By Kara Rosenwald, Educational Consultant
Walk down to the lower kikar and before you reach the lake you’ll find the Mercaz, the Education Center at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin. The programming office, formal education office and experiential education work space are all housed together in this one building. Let me share with you the magic that happens all summer long in this experiential education work space.
The Mercaz is like a think tank; our four educational consultants work with the staff to ensure programs are age-appropriate, have quality Jewish content and maximize program time. We lead weekly training sessions focused on key programming skills to help counselors continue to grow as educators.
The counselors are responsible for bunk activities, aidah programs, evening activities, Shabbat programming and they also plan the Wednesday themed programs known as Yom Meyuhad. The counselors work hard to pick themes that their campers will find meaningful, interesting, contemporary, thought provoking and engaging.
Watching the staff planning these programs for their campers is like watching seeds grow into a beautiful garden. We are happy to provide some guidance and a few tools!
