Pre-College Summer 2023 Traveling Jewish Program for High School Students

Welcome to our New Pilot – Pre-college Traveling Camp Program! This program has been brought to you by Jookender’s collaboration with the University of Maryland (College Park, Eastern Shore) , the Delaware State University , the University of Pennsylvania , and the Virginia State University . This is first, one-of-a-kind experience, and not to miss!

Open for all raising High School students, grade 9-12 as of School Year 2023-2024, as well as for the pre-college Gap year takers. Students who are interested in Technology, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and Agriculture or Natural Sciences – are welcome to join the program. No experience necessary, although knowing some theoretical principles of Biology and Chemistry ahead of time would be helpful once you get to work at the Lab.

During this program,

the students will participate in the ongoing NAVY/Department of Defense/USDA natural science research at the Lab provided by University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES or DSU),
get a working experience in building simple Laser stations for a newly created Physics Lab at the university,
learn to work in teams and individually,
plan and prioritize their work during the day,
work with College Students, Mentors and College Professors,
visit a few Universities and learn what it takes to become a student there,
visit US Government and Federal facilities and learn about various jobs in that sector,
collect and analyze the data received from farms,
work on their presenting and writing skills,
earn up to 60 Community Hours working at the Lab or collecting and analyzing data from the farms,
receive a University certificate of completion the program and earning up to 60 community hours.

and much, much more.

For the fun part of the trip, the Students will be visiting Luray Caverns, Skyline/Shenandoah National Park, Assateague Island w/Wild Horses, The City of Philadelphia and Washington DC, Ocean Beaches, and forts. While the complete program is not yet available and goes through various little changes and improvements as you read this description, we are absolutely positive regarding the unprecedent experience your High School Student will receive by signing up for this program.

3 meals a day, and snacks/water thorough out the day will be offered. The food is NOT Kosher, but the variety of food will be significant to accommodate all allergies and special diets.

Accommodations: We aim to get inexpensive, but clean and safe accommodations. In some places, we will be staying at the hotel, and in this case, they will be placed in the rooms where everyone is getting a bed (or an airbed). We will make sure breakfast is included in such hotels. In some places, we might get a room or a few rooms where we would need to sleep in our sleeping bags (JCC centers, for example), so, please, everyone needs to bring a sleeping bag, just in case. Or, at some point, we will be placed in the apartment/homes and share rooms and showers. By all means, closer to the trip you will know it all.

A Laundry day is incorporated in the program, as well.

All admissions, park fees, and entertainment tickets are included.

We will be celebrating Shabbats and Havdalah each week and learn something new about Jewish Tradition without diving much into the religion part of the process.

The Camp is NOT KOSHER, and NOT RELIGIOUS.

You have an option of Starting/Ending your program in Framingham, MA, or in Maryland/Delaware. Our hotel will be in-between DSU and UMES universities, and if you would prefer to travel to the destination yourself, you may save $200 bucks (although, you may miss a lot of fun).

The cost of the program is highly discounted - thanks for our collaborating universities (a significant discount from the original $5,924). If you start and end this program in MA, the cost is $2700, in Maryland (or Delaware) - $2500.

Refund policy: 100% until May 3. May 3 is the end of Registration. No refunds, unless proven sick after that day.

Registration has been completed.

Packing List