By Kaelyn Collins Staff Writer
“Kamp Kizzy where girls grow super smart, sweet and walk with the flow!”
This chant could be heard from miles away as over one hundred girls shouted in unison. I was among this crowd of young girls.
You may know Keshia Knight Pulliam as Rudy Huxtable on the Cosby Show, viewers watched her grow from a small child to a preteen. Now 30 years later she is watching girls like myself grow through her nonprofit organization Kamp Kizzy.
“The Kamp Kizzy foundation is a foundation that I started five years ago now and it is all about empowerment and self-esteem for youth," she said. "I always knew that I wanted to start a nonprofit, so finally one day I decided what better day than today, I am just going to do it.”
Every summer for the past five years she has hosted an overnight camp for girls ages 11-16. This year I participated in Kamp Kizzy and to say it was an incredible experience would be an understatement. I had a magnificent time.
The camp is four days long, and during those days we got a chance to meet new friends and form a sisterhood. We also shared experiences and learned new information through workshops. Kamp Kizzy is a community service-based organization that focuses on the development of young women.
“Community service has always been something and just giving back and philanthropy is a part of who I am," Pulliam said. "Literally when I was at Spelman (College) I was a Bonner scholar, which is a community service-based scholarship. I was a Girl Scout leader and I’d do after school art programs with the kids."
The mission for Kamp Kizzy is to dream big, think big, and accomplish big. The goal is to empower and inspire youth. This is achieved through panels, workshops and seminars that promote healthy ways to think and accomplish personal goals.
My favorite part of the camp was morning yoga and meditation; the importance of this was taught and reinforced.
If you asked me one thing Pulliam taught me it would be to always see the good in myself instead of pointing out the things I wish I could change. Look at the good, always.
“What I know is a girl that knows her worth, knows her value becomes a woman who has the same characteristics," Pulliam said. "So that’s why that whole 11 to 16 age group is really important to me because that is the area where all girls want to be accepted and they’d rather be alike more than standing out, and I always say why be a copy when you can be a priceless original.”
This year Kamp Kizzy celebrated its five-year anniversary, but to Ms. Pulliam this is only the beginning.
“ When I dreamt of Kamp Kizzy it was always a global nonprofit," she said. "It was one that is a curriculum that expands the globe and it was in schools, community centers, you name it. So really this is not even the tip of the iceberg of what I truly envision the Kamp Kizzy foundation being.”
So to some, Pulliam is an Emmy award-winning actress, child star and business woman, to me and the other girls who attended Kamp Kizzy, she is a mentor, inspiration, confidant, teacher and second mom. Her loving spirit, wisdom and sincerity touched and will remain in the hearts of all Kamp Kizzy participants.
