Fairfield University hosts annual "Summer Leadership Camp" program for Brooklyn Jesuit Prep middle school students | Press Releases

Image: Brooklyn Jesuit Prep During the month of July, Fairfield University is hosting eighty-three middle school students from Brooklyn Jesuit Prep in a "Summer Leadership Camp" program that is now in its ninth year. The group of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders take part in a number of exercises and activities at Fairfield University and Fairfield Prep designed to develop young leaders who are open to growth and committed to doing justice, while giving the students a life experience on a Jesuit university campus. The students take part in daily exercises that feature academic studies in the morning, outdoor activities including hikes and athletics in the afternoon, and religious discussions in the evening.

"Camp allows students a structured, safe place with three square meals a day," said Greg Arte, camp director and a teacher at Brooklyn Jesuit Prep. "While their neighborhood peers spend the summer on stoops and blocks in the summer heat of Brooklyn, our students get to participate in activities at Fairfield University they never dreamed of doing or accomplishing. From learning to swim in the pool, to seeing stags and wild turkeys on the hikes, to being more reflective as a 13-year-old about goals and aspirations, the summer program builds our school community and ensures we have a successful rest of the school year. One of the best tools we utilize are our graduates, who come back to be the counselors and role models, giving each camper someone they can look up to, trust, and learn from in a loving environment."

Brooklyn Jesuit Prep is a Jesuit middle school serving low-income families of diverse ethnicities and faiths in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. The school was founded in the fall of 2003 by the Society of Jesus under former president Rev. Vincent DeCola, SJ. The school was modeled after Nativity Mission Center, a middle school that served low-income families on Manhattan's Lower East Side for over 40 years. This model has been replicated over 60 times throughout the country and the world.