Growing Beyond Yourselfie!

Photos are influential in tween and teen culture. Our campers are growing up in a world where everything is captured as a photo from trying on clothes in a store to what’s on your plate at dinner. Over the past three weeks, 50 campers at Camp Chi have looked through a different lens of photography to explore their values, camp community and social inclusion.

This creative approach came to us from InFocus, a program that empowers individuals of varying abilities to have a voice and use photos to share their ideas about access, participation and community inclusion. InFocus provided prompts and campers worked in small groups to take pictures that represented the topic. Using ideas from campers’ discussions about the photos, the InFocus team finds meaning in campers’ summer experiences that can be used in research, evaluation and staff development.

Photo Exhibit

We selected a sampling of campers’ photos and matched them with ideas shared during the discussions. Click on a photo to see how campers interpreted the picture as a response to the prompt. We encourage you to think about what you see in the photo and what it represents to you.

Prompt 1

What about Camp Chi makes you proud to be Jewish?

Prompt 2

What does kindness look like?

Prompt 3

What is an action, talent or achievement you respect in others?

Prompt 4

What is your biggest contribution to camp?

Camp Chi is proud to have been selected as one of two pilot camps for InFocus. This program was made possible by the Joan and Stanford Alexander Family Fund and the Ruderman Family Foundation. Camp Chi is part of the Foundation for Jewish Camp and the Ruderman/Alexander Inclusion Initiative.