Teens Enter School Year Empowered With Jewish Pride and Knowledge
Long after the CTeen Extreme activities, sightseeing, and adventures wear off, the lessons, friendships, and personal growth the teens gained are traveling with them into the school year.
They landed in Denver in the early afternoon, met their counselors, learned each other’s names on the bus, and were in the water at Idaho Springs before dinner.
That was day one. Over the next two weeks, the girls on the CTeen Xtreme summer trip climbed a ropes course in Boulder, rappelled off the sandstone of the Colorado National Monument, biked the trails at Glenwood Springs, walked the arches at Moab, hiked the Narrows in Zion, rode horses through Utah canyon country, slept in cabins under the stars in Salina, and finished the trip surfing at Santa Monica Beach. In between, they spent two Shabbosim that most of them now describe as the best part of the whole thing.
“White water rafting on night one, our first Shabbos, pretty much the whole day, and tubing,” said Annabel Studley of Lake Placid NY, when asked to name her three favorite moments.
CTeen Xtreme is one of several summer programs CTeen ran this year: Fourteen days of American wilderness and a group of Jewish teenage girls, most of whom arrived not knowing anyone.
“The real impact of the summer begins once the summer is over,” said Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky, Chairman of CTeen International. “The Rebbe taught to think long-term. A teen who spends two weeks discovering what her Judaism actually feels like will be joining her teen club in high school, her Chabad in college, and building a Jewish home around it years from now; that is the return we are after.”
Ask the girls what they expected before they left and almost none of them mention the destinations. Hailey Peykarian of Great Neck, NY said she never imagined she would meet so many people. Raya Rubinstein of Surfside, FL listed her favorite moments as making friends, new memories and new experiences.
“The counselors and the people I’ve met were so nice and welcoming,” said Leah Weinberg of North Palm Beach, FL. “It really was an amazing community.”
Every girl was asked about the all-girls format and said some version of the same thing. It made the trip easier, not harder. Shayla Ferraro of Roslyn, NY said it was special and easier to bond with everyone. Mijal Kempe who travelled all the way from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico said the format created a comfortable environment where the group could be themselves and grow together in Torah and Mitzvot. Annabel Studley said it let her concentrate on what she came for. “It made it easier to focus on Judaism and work on my relationship with G-d,” she said.
The first Shabbos was hosted by Rabbi Mendel and Estee Popack at Chabad of Denver North, after a Friday spent on a ropes course and a candlestick workshop. The girls led the Kiddush themselves with presentations they had put together. The second was hosted at Chabad of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, where the group came from a morning of water sports at Sand Hollow State Park and joined the local Jewish community for davening, a brunch, skits, and a Havdalah and kumzitz that ran late into the night.
Something shifted for a lot of the girls over those two Shabbats.
“Judaism is also fun,” Weinberg said. “Throughout this trip Judaism wasn’t just a serious thing that adults do, but something that we can bring into our own lives.”
Mijal Kempe described a shift in scale. “Judaism”, she said, “turned out to be more than a religion. It’s a family, a way of life, and a source of joy. And also not about being perfect, but about growing one step at a time.”
The clearest measure of the trip is what the girls said they planned to do when they got back, because most of them had a specific answer ready. Kali Heiken and Nava Evans of Peachtree Corners, GA both named Modeh Ani every morning. Shayla Ferraro said she’d begin saying Shema at night and washing before bread. Leah Weinberg, who said she had not done much tzedakah before the trip, came home planning to give every day. Annabel Studley was going to give tzedakah daily instead of only before Shabbos, and make a chart of the brachos for different foods to put on the fridge.
“Our teens went home from the trip with a love for mitzvot and a confidence to be more openly Jewish,” said one of the trip leaders, Mushka Osdoba.
Parents noticed. Lana Studley said her daughter came home with a deeper understanding of herself and her abilities. “The opportunity to travel to the West Coast of the USA and connect more deeply with her religion was truly a once-in-a-lifetime journey,” she told CTeen.
Liat Mosker of Orange County, NY, said her daughter Yasmine had a blast, made lifetime friendships, and could not wait to go back. Yasmine has since become seriously involved in her local CTeen chapter, which is the pattern CTeen organizers watch for. Teens who show up for one summer tend to reappear at a Shabbaton in February, and then at more local events, and so on.
The last night was a farewell banquet at Chabad of Brentwood, after a day of sightseeing in Los Angeles and a walk down Hollywood Boulevard. By then the group had been together for two weeks, and the goodbyes took a while.
Asked what she would tell a friend considering the trip, Mijal Kempe said, “Don’t think twice. You’ll laugh, grow, challenge yourself, meet incredible people, and create memories you’ll never forget.”
Alongside the Xtreme road trips, CTeen ran separate Israel Journeys for boys and girls, the Heritage Quest program through Poland and Israel, and separate boys and girls programs for French teens in Vietnam.
Registration for summer 2027 is now open at cteensummer.com
