Kendra Dawson attended the Encampment in both 2014 and 2015. She is currently attending Loyola Marymount College in Los Angeles. Deanna Mousseau, a fellow 2015 Encamper, interviewed her recently. Kendra is shown above on far left with Marquise and Anakiha at the 2015 Encampment.
Kendra, what was your first impression of the Encampment?
That it would be a long three weeks!
How did the community government work?
The Encamper self-government was different because I was not used to making the rules myself. I believe the self-government worked well—after we agreed upon all of the rules.
What did you learn?
What I learned from the Encampment is that there is always a way to connect different people from different stories and backgrounds, as well as how to think critically about everything. The topic I spent the most time talking about was race relations in America and its effect on policy and law.
Your favorite memory?
My favorite memory from the Encampment was the time that Litzy shared her story about being an immigrant and coming to the United States for a better life. Her story helped me see immigration in a different perspective. I want to be lawyer specializing in civil rights and immigration issues. It’s different when it’s your friend who is involved in a social justice issue. The place she comes from and her story inspired me.
Most compelling field trip?
I was most affected by our visit to the Emmett Till Museum. It is built on the place where he was tortured and murdered, and the director was related to him, so the civil rights movement came alive for me in a different way.
You also attended our first Fall Leadership Institute–what were the highlights for you?
The most important activity was the presentations of where we are on our community projects and suggestions from other Encampers and staff. I attended the institute to clarify and improve some of the lesson plans that I have created for the program and the institute also helped me get a clearer idea of what my overall project goal is. My heart was touched by how friendly and supportive the Blue Mountain Center staff were.
Tell us about your project in your home community.
My project upon returning home was to establish a social justice workshop at Peace4Kids, a foster youth program that I have attended and for which I have volunteered. The goal of this project is to bring awareness of social justice issues to the foster youth community. Ultimately, the youths who show outstanding growth from the workshops could attend the Encampment. We will be meeting on Saturdays and I have lesson plans on the food desert and the school-to-prison pipeline. My program director at Peace4Kids is providing support. I have partnered with two donors (one is an EFC alum) who have agreed to sponsor youth to attend in 2016. It will launch later this month and will run until June, and the youth(s) will go off to the Encampment!