Camp Rising Sun

Camp Rising Sun is an 8 week summer, international, full scholarship, leadership program for gifted and talented students (ages 14-16) operated by the Louis August Jonas Foundation (LAJF). There is a boys facility and a separate girls facility in Rhinebeck, New York, 90 miles north of New York City in the Hudson River valley. LAJF is a non-profit organization with a history of more than 75 years and an alumni group which numbers in excess of 5000.

Selection to participate in the Program is highly competitive and is based on intellect (demonstrated academic achievement and an ability to think critically), character (honesty, compassion, integrity), leadership potential (self-confidence, openness and fairness in dealing with others), and individuality (developed abilities and interests). LAJF recruits students worldwide. The Program is non-religious and non-political, though students are encouraged to discuss world affairs, often with guest speakers, and are given the opportunity to attend nearby religious services of their choice. There is no tuition associated with participation in the Program and no one can pay to attend. Boys and girls are selected independent of financial means.

Each Program comprises 60 participants and each year students from more than 30 countries are invited to participate. LAJF believes that youth from diverse cultures and with different life experiences have much to offer each other. Students spend one or two summers as Program participants. Each season includes a core group of about 7 students who are invited back for a second summer.

One of the guiding principles of the CRS program is the belief that there is much to be learned through experience and interaction with other students. All program participants are strongly encouraged to take leadership positions and initiatives in the community while being challenged to explore beyond their limits and seek challenges.

The Louis August Jonas Foundation is guided by the philosophy of its founder, Freddie Jonas, who believed that "Others see the child of today. We see a leader of tomorrow."

History

CRS is one of the longest continuously running summer programs in the United States. It was founded in 1930 to serve boys from New York City — to inspire youth to build a better world. The Program expanded, over time, to gather youth from all regions of the world. In 1989, a girls Program was established. The founder of the Louis August Jonas Foundation, George “Freddie” Jonas, remained closely associated with the Program until the time of his death in 1978.

“The world desperately needs men of good will, men with vision, men who will not be daunted by heavy odds against them. My efforts are, of course, on a small scale but perhaps they can demonstrate what could be done with many camps or schools.” —Founder, George E. Jonas

In an unpublished memoir, Herbert Hall (b. 1923) wrote, "During the spring semester [of tenth grade at Boys High School] , completely without my knowledge, I was recommended to an organization called the Walden Foundation, which operated a boys’ camp in upstate New York called Camp Rising Sun. Its founder, George Jonas, visited us at home and spoke with Aunty and me about attending the camp, whose charter was to provide a broadening experience for boys aged 12 to 17 from varied backgrounds and cultures. I became a camper for the summers of 1936 and 1937, and the experience had a marked influence on the rest of my life."

Goals

The CRS Program aims to develop in young people an appreciation for the values of diversity and common humanity, to expand students’ intellectual and artistic horizons, to nurture leadership skills and self-reliance, and to encourage students to be sensitive and responsive to the needs of others.

The CRS Program provides leadership training and opportunities with intellectual grounding where students take responsibility for the organization and the running of each Program day. The summer Program includes an academic module focused on exploring and better understanding the international and humanistic aspects of world conflicts. Students engage in group projects which are conceived, planned, and managed by peers. Through project leadership opportunities, they learn interpersonal skills and begin to understand how being sensitive and responsive to the needs of others makes for increasingly effective leadership. Hiking and canoe trips conducted in small groups offer additional leadership opportunities. Staff consists of men and women who are typically graduate students or teachers.

Creating a Community

While the Program includes many of the usual activities of summer youth programs, its focus is to provide opportunities for intellectual growth, for development of leadership skills, and for appreciating the values of diversity. The challenging Program provides for considerable individual initiative and the environment created is safe and trustful. Counselors are skilled in a variety of disciplines and create a mentoring backdrop. A weekly newspaper, written and produced by students, journals the progress of the summer. The CRS Program provides a supportive environment for learning and for testing different approaches to problem solving. There are recreational and sport facilities including a soccer field, basketball and tennis courts, and a swimming pool. There are on-site medical personnel at each facility 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Staff is experienced in delivering both a meaningful and fun-filled summer.

Because bunking assignments are changed every two weeks, each student experiences the intellectual and cultural benefits from sharing accommodations with 16 different young people over the course of a summer. Changing Dining Hall table assignments weekly supports the development of diverse relationships.

Learning at Rising Sun

A principal learning mechanism at Rising Sun is the giving of feedback: staff-to-student, student-to-staff, and, most importantly, student-to-student or peer-to-peer. Through feedback, students come to understand that their behavior affects outcomes. They are encouraged to think through different approaches to problem solving. They learn that different styles of leadership produce different results and are appropriate in different situations. As the summer progresses, and as individual self-confidence grows, peer-to-peer feedback becomes an increasingly important component of the learning experience. Students begin to learn from each other to realize that leadership is all about taking initiative as a responsible member of a community.

