Getting schooled in the outdoors
Shakespeare, Moliere, Euripides -- such are the illustrious names that have been floating through the mind of Marcus Moody this week while he’s been cramming for his final exam in theater history.
Yet 23-year-old Moody, a senior at Cal State Dominguez Hills, said he’s been “surprisingly calm” for the past few days, absorbing the eras and works of the epic playwrights with ease.
“Maybe being here has just taught me how to bear down and study,” Moody guessed.
Or perhaps he’s driven by the dream of a midsummer night at the UCLA UniCamp, a 10-acre enclave tucked into the San Bernardino Mountains where he spent time during 10 childhood summers and will return this year as a counselor.
As the official charity of UCLA, UniCamp has 350 student volunteers serving annually as mentors for its campers, kids ages 10 to 17 from low-income families. The campers absorb a pro-college message by what Kristina Caberto, director of alumni relations and public support, calls “osmosis.” Counselors welcome 125 campers who venture to the campground weekly to swim, hike and socialize in a setting far from the city streets.
“Two kids saw a squirrel run by one year and one elbowed the other and said, ‘It’s a baby wolf!’ ” Caberto recalled with a laugh. “In a lot of these neighborhoods, you really don’t see much nature.”
Indeed, the greenery Moody knew as a child were the itchy patches of grass immediately surrounding his family’s three-bedroom home in Inglewood. Moody and his three younger brothers -- who also attended UniCamp -- were confined to a strictly monitored area by their single mom, Desiree, a social worker for the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.
“It’s important for kids who grew up in South Central to get out of the ghetto, with its gang subculture,” Desiree Moody said, explaining why she sent her children to UniCamp.
“I met kids who were on probation who’d been deemed bad by society,” her son added. “But then these guys who were, like, gangbangers outside of camp would wow everybody because they’d actually be such nice people.”
UCLA UniCamp is one of 60 organizations receiving financial support this year through the Los Angeles Times Summer Camp Campaign. More than 8,000 underprivileged children will go to camp this summer, thanks to $1.5 million raised last year. The annual fundraising campaign is part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, which this year will match the first $1.1 million in contributions at 50 cents on the dollar.
Donations are tax-deductible. For more information, call (213) 237-5771. To make donations by credit card, go to latimes.com/summercamp. To send checks, use the attached coupon. Do not send cash. Unless requested otherwise, gifts of $50 or more will be acknowledged in The Times.
