural arts tour and hiked to a waterfall! 

🗓 After a really beautiful Shabbat evening on Friday, we left Portland on Saturday. Our group then split into two; half the group went white water rafting for two days, while the other half went mountain biking and rock climbing outside of Bend. Then we switched so everyone could experience it all! The teens had an absolute blast. 

🗓 One highlight from the rafting trip was getting to learn from an Indigenous elder, who joined both groups. This person spoke about the native people who lived on the land. They shared creation stories, lessons about language and more.

🗓 Next up: Ashland, Oregon! We went to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and even got to go on a behind the scenes tour. We enjoyed the play, “Lizard Boy,” a superhero-themed queer coming of age story. For some teens, the play really spoke to them. Some said that it seemed like Assistant Director of Teen Programs Brady Gill wrote the play! 

🗓 After that we went to Cascadia Quest, where we learned about primitive and wilderness skills and there we created our own Shabbat. 

🗓 The next day, the teens participated in individual three-hour solo sits, which was amazing and powerful! A very unique, challenging experience indeed.

🗓 We finally made our way to Camp Tawonga! The teens were SO excited to get back to their home away from home. This past week, they have been getting to do all the things they love about Camp – from the Challenge Course to Gnarly to A&C and everything in between. They have been soaking up the magic and recently did a flash mob in the Dining Hall in front of all the campers! 

🗓 The teens are also doing service work projects this week to give back to Tawonga; projects include helping our Farm and Garden team through garden expansion as well as doing forestry work to build a trail from the backpacking platform down to the river. 

🗓 We’re all looking forward to one final Shabbat tomorrow. It’s hard to believe we go home on Sunday. This has been a transformative, beautiful experience for these teens, and we hope they all return next summer to be in our SCIT program!