Campus has been a flurry of getting involved in student leadership, student organizations and service projects, and another organization will be making its appearance on campus this fall: Camp Kesem.

“Camp Kesem is a nationwide non-profit and our mission is to serve kids affected by a parent’s cancer,” said Jenna Means, the Operations Director and University Liaison for Camp Kesem, in a phone interview.

Camp Kesem is establishing one of its 10 new chapters here at Hamline University this fall, with the intention of Hamline hosting its first week of Camp Kesem in the summer of 2019.

Camp Kesem currently has 105 chapters across the country, and can be found in numerous colleges and universities across 40 states.

“We had a longtime donor that was interested in starting a chapter at Hamline,” Means said.

The goal right now is to get students interested, so they may start building the executive board so Camp Kesem can take off in the fall.  

When asked what kind of students Means is looking for to get involved, she made it clear that all are welcome.

“People think they have to have a personal connection to cancer in order to be involved in Camp Kesem and that’s definitely not true. We have all sorts of campers and all sorts of counselors and all sorts of people involved… anyone who likes nonprofits or likes kids or likes camp can get involved,” Means said.

The camp structure reinforces this mentality that all are welcome. Camp Kesem functions, for the most part, just like any other summer camp, featuring lots of games, activities and good-natured fun. There are, however, two key events that are specific to Camp Kesem.

The first is Cabin Chat, a nightly time for reflection and bonding among campers and their counselor(s) within the safe space of their cabin.

“It’s an open space for [the campers] to talk about whatever they want…They know that everyone there understands what they’re going through. Most of the time they probably don’t know very many other kids around their age that are dealing with the things they are dealing with,” Means said.

The second event is Empowerment which is similar to Cabin Chat, but on a larger scale.

“It is the one time during the week that we do specifically bring up cancer and why we’re all here together and what’s brought us all to camp,” Means said.  

Means went on to describe that the reason people love Camp Kesem is because of the campers.

“It really helps you be a better, kinder version of yourself and the kids do that… the campers are the reason people love Kesem so much,” Means said.

Means took a moment to reflect on her own experiences as a volunteer at Camp Kesem.

“You go into the week of camp thinking that you’re going to have this big impact on these kids and you’re going to teach them so many things but, you leave the week and you’ve learned more from them than you could have possibly taught them,” Means said.

If you want to get involved in the Hamline chapter, or even learn more about Camp Kesem, information can be found at tinyurl.com/ckhamline.