Members of the Palo Alto community can take part in a diversity education program to experience "A Taste of Camp Anytown" from 9 to 3 p.m. this Saturday, Feb. 4, in the Palo Alto High School Haymarket Theater.

Sponsored by Paly’s Anytown Club, the event, in planning since January 2004, will be a mini-version of the four-day/three-night camp held in the fall each school year. The event will be open to Palo Altans of all ages, though the program is targeted for sixth graders and older.

To help raise awareness within the community about Camp Anytown and the diversity issues it is centered around, the event will discuss prejudice, bias, stereotypes, racism, sexism, acceptance, and privilege, according to the student organizer and Camp Anytown Club president, senior Rachel Freier-Miller. Slam Poet Mahogany Foster is expected to perform, free lunch donated by the PTSA will be available, and participants will have the opportunity to take part in discussions, singing and modified Camp Anytown activities, according to Freier-Miller. By educating Paly parents and the public about Camp Anytown, Freier-Miller hopes to raise $10,000 in donations to help cover part of next year’s camp costs.

"We would like to raise money so that we can get more kids involved [with Camp Anytown]," special education instructional supervisor and two-time Camp Anytown attendee Kris Brockmann said. "The reason we’re hoping that [to raise $10,000] is that we would like to have Paly attend Camp Anytown two times a year [instead of one] so that we can have 150 kids a year that have gone through the experience [instead of 75 a year]."

According to Student Activities Director Joann Vaars, Paly has been attending Camp Anytown since the fall of 1999. The school’s participation in Camp Anytown each year costs $20,000, allowing 75 students, 10 teachers and 10 professional staffers from Silicon Valley Conference for Community and Justice to attend, according to Brockmann. Though the school asks for donations, the event is free to students who attend.

This past year, Freier-Miller has raised $18,000 in donations through a letter-campaign soliciting parents of previous Camp Anytown participants, according to Brockmann.

"I’m incredibly impressed with her [Freier-Miller’s] tenacity," Brockmann said. "She’s been to Camp Anytown twice, started the club, and single-handedly made a difference in people’s lives. That is impressive for an 18-year-old. She truly believes in the mission."

According to 2004 Camp Anytown participant, junior Ariana Snow, "The purpose [of Camp Anytown] is to create unity and to try to diminish racial barriers."

2004 Camp Anytown participant junior Martin Fukui said, "The main purpose is [to promote] tolerance and knowledge."

According to previous participants Snow and Fukui, students gain new friendships, a stronger sense of community, and greater respect for other cultures at Camp Anytown.

"People listen attentively when you have something to say," 2004 Camp Anytown participant senior Robert Newman said. "Since you’re out of the school environment and all that stress, and out of your peer group and all those cliques, it opens you up to who you really are. You’re not judged. It makes it a lot easier to think with an open-mind because you’re in that type of atmosphere."

This open atmosphere is something Freier-Miller finds unique about the Anytown experience. "I love Anytown because it’s the only time in society that people talk about their feelings," Freier-Miller said.

Among students, however, Camp Anytown experiences differ.

"The best part is meeting new people," Fukui said. "You get into small groups with six or seven people and really bond with them the whole weekend."

Newman’s experience was more internal. "I figured out who I was and what is important to me, while other people were making new friends. Before Anytown, I had already accepted other people, but afterward I was accepting myself," Newman said.

Both Brockmann and Freier-Miller hope that "A Taste of Camp Anytown" will be held next year, for Freier-Miller feels the event will have even more impact over time.

Brockmann is hoping around 200 people will attend Saturday’s event.

"I hope they’ll understand why acknowledging the problems and working on them is important in every community," Freier-Miller said.

According to Newman, "It [Saturday’s event] will help you get a taste of it [Camp Anytown], but it won’t be the full meal."

"The overriding purpose is getting out the idea that students are interested in making ethical, kind choices in their lives," Brockmann said.