Why I Keep Coming Back to Quest

By: Ryan Jacobs

I’ve been a part of the big Tawonga family since I started going to the Keshet family camp at 15 months with my two dads. However, as I’ve gotten older and experienced other programs Tawonga offers, I’ve found smaller families within the big Tawonga family.

During 6th grade, I told my parents I wanted to start going to summer camp. They immediately suggested Camp Tawonga. My B’Mitzvah was coming up soon, and even though I wasn’t studying with Tawonga, they wanted me to be part of a Jewish community. At that time, I was struggling with my Jewish identity and was hesitant about going to Tawonga. However, something I am passionate about is the outdoors. Camping, hiking, and being in nature in general always allowed me to feel free from the stress of society and relax.

My parents told me about Quest, which sounded like fun although I was still a bit hesitant. Nevertheless, I signed up for the Sierra Slam Quest. I remember the night before I left, I looked out my window and told myself – it’s a quest. It’s going to be an adventure. And just reminding myself made me a little less nervous. Minutes into the Quest, I knew I was already making friends. We made our way to Stanislaus National Forest for our first two nights before heading off to backpack in Yosemite. We celebrated Shabbat at June Lake, then headed to Mono Lake to canoe, Lake Tahoe to swim and to Starbucks during our town time, and finally to Coloma for two days of whitewater river rafting on the South Fork of the American River.

Beyond backpacking, canoeing, and rafting, Quest truly does have this magic to it that I struggle to explain to people who have never experienced it firsthand. On Quest, you’re living with everyone else. You do all your activities with them – driving, – this way of living – perfect for forming strong bonds with your fellow questers.

On my first Quest I met some of the closest friends I have today, two of whom I consider chosen sisters. On my second Quest (Surf n’ Turf 2024), I made friends, found my place in the group, and returned home with an aching desire to return to them, the activities of Quest, and the general dynamic of this program, just as I had the previous summer.

The camp I had been so reluctant to go to had become a highlight of my summer, a community where I always felt a sense of home and family. On both of my Quests, the group joked about being a family with 11 kids and our Quest leaders being our parents.

Sleepaway camp, including but not limited to Camp Tawonga, can be an experience that changes your life, a chance to make some new friends and have a blast, or just a breather from your normal life. Camp can be a place to find a new community you feel like you belong in, whether that’s with your bunk, your fellow Questers, a small group of friends, or the entire camp community. Camp can be a place to explore new aspects of life, develop new hobbies, and have fun 24/7. Sleep though. Please sleep! Your parents will not be happy if you come home as a zombie.

Camp can also be a place to have moments of spontaneous fun. I’m sure my fellow questers and Quest leaders would back me up on this. On the Quests I’ve been on, there would always be moments of fun — not an activity planned into the itinerary — but just something that happens. Maybe this looks like stopping in the middle of the drive for a bathroom break and having a mini dance party on a play structure, or waking up at 5 am to see the sunrise, or shouting “I’m the king of the world!” on the front of a ferry.

To quote one of my Quest leaders, “None of these moments are planned, but they are all highlights.” This is where the Tawonga magic comes from. The spontaneity of it all. The fact that everyone is willing to give something a shot they’ve never done before, even though the counselors hadn’t planned it, and nobody’s sure what’s going to happen. But we’re doing it with our group, these people we’ve been living with, and so we can do it because we trust the people we’re doing it with. And trust is where community comes from. And community is where family comes from.

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Ryan Jacobs is a 13-year-old from Berkeley who wrote this piece about his experiences the past two summers on Sierra Slam and Surf n Turf Quests. He is registered for another this summer! To find out more about 2025 Quests, click here.