The URJ Kutz Camp is a leadership academy for Reform Jewish teens across North America and beyond. This camp has just one session every summer that lasts for 4 weeks. The goals and objectives of Kutz are ultimately to create future leaders to make progressions and change in the Reform Jewish movement. A focus question for this research is as follows, “how does ‘just a camp’ community empower so many young adults to progress in the Reform Jewish world?” This is an answer that was collected through various interviews and surveys administered amongst previous staff members of Kutz. Many rabbis, Jewish professionals, and Jewish stakeholders all turn back to summer camp when they reflect on their leadership growth. Empowerment amongst the staff is not only focused on the participants, but on each other and what power this camp community Kutz holds. The Kutz Camp community demonstrates that an informal structure can have significant empowerment to its staff members through the sole passion and caring for one another and camp itself.
CP Research Paper 1 Kutz Camp Community
Overall I really enjoyed your paper, I felt you did a wonderful job relaying the idea that a summer camp could be considered a community. The relationship you described between campers and the staff seemed to harness the growth and development of the youth attending the camp. I believe through understanding the experience of the staff and their thoughts on the community you were able to gain insight into the campers view of URJ Kutz community.
I LOVE THIS PAPER. I was a camp counselor in high school and I could not agree more with what you have written. I was always very close to my campers so I really liked the relationship you described between the two. I think it is hard for a person to really understand the concept of a summer camp being a community until it has been experienced!