ShoreStrong is a program in Ocean City, New Jersey, that aims to empower 12- to 18-year-old girls to become more confident, community-minded young women. While the program isn’t explicitly for Jewish teens, it is rooted in Jewish values, explained co-founder Alexa Gershon.
“I grew up in a very Jewish community, and we were always going to events in the Jewish community,” Gershon said. “[Our] Jewish background and Jewish beliefs [have formed] a lot of our values. We really teach the importance of having respect for one another and other Jewish values in terms of self-love and loving each other.”
These values have attracted a largely Jewish clientele — the program, which was founded this summer, had its first session recently, and it consisted of mostly Jewish girls.
“It was really beautiful to see young women, especially young Jewish women, growing in community and learning and becoming young adults,” Gershon said. “They learned to love themselves and love each other and empower each other.”
With more sessions to come and plenty of pleased campers and parents, ShoreStrong is off to a strong start. ShoreStrong creates a constructive environment for girls with days packed with wholesome activities. Every morning, the campers begin with light movement like yoga, pilates or a long walk on the beach. The food they serve is all natural and healthy, with an emphasis on fruits and vegetables. There is always an inspirational quote shared in the morning, and each camper spends time writing in a journal. There are also presentations from guest speakers.
“Usually it would be a guest speaker coming in to talk about some aspect of health and wellness, or me leading something with my nutrition degree — I love lectures and presentations,” Alexa Gershon said. “So, I’ll talk to the girls about hormone health or gut health, or different things that they can do or put into their everyday habits, just to kind of bring a little bit more awareness to what they’re putting in their bodies.”
In addition to a bachelor of science degree in dietetics, Gershon is a licensed personal trainer and is currently pursuing a master of science degree in nutrition and dietetic practice.
Gershon, a lifelong member of Temple Beth Sholom in Cherry Hill, said that, importantly, ShoreStrong is not just a continuation of school. The activities are fun and always feature a component that gets the girls excited to learn.
“We give a little presentation, and then there’s always an activity incorporated with that,” she said.
There is also plenty of traditional summer camp fun: beach volleyball, time on the boardwalk and cooking instruction.
Learning healthy food habits is, of course, essential at a camp run by a licensed dietician.
“We’ll do different styles of food, and all the girls will work together to cook dinner, which is a really great team-building activity, and it gets them really motivated to work together. And all the girls leave the program with a recipe book. So that’s a really exciting thing for them because they had just learned their way around the kitchen,” Gershon said.
What makes this endeavor even more special is that Gershon’s partner is her mother, Michelle. Michelle Gershon is the assistant director of the camp, but she also serves as the “program mom,” according to a news release from ShoreStrong. Michelle holds a master of science in communication disorders and has worked as a speech pathologist for many years, also receiving a health coach certification recently. She has served in leadership positions at various overnight camps.
Michelle said that it has been incredible to watch her daughter create a platform to help empower other young women.
“I am so in awe and impressed by her. It was really important to me to raise a daughter who felt good about herself,” she said. “These girls come from different backgrounds, but the general consensus is that as a teen girl, a lot of people don’t feel that self-confidence that their parents would like them to feel. To see my daughter create a program like this is so inspiring to me, and to help be a part of it, it’s incredible.”
Future plans for ShoreStrong include potentially supporting other mother-daughter relationships with programming. The Gershons want to start a camp that sees moms and their daughters “grow as women together” over the course of a weekend or more, according to Alexa.
Alexa Gershon, who is moving from New Jersey to Center City next month, said that her Jewish upbringing has also contributed to how close she is with her mother, who helped her with everything from celebrating Jewish holidays to starting ShoreStrong. For her, Shmirat HaGuf and B’tzelem Elohim, as well as other values, mean everything.
“These values and helping others have always been super-important to me, and I really want to encourage girls to come out and learn some things that they haven’t learned in school, and learn ways to grow and become empowered young women,” she said.