Merit-Based Grant and Internship Recipients
Beber Camp is thrilled to congratulate this year’s staff interns and merit-based grant recipients! Each of these staff members demonstrated a tremendous commitment to personal growth and professional development, and we are honored to support them as they each take these next steps on their journeys.
Congratulations to this year’s interns and merit-based grant recipients!
Matt Smith – Merit-Based Grant Recipient
I am applying this grant towards a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) combined online and practical course. This grant will help me achieve a lifelong goal of mine to teach English abroad. Having spent 6 amazing years at camp and then 2 years working for CCUSA talking about camp in the UK, I will embark on the next stage of life as an English teacher with the help of this grant!
My experiences at camp working alongside co-counselors from around the world and being given the privilege to work with the many brilliant kids has changed my life and career goals. Camp taught me he how work with children of all ages, abilities and background. Camp taught me what an incredible power we all have to shape kids’ futures and combined with my long-held love of traveling the world, this grant will help teaching English abroad become a reality.
Jonah Packman, Merit-Based Grant Recipient
The Beber Merit Grant will enable me to devote time to my extracurricular involvements on campus as well as the student startups I work with. I am a member of two businesses with fellow Emory students, and I am the incoming director of the Emory Entrepreneurial Excellerator, a student-run startup incubator. the This grant will allow me to focus on academics and entrepreneurship without financial burden or a part-time job. My experiences at Beber have played a tremendous role in developing my interest in entrepreneurship and business. The world of business is built heavily on relationships and networking, and Beber taught me the value of friendship and how to bond with others. In particular, my experience as a PIO and a CIT taught me leadership skills which are vital in working with others especially in the world of business.
Morgan Marks, Medical/Nursing Intern
My name is Morgan Marks and I’m from Cleveland, Ohio. I am currently a freshman in the nursing program at University of Miami and will be this summer’s medical intern! This summer I will be shadowing and assisting the medical professionals in the Health Center as much as I can. As a camper, the nurses, doctors, and administrators in the Health Center always contributed to making camp a safe space physically and emotionally. Whether it be a bee sting or a bad cold, I always felt comfortable and in great hands. I hope that I can provide a sense of comfort and care for campers who may be in stressful situations. While I progress further into my nursing studies, naturally it will get harder and harder to return to camp. By being able to do this internship I will not only further my medical experience but also spend the summer at the place I love. Camp has allowed me to grow in so many ways in my past ten summers and I am endlessly grateful for the Beber community for opening up so many opportunities to do so. I am looking forward to a great summer of learning and building new experiences!
Julia Bessen, Marketing Intern
My name is Julia Bessen, I’m from Louisville Kentucky, and I’m one of the Marketing Interns this summer! I am currently a freshman at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. I’m on track to major in Management, Marketing, and DMPR (Film Making). I’ve had a huge love for Beber ever since my first summer in 2009, and I’m so excited to be able to contribute my knowledge and experience this summer. Beber camp is one big family, and I’m honored to become a more involved part of the family through the marketing internship. The Business side of camp is often not seen by many, but is a crucial part of how Beber successfully operates so smoothly. I’m excited to learn more about this side of camp and how it impacts the day to day life of both campers and staff. This internship allows me to grow both as a Business student and as a counselor, and I’m so grateful for this unique opportunity. I can’t wait to dive even deeper into the Beber bubble this upcoming summer!
Mia Spevak, Marketing Intern
My name is Mia Spevak and I am from Highland Park, Il. I am currently studying communications at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. This summer, I will be working as a marketing intern and I could not be more excited! Camp is the most important place in the world to me. When you’re at Beber, you can’t help but feel an indescribable, magic feeling wash over you. It is my goal to share even a fraction of that feeling with the outside world. I am so excited to expand my knowledge of the business world while also returning for my 12th summer. More importantly, I am excited to learn from the incredible Beber staff. I can’t wait for a great summer!
Andrew Toban, Marketing Intern + JUF Lewis Summer Intern
Hello Beber Camp! I’m Andrew Toban, this is my 11th summer at camp, and I’m so excited to be one of Beber’s Marketing Interns this summer. I’ll also be working as the outdoor cooking specialist. I’m from Deerfield, Illinois and I’m freshman studying journalism at Northwestern University. I have always loved in creative work, whether it’s writing stories, performing songs, or making art–all of which I do at camp every summer! Now, as one of the Marketing Interns, I’m excited to create new and interesting ways to reach future campers and Beber families and help them realize how incredible we all know Beber is. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to learn and grow professionally in a place that I will always think of as home. This summer is going to be amazing, see you all in Mukwonago!
Bennett Shapiro, Sustainability and Engagement Intern
I discovered my passion for philanthropy when I was a camper at Beber Camp. I was selected to serve on the Camper Committee, which helped the development staff raise money for the Camper Scholarship Fund. We met throughout the “school year” to create programs and events, then at camp we got to see how our work paid off. Knowing that some of my friends benefitted from the work I did inspired me to do more small-scale fundraising throughout my childhood. I’m looking forward to being Beber Camp’s Sustainability and Engagement Intern this Spring.
