Simon Elementary School Students Enjoy Summer Camp at Horizons of Greater Washington 

For over 20 years, Washington Hebrew Congregation members have volunteered their time, enthusiasm, and financial support to the Simon Elementary School, a public school in Southeast D.C. named after our second senior rabbi, Abram Simon.  

For the third straight year, Simon students attended Horizons of Greater Washington’s (HGW) Summer Academy, thanks to funding WHC’s Abram Simon Elementary School Camp Fund and individual scholarships provided by WHC members Lester & Claudia Ross and Julien Kirstein (who used his Bar Mitzvah money to send a student to camp). This five-week, intensive summer program helps students from underserved communities build critical reading, math, and social and emotional development skills — giving them the tools they need to succeed in school and beyond. They also enjoy arts, fitness, cultural enrichment, field trips, and confidence-building challenges. Every child also learns the life-saving (and fun) skill of swimming. 

Simon School student Lyrique B. has attended all three years of camp at HGW.  When asked to describe her and the other campers’ current projects in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) class, she said it was “very fun and challenging.  Most of us are making a maze game. We have to make our own controllers out of foil, cardboard, or Play-Doh.  We connect the different wires on the circuit board, and we use electricity from our bodies to make it work.” 

If you would like to help provide the gift of summer camp in 2026 to a student at the Simon Elementary School, please email Lauren Lieberman at LLieberman@whctemple.org for more information. This is a great b’nei mitzvah project, especially for our many members who love summer camp.