City History Comes Alive for Camden Youth During Summer History Camp at Rutgers–Camden

For Immediate Release

CAMDEN --  At-risk youth in the City of Camden are enjoying a unique History Camp at Rutgers University–Camden this summer, thanks to an $8,300 grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities.

Approximately 50 Camden teens (age 16 to 18) will participate in three two-week sessions offered by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities (MARCH) at Rutgers–Camden, in cooperation with WELCOMENJ, a workforce preparation organization in Camden.

During History Camp, participants will be introduced to a number of civic and historical skills, including how to work with original documents, interpret maps, and conduct oral interviews. They will spend a day at the Camden County Historical Society, learn from an expert on Geographic Information Systems, tour a local park, conduct interviews with long-time Camden residents, and explore and map out their own city neighborhoods.

The camp will culminate with the creation of portfolios reflecting each student’s personal history. The competition will be judged by staff from the Rutgers–Camden Center for the Arts. Students also will collect data to create resource guides for each of their neighborhoods.

The program is supported by contributions to New Jersey Council for the Humanities in memory of Marc Rosenberg, a member of its Board of Trustees until his untimely death in a plane crash last summer. The chief operating officer of the construction firm APG International, Rosenberg had a deep interest in literature, history, and philosophy. “He was especially excited by the Council’s programs that offered opportunities in the humanities to those who might not otherwise have had them,” says his widow, Patti Rosenberg. “Marc saw the great, positive impact of these programs on young lives, and my hope is that History Camp will open new avenues for the students of Camden.”

The history camp is part of a larger program for workforce preparation administered by WELCOMENJ, where director Martha Chavis was inspired to suggest the camp based on a similar program that she attended as a child in Germantown.

“The course is designed to build interest in Camden's civic life, tying the contemporary city to its rich heritage. Students make the connection by researching their own portfolio relating their family and their neighborhood,” says MARCH Director Howard Gillette, a professor of history at Rutgers–Camden and author of the book Camden After the Fall: Decline and Renewal in a Post-Industrial City.

The three two-week sessions run June 29 to July 10; July 13 to 24; and July 27 to Aug. 7.  All sessions are held on the Camden Campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and are coordinated by Jody Rodgers, a recent graduate of the Rutgers–Camden graduate program in public history, and Paulette Rappa, an educator for WELCOMENJ.

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