Co/Motion is a summer camp and year-long program for the 10-13 year old daughters, nieces, and granddaughters of faculty and staff at Swarthmore College, created and maintained by female Swarthmore College students. Our goals are the education and empowerment of teenage girls as well as the commingling of the different communities of which Swarthmore College is composed.

For the past two summers we have organized and run a successful week-long summer day camp with a focus on independence, diversity, and self-esteem. In addition to typical camp activities, we created a magazine, participated in self-defense workshops, made web pages, and conducted activities/discussions on relevant issues: puberty, HIV/AIDS, females in the media, females in school, relationships, and stereotypes. Once a month we reunite with the girls to reinforce the community we created over the summer. Additionally we will be incorporating new girls into the group in preparation for the camp this coming summer, which we intend to be a week-long residential program.

Co/Motion has brought together members of three communities that might otherwise never have met: female students, daughters of faculty, and daughters of staff. Despite the fact that our lives revolve around the same space, that space means different things to each of us and we interact with it in different ways. Co/Motion focuses on our commonalities. Through Swarthmore, we are connected to each other and, all together on Swarthmore's campus, we have an opportunity to create a community.

The Swarthmore spirit of social consciousness, community service, and creative learning infuses our program. In innumerable ways, all of us have benefited from what Swarthmore has to offer; Co/Motion allows us to give something back.

So far we have been funded by the Swarthmore Foundation and Summer of Service Internships, but in this coming year we will need to find new sources of funding within our community and outside of it. If you have any funding suggestions or would like to talk to us about our program we would love to hear from you!