Former Interns and Grants-Award Winners
Each of these staff demonstrated a tremendous commitment to personal growth and professional development. We are honored to support and recognize their careers and personal goals.
Brandon Emalfarb, Merit-Based Grant Recipient for 3rd year+ Staff
Grant Application: Tuition Assistance
My name is Brandon Emalfarb, and I am currently a junior at Yeshiva University in New York City, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in accounting, a minor in strategy and entrepreneurship, and an associate degree in Jewish Studies. I have been attending Beber Camp for the past 11 summers as a camper, counselor, and current leadership team member. Many people ask me why I still go back to camp if I’m pursuing a career in accounting. They think that I should be interning in an accounting firm because apparently summer camp and accounting have absolutely nothing to do with one another, but I beg to differ. Beber Camp recently awarded me a merit-based grant that will be applied toward my tuition. More than an academic reward, this grant affirms Beber’s belief in my professional and academic future.
I truly believe that overnight camp is crucial to the development of leadership skills of children, teenagers, and yes, even college students like me. These leadership skills translate into useful and relevant life and career skills. Camp is where I have learned to work with a team, to communicate effectively with supervisors and colleagues, and to plan, coordinate, and execute various types of programs and activities.
I am proud to announce that this summer, I will be the Kesher Division Leader where some of my tasks will include managing and supervising a division of staff and campers and ensuring that the staff, campers, and even parents have a successful summer. All of the leadership skills that I have gained during previous summers and the skills that I hope to gain this summer will clearly be useful to my future accounting career. Whether dealing with clients, colleagues, supervisors, and hopefully subordinates one day, I’ll have Beber to thank for the interpersonal skills that I have gained.
I honestly can’t think of a more productive and meaningful way for me to spend my summers. What can be better than gaining skills that I will use for the rest of my life and giving back to a place that has given me endless opportunities? Thank you, Beber Camp for being one of my biggest advocates by supporting my professional and academic endeavors by awarding me this grant.
Lindsay Robinson, Merit-Based Grant Recipient for 2nd Year Staff
Grant Application: Support for volunteer experience in Israel to teach English
I am ecstatic to have received the merit-based grant and will be applying it toward fees associated with the Masa Israel Teaching Fellowship I am participating in after camp. The fellowship is a 10-month program where I will be immersed in Israeli culture while teaching English to grade school children. Upon graduating college, I wanted to take a year off to travel or do some form of volunteer work, and the Masa program perfectly combines both of those desires. Funny enough, I discovered this program at Beber when a Masa representative came to camp to discuss opportunities to the campers. Working at Beber has influenced my decision to pursue this fellowship, showing me just how rewarding and impactful it is to work with children. I’m hoping to take the adaptability and patience I have learned from camp to Israel as I navigate this unfamiliar but exciting new adventure!
Sabrina Ginsburg, Medical Intern
My name is Sabrina Ginsburg and I am from Lake Worth, Florida. I am currently a second semester pre-med student at University of Miami (Go Canes!) and will be this summer’s Medical Intern. Others’ well-being truly defines me within human society. Giving back to everyone in my community is essential to me, especially the Beber community. My ultimate strength is to work hard toward my goal of spending my life making sick people well through medicine and, eventually, space exploration. I plan to obtain a medical degree as a general practitioner, while also studying the space environment to understand how it affects the human body. I believe that the Beber medical internship is an ideal educational next step for me. The one thing I look forward to most in the future is having my children attend Beber someday and volunteering at that time as a doctor, caring for the next generation of campers. Not only the people in the health center, but my counselors and administration, over my ten years of being at Beber have continually been there for me both physically and emotionally, ensuring my welfare every step of the way! I admired them greatly and cannot wait to help them care for our campers this summer! My camper and counselor experiences at Beber have absolutely contributed to my desire to pursue the medical field. As the medical intern, you can rely on me to be a caregiver as I spend my time assisting the medical professionals in the Health Center whenever and however I can! This summer medical internship will help me in advancing my exposure in the medical field. Clearly, pre-med students who are engaged during the summer months have an advantage during the medical school application process, which I potentially could be faced with in less than three years. Interning and giving back to my Beber family is going to truly be amazing. Honestly, more important than fulfilling a college requirement, is knowing I can assist in the care of our next generation of Beber campers and staff.
Zoey Melinger, Marketing Intern
Hi, my name is Zoey and this summer I will be working with the Beber administrative staff as a Marketing Intern. This summer I’ll be assisting the staff with branding certain programs, managing social media accounts, updating the website, and designing apparel for campers and staff members. As a camper, I always looked up to the leadership and administrative staff, and was eager to move up in the Beber world. I am very excited to be utilizing my skills in marketing and graphic design this summer while working for the Beber team. I am looking forward to learning more about how to market overnight camp and learning more about the camp world in general. I hope that this internship will help me advance my marketing skills and will be the start to a career in the marketing field as well as the Jewish world.