October 19, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Teen raises $18,000 for camp

by Alexandria Rocha

Rachel Freier-Miller learned about respect, acceptance and diversity at Camp Anytown, a five-day retreat for Gunn and Palo Alto high school students.

Now the Paly senior is learning how to network and raise funds to ensure students can attend the camp in the future.

The heralded offering of the Palo Alto Unified School District was slashed from high school budgets two years ago because of shrinking finances. It costs $20,000 to annually send 75 students to Camp Anytown, which is sunk in the Boulder Creek redwoods and run by the National Conference for Community Justice, a nonprofit organization battling intolerance through advocacy and education. To send students in the last two years, Paly has relied on donations from outside organizations and Gunn teens have paid their own tuition.

Freier-Miller, who attended the camp as a sophomore, has so far raised $18,000 toward a trip next year, even though she'll be off at college. Her goal is to raise $40,000 to send 150 students on two trips.

"It's been a big part of my life. It's given me meaning," Freier-Miller said of the camp.

To better convey that feeling, Freier-Miller is hosting a parent education night Oct. 27 about the retreat. The event will include a panel of students who have gone to camp. She is also organizing a full-day event in February where students, teachers and parents can participate in some of the camp activities, hear a well-known poet perform spoken word about diversity and stereotypes, and watch one-act plays written and directed by Paly students.

As a typical Palo Alto senior, she is already bogged down with a myriad of activities, college applications and classes. Freier-Miller also teaches Sunday school every week, plays viola, takes classes at the Pacific Art League and attends weekly meetings for the Medical Explorers Post.

She skipped karate this year to give Camp Anytown more time.

"Before we come back, we talk about how to change things at Paly. Everyone's very excited and I wanted to further that Anytown spirit," she said. "Everyone fizzled out. It's not lack of interest. High school students are very busy, and I shouldn't even be doing this. Senior year is capable of taking up my time."

The Camp Anytown retreat is held a little more than 30 miles south of Palo Alto at Camp Harmon in Boulder Creek. Freier-Miller said when the 75 students arrive, they are usually huddled in small groups with people they know. Cliques of friends are quickly broken up and groups of 10 to 15 students are assigned cabins, each with one Anytown counselor.

For the next four days, activities are held to split up any racially-bonded groups, Freier-Miller said. In one exercise, the students of one particular race step out of the room. While they're gone, the rest of the students write racial slurs targeted toward that race on a huge piece of paper.

The students join the group again and read what their peers wrote. The activity is repeated for each group.

"That teaches the whole camp what it feels like to hear those words," said Freier-Miller. "People start crying when they learn how much people are affected by racial slurs."

The activities reach outside the realm of racial stereotypes and biases. Another drill has all the students sitting down in a large group. An Anytown leader calls out questions, such as "Has anyone ever skipped a meal because they want to be skinnier?" and "Has anyone ever been reprimanded for crying?" When students can answer yes, they simply stand up without speaking and sit down before the next question.

Freier-Miller said many students are shocked that their peers have had those experiences.

"Personal stories come up, and that's why it's so emotional," she said. "It's about understanding what other people go through."

Students are nominated by teachers to attend Camp Anytown, and sophomores through seniors are allowed to participate.

Freier-Miller is steadfast in her mission to ease the burden of certain community groups shouldering the Anytown expenses. She also wants to avoid requiring students to pay tuition.

For more information about the program or upcoming fundraising events, e-mail Paly's Anytown club advisor, teacher Kris Brockmann at kbrockman@pausd.org.

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