Core Program Activities

Squad Work: students work together in peer-led teams to address the daily maintenance

Instruction: students may join any one of a variety of presentations offered by staff, visiting alumni, guests, or other students on subjects including: world affairs, personal growth, leadership and other skills, philosophy, ethics, cultural differences, music, art, drama, nutrition and fitness, nature, and individual interests.

Project Time: students work in self-chosen, peer-led groups on construction and other projects aimed to create some benefit for the community and for succeeding generations. Different leadership styles are modeled, project management skills are practiced, and staff and peer feedback help project leaders and participants understand how behavior affects outcomes.

Evening Program: interactive programs serve the goals of mutual understanding and of intellectual and artistic development and are opportunities for leadership and fun. Most Evening Programs are student planned and executed.

Outdoor Experience: includes hiking and canoe camping trips, swimming, tennis, and international team sports.

July Production: a major dramatic or musical production, involving the entire community, is performed at the end of July. The breadth and demands of the effort teaches new skills and has a galvanizing effect upon the Program.

Council: on each Saturday evening, a Council is conducted around a large campfire during which staff present talks about lessons learned through living with the objective of encouraging introspection and subsequent discussions.

Self-Structured Time: several hours of self-structured time are available each day during which students can, for example, enjoy a cross country jog, yoga, or a variety of sports, continue Instructions or Projects, cool-off in the pool, walk and talk in small groups to promote cross-cultural understanding and exchange ideas to better understand differences in viewpoint with other students or between students and staff.

Alumni Services

CRS students become members of an international alumni association which is supportive of their evolving interests in college and careers. CRS alumni have gone on to be successful at some of the finest colleges and universities around the world. The LAJF website, supports a COLLEGE ROSTER which connects young alumni with older alumni who are attending or have attended a broad range of colleges, universities and professional schools. Many alumni choose to write their college essays about their leadership experiences at CRS. LAJF also supports a college scholarship program. CRS alumni also have distinguished careers. To promote connections among alumni, the LAJF website offers a CAREER ROSTER which puts alumni in touch with other alumni engaged in different careers and professions.

Alumni Impact

The goal of the Program is that participants will integrate what they learn at Rising Sun into their lives and pass it along to others. Not surprisingly, almost all CRS alumni complete a four year university program and a very large number of alumni attend graduate or professional schools. While the Rising Sun experience is measured in weeks, the effects of the experience continue to develop and to play out over decades. The self-confidence, the self-reliance, and the skill sets which students acquire during their 8 weeks at Rising Sun channel their maturation and inspire them to new heights of achievement. Many alumni work to give back to the CRS Program by joining the summer staff, by serving as volunteer leaders within the Foundation, and through financial support of Foundation activities.

CRS alumni are leaders in professional, business, social and governmental careers. They have had positive impact in their professions, in their communities, and in the world at large. Successful CRS alumni have had distinguished careers as heads of government agencies, diplomats and other government officials worldwide, United Nations officials, writers, film directors, folk singers, university professors, university presidents, philosophers, business executives, and in a long list of professions including – health and social services, legal and financial services, social and natural sciences, information technology, the arts, and the humanities.

Notable alumni

Some positions held by CRS alumni include: United Nations Under-Secretary General, President of Harvard University, winner of the Intel Science Talent Search, Foreign Minister of South Korea, and Under Secretary of State in the Carter Administration. Camp Rising Sun's alumni also include:

*Darren Aronofsky
*Sandi Simcha Dubowski
*Pete Seeger
*Greg Giraldo
*Itamar Rabinovich (Israeli ambassador to the USA)
*Neil Leon Rudenstine (President emeritus of Harvard University)
*Samuel R. Delany
*David Botstein
*Hameed (Herukhuti) S. Williams
*Eli Attie
*Anselm Hollo

Executive Directors

Executive Directors of the Louis August Jonas Foundation, along with their respective tenures, include:
* George Jonas (Founder), 1930-1973
* Michael D. Green, 1974-1976
* William "Bill" Dubey, 1977-1985
* Ted "Ed" Cap, 1986-1989
* David T. Ives, 1990-1999
* Jeffrey Golden, 2000-2004
* Monee Burner III, 2005-2006
*Atilla Sebok 2008-present

Programs outside the US

CRS Europe is a program similar to the CRS programs in New York and was founded in 1996 by a group of CRS alumni in Denmark, and across Europe. This program is for young women and is located in Stendis, Region Midtjylland, Denmark. it is organized and maintained by the George E. Jonas Foundation and by the Camp Rising Sun Alumni Association of Denmark.

ee also

* Summer camp
* Democratic school

External links

* [http://www.lajf.org/ Camp Rising Sun, The Louis August Jonas Foundation]
* [http://www.lajf.org/internal.asp?id=Stendis Camp Rising Sun Europe]
* [http://www.crsaaf.org/english.php Camp Rising Sun Alumni Association of Finland]
* [http://www.gejf.dk George E. Jonas Foundation]