Welcome to Tawonga Radio! Here's our first story for you: Elan Lavie was a camp song leader who didn't quite know how to sing. Through sheer determination and inspired by the natural world, he found his voice and brought a bunk of 12-year-old boys closer together in the process.

From Monotone to the Moon: How A Song Leader Found His Voice

When Tawonga’s 2020 summer season was cancelled due to COVID-19, former camper and soon-to-be Tawonga Lead Cook, Emmett Verba, took a leap of faith. Together with fellow Tawonga friends, he started “Emmett Cooks,” delivering inventive meals all around the Bay Area. In this conversation with Associate Director, Aaron Mandel, hear how Emmett got his business off the ground and the moment Tawonga inspired his love of cooking. 

🥘 Check out delicious Emmett Cooks offerings on Instagram: @ emmett.cooks

🎶 Music by Emmett Cooks delivery guy & Tawonga staffer Leo Gershik.

Tawonga Radio

Emmett Cooks: From Tawonga Kitchen Staff to Culinary Entrepreneur

Welcome to "Journeys to Tawonga," a series of brief conversations about how different people stumble upon Camp in nonconventional ways – and the impact it makes on their lives. 

In this first journey, former Tawonga Executive Director and current Tawonga Institute Director, Ken Kramarz, shares how his entire life changed after the summer of 1981 when he worked as a Tawonga Unit Head. "It was a total antidote to everything I had experienced." He quit his job as an attorney in Los Angeles and went on to lead Camp Tawonga for 30 years. Enjoy!

Journeys to Tawonga: Ken Kramarz

What made Camp Director Becca Meyer shift from pursuing a PhD in cognitive neuroscience, and studying the  brains of mice, to working at Tawonga? Check out our latest “Journey to Tawonga” to find out!

Journeys To Tawonga: Becca Meyer

How does 18-year-old Evan Zeitlin, singing at a Hanukkah celebration in Seville, Spain, get discovered as Camp Tawonga's next song leader? Check out our latest “Journey to Tawonga” to find out!

Camp Tawonga - Home

📻  Journeys to Tawonga: Evan Zeitlin

What do marshmallows have to do with Jewish teaching? At Tawonga, it turns out, a lot! Check out our latest “Journey to Tawonga” with Rabbi Laura Rumpf and Associate Director Aaron Mandel to find out more.

📻  Journeys to Tawonga: Rabbi Laura Rumpf

How does someone working at a resort halfway around the world in Fiji come to find a home on Tawonga's summer staff? Listen to our latest "Journey to Tawonga" with Associate Director Aaron Mandel to find out!

🎵 Music: purple-planet.com

Upbeat

Journeys to Tawonga: Brenton "Big Fiji" Seeto

Liz Chenok survived the embarrassment of showing up at Camp to work her first summer with her entire family in a minivan; now she’s a member of Tawonga’s year-round staff! Listen to our latest “Journey to Tawonga” with Associate Director Aaron Mandel to find out more.

Journeys to Tawonga: Liz Chenok

If you Google "cool jobs in California," you just might end up on the maintenance crew at Camp Tawonga like Kentucky native Mickey Kamber. Listen to our latest "Journey to Tawonga” with Associate Director Aaron Mandel to hear more.

Journeys To Tawonga: Mickey Kamber

Camp Tawonga