Every Summer, MCCJ offers a six-day residential program for high school students that brings teenagers together from across Miami-Dade County for an intensive, life-changing experience called Camp Metrotown.
Since 2011, there have been more than 250 students who have participated and graduated from this program. This year, Camp Metrotown filled up rather quickly with 50 student’s eager to give up a week of their summer vacation, June 25-30, at St. Thomas University.
MCCJ expects to have another successful program that combines exercises, activities and simulations that will encourage dialogue around areas of diversity. By the end of the week, students will have broken down barriers, overcome challenges, gained new understandings and formed lasting friendships.
“Youngsters say they can be themselves for the first time at Metrotown,” said Roberta Shevin, MCCJ executive director. “Each student matters and they come to us with their own challenges. In many cases, they realize they are not alone, but they leave feeling empowered, and are one step closer to becoming a leader.”
As part of Camp Metrotown’s core values, students will recognize that every person counts. These youngsters will be given tools to identify prejudice and recognize their own privileges, rights, and responsibilities. Teens will learn the appropriate and effective methods of discussing difficult topics about race, ethnicity, religion, gender, orientation, socio-economic status and other social identifiers.
By the end of the six days, they will embrace differences and seek understanding, bringing empathy and respect for one another. The exercises are done in a safe environment, which means that students can be themselves without fear of being judged or bullied, and they will ultimately seek to reach a position of change in our society. They’ll walk away as an advocate for change; taking responsibility for building a just, inclusive community in their schools and neighborhoods.
MCCJ was founded in Miami in 1935 as the Miami Coalition of Christians & Jews. MCCJ creates a safe haven for dialog, trains inclusive leaders and promotes understanding for all faiths, races and cultures through education, advocacy and conflict resolution. It hosts the oldest interfaith clergy dialog in the United States and presents prejudice reducing programs in local high schools, among other activities.
For more information, visit www.miamiccj.org.
