We are very excited to have a new program director for this summer! Veteran staff member Deena Cowans will be joining our leadership team this year, working closely with Director Jacob Cytryn and Assistant Director Yael Bendat-Appell to further strengthen our various programming areas.
Deena is no stranger to leadership positions at camp. After six summers as a camper, she was on waterfront staff for two summers, and then spent two summers as Rosh Agam (Waterfront Head). She also served one summer as a Rosh Aidah (Division Head) and a partial summer as Rosh Daber (Head of Daber, a special Hebrew language initiative). In addition, Deena spent one summer as a Rosh Kvutza (Group Head) on Ramah Israel Seminar.
A graduate of Duke University, Deena earned her degree in Cultural Anthropology and Spanish before heading out to see the world. In the last seven years, she has lived in six cities on three different continents (though Chicago is her hometown, and camp is her “most consistent home”). She just returned from Thailand, where she learned to be a yoga teacher (and is looking forward to being a certified yoga instructor and sharing her skills at camp!). Before Thailand, she traveled through India and Cambodia and spent several months volunteering in Nepal. Before that, she worked in Jerusalem.
Deena can’t wait to be back at camp, where one of her favorite things is watching the sun set over the lake. She has already been thinking about the Zimriyah (music festival) for several months, so be looking forward to seeing what innovations she’ll bring to the program this summer. We know we can’t wait!
