Introducing our 2011 leadership team! Meet the unit heads and get know the folks that will be taking care of your children this summer!

Sarah Weissman, Nitzanim Unit Head
Hello All. I am very excited to be returning to CLC this summer as the Nitzanim Unit Head. This is my eighth summer at CLC and my third summer as the Nitzanim Unit Head. I can’t wait for camp to start so I can meet all the new nitzanimers and welcome back all the returning ones. I recently graduated from The College of Saint Rose with a Masters in Education in School Counseling and this past year I taught 2nd grade religious school. See you all opening day!!!

Laura Grant, Bonim Assistant Unit Head
Hi everyone, I can’t wait to be headed back to the bubble in a few short weeks. This is my 4th year at Crane Lake, my first as Assistant Bonim Unit Head. I’m really excited to fly in and see how our campers have grown over the past year and say hello to all our new campers. I graduated from King Solomon Jewish High School in summer 2000 and spent 10 years on and off working at Europe’s largest arts & conference centre, the Barbican. More recently I’ve interspersed my career as a Personal Assistant to travel & develop my skills, working with lions in South Africa, interning at the hotels of Eilat in Israel and of course 4 summers at CLC. See you soon!

Alison Simpson, Bonim Unit Head
My name is Alison Simpson and I’m going to be spending my fourth summer at camp as the Bonim Unit Head! I am a 2010 graduate of the University of Vermont with a BA in Geography and Political Science, and currently live in Boston working with kids ages 2-18 as a preschool teacher, religious school teacher, and youth advisor. I spent my first three summers at Crane Lake as a general counselor in Nitzanim and Bonim, culminating my time at camp as being a general for the 2008 Blue Dark Night. After that summer, I took some time off of camp to live and work in Germany. Last summer I led the Crane Lake NFTY in Israel group of L’Dor Va’Dor, and with the help of the beautiful Israeli landscape, my co-counselors, and the 44 fabulous participants from camp that I traveled with, I realized that my time at camp wasn’t over, couldn’t be over. I may have been 6,000 miles away, but my heart was still up high in the Berkshires. My excitement for camp grows each day as I think about the lives that I will have the ability to change this summer, and how I can’t wait for the opportunity to extend my camp family to both the campers and counselors of the 2011 summer.

Lilia Sterling, Chaverim Unit Head
Hi! I’m Lilia, and I’ll be the Chaverim Unit Head this summer – woo-hoo! I’m a recent graduate of New York University, having double majored in Art History and Anthropology. After summer’s end, it’s my goal to start working in museum education, hopefully at a museum in New York City, and in a few years I intend to get my masters in Museum Education as well. This past school year I worked as an intern at the Fresh Air Fund, which gives inner-city children from all 5 boroughs of New York City a chance to experience fresh air and get out of the concrete jungle for the summer at five camps as well as with host families all over the North East, so it makes me seriously appreciate our camp. This will be my 10th summer at Crane Lake, where I’ve actually lived collectively for many months longer than in my parents’ home for the last four years. I can’t wait to be back up at camp for another summer, enjoying the fresh air and sunshine and watching all the campers have yet another summer to remember. I’m looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones, and cannot wait to be up high in the Berkshires!

Jacob Livingston, Chaverim Assistant Unit Head
Hey everyone, I’m really excited about returning to the CLC community for my third summer and first as the Assistant Chaverim Unit Head. Having been a Chaverim counselor for the last two years I am looking forward to the new role and the challenges that await. I graduated from the University of Bristol in 2010, where I studied Political Science. Since then I have been working for a commercial real estate company in their finance department. Recently, In my spare time I have begun to write comedy, hopefully you might see my material on television one day! Looking forward to seeing you all in the bubble very soon!

Genna Yarkin, Olim Unit Head
Hi! I’ve recently graduated from Haverford College and am excited to attend the University of Maryland law school in the fall, in Baltimore. I plan to specialize in Environmental Law and save the world (or a small piece of it, anyway). This will be my 12th summer at CLC, and it’s one of my favorite places in the world. I look forward every summer to helping campers find their love of camp, Judaism and the outdoors!

Eli Cohn-Wein, Olim Unit Head
Hi! My name is Eli. I’m going to be Co-Olim Unit head this summer. This will be my sixth summer at camp and my third as Olim Unit head. I graduated with a degree in Judaic Studies from the University of Rochester, and Now work with at-risk students in the city of Rochester school district. In my spare time I enjoy bending spoons with my mind, walking with poise, and quoting Descartes haphazardly.

Sylvia Murray, Assistant Machon Director
Hello all! My name is Sylvia and I’ll be spending my ninth summer at Crane Lake as the Assistant Machon Director! I am a senior at Goucher College in Baltimore, MD studying Peace Studies.  In exploring my deepest passions of peace and sustainability at camp, I am working on the camp’s new garden and recycling program! I am incredibly excited to be working this summer with Crane Lake’s future leaders, while also teaching what each of us can do at camp and in our daily lives to help our planet. I look forward to a beautiful summer with incredible people!

Cory Hermann, Machon Director
Hello All!  I am Cory Hermann and I am the Machon Director this summer.  I was a camper and staff member back in the 80’s and I have served several years on the Faculty at CLC.  I am so excited to spend more time at camp this summer!   During the year, I am the Director of Congregational Education at Temple Shalom in Succasunna, NJ.  I received my BS in Education at University of Delaware and my Master of Social Work at Adelphi University.  I am thrilled to be working with our Machon program to help train the future staff of CLC.  I am also the mom of three boys, two of whom are URJ Crane Lake campers.  (The youngest isn’t ready for the bunk just yet!)  My husband, Barak, and I are long time camp people and believe in the amazing benefits of sending children to Jewish camp.  Looking forward to seeing you soon!