Empowering identity
Nick Teich builds camps for transgender youth
By Dafna Fine
Senior Writer
Published: Monday, September 10, 2012
http://www.thejustice.org/features/empowering-identity-1.2896402With days filled with sports, drama, arts and crafts and rock-climbing, a day at Camp Aranu'tiq doesn't feel all that different from most other summer camps. But founded in 2010 by Nick Teich, a third year Ph.D. candidate in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Camp Aranu'tiq is the first camp in the world for transgender youth, according to Teich.
A weeklong summer camp for kids ages eight to 15, Camp Aranu'tiq seeks to provide transgender and gender-variant youth with a fun camp experience and to foster leadership skills in a place where campers are able to express themselves comfortably, according to the camp's website. Located in Southern New England and Southern California (the exact locations are not disclosed by Teich for the youths' safety), the idea for the weeklong camp was conceived when Teich realized the need for a camp environment for transgender kids.
Teich himself spent 13 summers at a camp before he began identifying as transgender. It wasn't until he was older that he began to think about other kids who do, as well. Recognizing that camps are gendered for reasons including the separation of cabins, Teich, a 29-year-old social worker from Newton, Mass., realized that transgender youth had no comfortable place to go to enjoy the summer camp experience.
