Hannah Grace – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com Breaking news from the Farm since 1892 Wed, 26 Feb 2014 10:29:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://stanforddaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cropped-DailyIcon-CardinalRed.png?w=32 Hannah Grace – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com 32 32 204779320 Camp Kesem continues for its 13th year https://stanforddaily.com/2014/02/26/camp-kesem-continues-for-its-13th-year/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/02/26/camp-kesem-continues-for-its-13th-year/#comments Wed, 26 Feb 2014 10:29:00 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1082712 For almost 13 years, Stanford undergraduates have volunteered to organize Camp Kesem, a yearly sleepover summer camp for boys and girls aged six to 16 whose parents have or have had cancer.

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Courtesy of Camp Kesem
Courtesy of Camp Kesem

For almost 13 years, Stanford undergraduates have volunteered to organize Camp Kesem, a yearly sleepover summer camp for boys and girls aged six to 16 whose parents have or have had cancer.

In Hebrew, kesem means “magic.” For the Stanford students that make Camp Kesem a possibility, that magic is found in the community the camp nurtures.

“That magic comes from the people and the people alone,” said Ben Rosellini ’15.

 

The camper experience

According to Ben McKenzie ’15, a member of Kesem’s leadership team, the camp has two main purposes.

“We want to allow [the campers] to be kids, and to show them they’re not alone, to take away the isolating aspect of a parent who has cancer,” McKenzie said.

Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of the counseling experience is the nicknames each counselor assumes for the duration of their tenure.

“The names enable us to be our best selves when we take on the name and the persona behind that name,” explained Scott “Chimp” Swartz ’14, co-chair of the coordinator team.

As with any other camp, Camp Kesem features games, singing and nature hikes. However, there are also structured times when campers are given a safe space to share their experiences about their parents’ cancer. For example, the camp incorporates nightly “Cabin Chats” as well as a ceremony called “Roots,” which gives everyone a chance to talk about the impact cancer has had on their lives.

“The ‘Roots’ ceremony marks an incredible week of emotional shifts and makes everything after that even more special,” said Alan Propp ’16, who will return for his second summer as a counselor this year.

 

Expanding Camp Kesem

Camp Kesem has grown quickly from humble roots. Having started as a small project of the Stanford Hillel in 2001, the camp was initially only able to accommodate 37 campers, according to camp director Heather Paul. After the camp met with initial success, Hillel staff member Iris Rave founded Camp Kesem National in August 2002 in order to help other college students start similar programs.

Since then, Camp Kesem has grown to encompass 53 other camps hosted by different universities across the country, including UC-Berkeley, MIT, Yale and Northwestern.

Back at Stanford, the original Camp Kesem has expanded and will be at full capacity for this coming summer, hosting 130 campers.

Despite experiencing maximum enrollment, Stanford’s chapter of Kesem is currently focused on growing in depth rather than breadth, according to Paul, who added that she is working on developing an extensive program for counselor alumni that would allow them to stay involved even after graduation from Stanford.

That additional depth may also include more support for campers throughout the year. Reunions in the fall and spring have allowed campers to stay involved with Kesem. Meanwhile, staying updated with families’ situations when they are away from camp gives counselors the chance to support campers beyond the one-week camp.

“I get the best camper emails,” Paul said. “I love them. They make me so happy.” When the camp is not in session, the student leadership must devote a significant amount of time to raising funds to support the camp’s ability to not charge campers. Over the academic year, two coordinators work on funding from grants and individual ask letters.

Kesem also holds smaller fundraisers with other community organizations, like Treehouse, Pizza My Heart, Stanford Hair and the Athlete Date Auction. Sixty percent of Kesem’s funding, however, comes from private donors.

Ultimately, the counselors emphasized their desire to be a part of a community like none other.

“To see so many people who are so talented and knowledgeable give all of their resources to such a noble cause is so inspiring,” McKenzie said.

“It’s amazing to have the chance to contribute to the [kids’] happiness and well-being and to be a support network for them to rely on,” Rosellini said.

 

Contact Hannah Grace at hgrace ‘at’ stanford ‘dot’ edu.

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Cardinal Fund to support students’ creative projects https://stanforddaily.com/2013/10/07/cardinal-fund-to-support-students-creative-projects/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/10/07/cardinal-fund-to-support-students-creative-projects/#respond Mon, 07 Oct 2013 09:28:22 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1079163 Stanford students Ryan Atallah ‘16 and Eric Smalls ‘16 are developing a beta for Cardinal Fund, a crowd-funding platform for Stanford alumni to financially support students’ creative projects, which they plan to launch early in winter quarter.

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Stanford students Ryan Atallah ‘16 and Eric Smalls ‘16 are developing a beta for Cardinal Fund, a crowd-funding platform for Stanford alumni to financially support students’ creative projects, which they plan to launch early in winter quarter.

Emphasizing the creative process of bringing art and technology together, the founding pair envision the platform serving many purposes for students, alumni, the University as a whole and even the surrounding community.

Stanford students inspired to undertake various projects—such as creating a computer science program for girls in local schools or building a thoughtful sculpture in a public place—can pitch their ideas on the Cardinal Fund website. Stanford alumni interested in donating may complete a questionnaire about their interests and time at Stanford.

Atallah and Smalls first plan to manually match alumni to 10 to 15 initial student projects, but eventually they hope to carry out the process algorithmically as the platform grows. In this way, the sophomores hope to give alumni a more satisfying experience when giving money to Stanford.

“Alumni want to see where their money is going,” Smalls said. “It is an exciting thing to see a project come to fruition.”

Atallah added that the validation and support of student projects is a critical facet of their mission.

“If you feel that you have the ability to just go out and create something that is worth creating, then you become willing to just try anything,” Atallah said.

In the long run, as the platform grows, the fundamental premise of the Cardinal Fund will not be limited to alumni and undergraduates.

“It’s not even restricted to Stanford,” Atallah said.

The Cardinal Fund founders also hope that students will undertake endeavors that will promote positive social change. Smalls wants people to get excited about social impact.

“We want to grow that culture,” Smalls said.

Atallah and Smalls are also working to secure a “maker space,” a place on campus where students can be around others who are creating or working on various projects. Smalls is especially enthusiastic about focusing purely on the creative process and endorsing a community of creators at Stanford.

The Cardinal Fund website itself serves as a place where students with similar interests can connect. Atallah and Smalls plan to keep a record of every activity on the site, so students interested in collaborating with peers can find someone with similar interests or ideas.

Students can also find unfinished projects and continue a project another student did not complete.

 

Contact Hannah Grace at hgrace ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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