Friday, June 13, 2008

sanskrit: Youth gear up for Shraddhaa camp as registration closes on June 15

jun 13th, 2008

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: arun
Date: Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 9:17 AM
Subject: Youth gear up for Shraddhaa camp as registration closes on June 15
To:



New York, June 11, 2008
media@samskritabharati.org
240-338-8525
 

Youth gear up for Shraddhaa camp as registration closes on June 15
 

Kartik Shastri is from Boston, graduated from high school this year and will be joining Cornell University next fall. Varun Khanna is from Chicago, and will be a senior at St Louis University next fall. Sowmya Joisa is from Seattle, and completed her Bachelors degree from University of Pennsylvania last year

Being second generation Indian Americans is not the only thing common to them. All three speak Sanskrit fluently. All three will also be teaching at Shraddhaa 2008 ( http://www.speaksanskrit.org/shraddhaa2008 ) - the East Coast residential Speak Sanskrit summer camp exclusively for teenagers. The camp organized by Samskrita-Bharati, a non-profit voluntary organization spearheading the speak Sanskrit movement, consists of three levels - beginner for those with no prior knowledge of Sanskrit, intermediate for those who have some conversational skills and advanced for those teenagers who can already speak quite well in Sanskrit .  

This is the second year in succession that Samskrita Bharati USA is organizing the camp . Participants from last year's camp wanted one aspect to be changed, and one aspect to remain the same this year - upon their request the camp has been extended to a week long one - starting on June 22 Sunday and ending on June 28 Saturday - but the venue remains unchanged - Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. Sri Vasuvaj , a full time volunteer from Samskrita Bharati's international center in Bangalore will be guiding the camp, with the help of the three young teachers and four other volunteers, all of whom will be staying at the campsite for the entire duration. 

"We have received very enthusiastic response this year too and registration for the camp will be closed on June 15", says Madhulika Nataraja, who is part of a Sanskrit study group in Maryland and is taking one week off her work to volunteer at the camp , "Preparations for the camp are in full swing.Simple Sanskrit will be integrated into all activities carried out at the camp to supplement the four to five hours of interactive instructional sessions provided to the youngsters.We have planned a number of indoor and outdoor games including jeopardy and treasure hunt. There will also be Yoga, some multimedia presentations and  an exhibition during the camp in addition to having entertainment programs in Sanskrit every night performed by the participants "

In addition to the east coast youth camp, planning is also on for the west coast youth camp - Prajnaa 2008 from July 9 to 13 , and the East Coast family camp - Jaahnavii 2008 during the labour day weekend. The West Coast family camp was for the first time organized in LA region this year during the memorial day weekend, and saw over 75 people participate

One of the paticipants from Shraddhaa 2007, Jay Pandya, wrote in an article contributed to "lokvani" - "Going to the camp was truly an unforgettable experience. The teachers were easy to communicate with, as they were close to our age. It was the best way to spend a summer's week. In fact, when it came time to leave, none of us wanted to go home" . Jay, along with many other participants from last year are looking forward to Shraddhaa 2008 to relive the experience, meet old friends and make new ones



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