For 90 years, the Louis August Jonas Foundation has been committed to helping young people grow intellectually, ethically, and globally through Camp Rising Sun, our full-scholarship, summer leadership program for teenagers from around the world. Over the last weeks, we have taken a deeper look at our curriculum which has inspired, in so many young people worldwide, a commitment to compassionate and responsible leadership for the betterment of their communities and the world. 

In the final issue of this series, we explore how the journalism & world affairs program prepares participants to be globally-conscious leaders.

Journalism has a long tradition in the CRS program of teaching participants to use, critique and contribute to the creation of ethical media in our ever-changing, interconnected world.

Since CRS began in 1930, the weekly student-led newspaper has served as a record of the season and a source of discussion about world events. In the early years, participants would publish a weekly newspaper, which included stories, features, commentaries, and the occasional literary contribution.

In today’s world of information bubbles, “fake news,” and social media, the focus of the journalism program has shifted to include an emphasis on critical media literacy and world affairs. Rather than publish a printed newspaper, participants now produce a weekly blog, which is posted internally and also published online to provide updates to parents and alums. 

The objectives of the journalism program are to: 

• Create a brief, curated, weekly record of events during the program

• Offer a public way to post the record and also elicit comments among participants

• Publish the record broadly on the LAJF website to communicate relevant updates to the “outside world” of parents and alumni

• Lead discussions of problems and opportunities in news media and global politics

Through the journalism program, we encourage participants to become discerning users of media by comparing their recollections of the program’s events to how they were presented by peers in the weekly blog.

Making Global Connections

At Camp Rising Sun, participants have a rare opportunity to interact with individuals who are directly impacted by social and political events happening around the world. Staff members create opportunities for campers to draw on their personal experiences and participate in meaningful intercultural dialogue on a variety of sociopolitical topics. 

Our dedicated Journalism & World Affairs Counselors provide participants with access to news sources that provide global perspectives. Counselors also encourage campers to engage in abstract thinking about media and draw connections between current events around the world. 

Throughout the season, counselors organize numerous opportunities for discussion on global affairs and politics through evening programs and instructions. Past workshops have included topics such as:

• The Complexity of Peace & Conflict: What causes conflict? Why is peace building so challenging? Through discussions and real life examples, participants aim to understand the complexity and humanity of selected phenomena.

• Intro to Media Literacy: The instruction introduces 5 principles of critical media analysis through interactive activities corresponding to each principle

• Comparative World Press: Participants compare and contrast the front pages from a wide variety of world newspapers on a given date.

• Sourcing: Participants debate the ethics of news media to quote sources “on the condition of anonymity.” 

• Refugee Crises: This workshop teaches solidarity values, and serves as a discussion on how countries could act to solve these humanitarian crises as well as how people  can support refugees on an individual level.

• Freedom Timeline: What is freedom? What does freedom feel like? Together, participants create an interactive, non-linear timeline of freedom struggles across the world.

• Zines: Participants make their own zines while learning about their history and political impact, presenting zines as a form of alternative journalism and historical record. 

• “Both Sides.” Participants consider whether journalists are obligated to present “both sides” of a controversy or whether the focus on “both sides” can lead to the spread of misinformation.

After participating in our program, campers return home feeling more personally connected to the stories they read and watch on the world news. As our Executive Director, Helene Mattera, wrote, “The stories are not about some far-off place or unknown people. Those affected have a name and a face.”  

Lifelong Global Impact of CRS

Inspired by the intercultural learning experience of Camp Rising Sun, many of our alums go on to pursue their global interests through international careers. For Sofia Logan, who attended CRS in 2011 and 2012, hearing from campers and counselors with complex, interdisciplinary global interests helped put her own passions into focus. 

“After talking in-depth with counselors and campers about how they weave together diverse interests, those two years [as a camper] taught me that I could carve my own path in the world and be curious about everything,” said Sofia, who went on to combine her interests in environmental justice and international relations with music and dance. 

Sofia returned to CRS as a counselor in 2016 and 2017. According to Sofia, “CRS created a space for me to process my experiences abroad, and learn from campers, reinforcing my love of ethnomusicology - the study of music in different cultures.” Sofia Logan recently released her first album, “Waiting for You, Waiting for Me,” which blends together her interests in environmental justice and ethnomusicology.

For many of our participants, CRS is the first step on a lifelong journey of global learning and social action. After living alongside individuals from over 30 countries for 4 week, our participants return home to fulfill our philosophy of serving society as ethical leaders in pursuit of humanitarian goals.

As Sama, a 2019 alum, said in a reflection on her CRS experience: “Before we even knew it, we created a large family that dispersed to its many homes, creating a newly formed network of thoughtful, committed, citizens that became agents of change no matter where they may be.”

Check out our Alumni Beings & Doings to learn more about how past participants are living our mission in their lives back home.

Excerpts of this article were derived from the Camp Rising Sun Curriculum Guide. For a full copy of our curriculum, please email contact@lajf.org