I’m a camp person. Since 2002, when I was 9 years old, I have spent nearly every summer of my life as either a camper, staff member or volunteer at Camp Louise in Cascade, MD. Until I heard about Camp Nai Nai Nai, a Jewish summer camp experience for young adults, I would have never dreamt of going to another camp. But the opportunity to relive my days as a camper — making new friends while trying new activities and building intentional, pluralistic, Jewish community was one I could not pass up.

I first went to Camp Nai East in 2021, when I was freshly vaccinated and just getting reacclimated to the idea of large in-person gatherings. I met a lot of wonderful people that year, but almost all of them lived in D.C., New York or another non-Baltimore place.