Growing up in an impoverished urban landscape like Camden, canoe trips and mountain hikes are hard to come by. For participants in the Sports Teaching Adolescents Responsibility and Resiliency (STARR) program at Rutgers-Camden, the summer brings a host of fun outdoor activities, including a weeklong trip to Vermont.

Founded in 1996 by Dr. Daniel Hart, a professor of psychology at Rutgers-Camden and CCCS Associate, the STARR program works with approximately 100 adolescents from East Camden to foster the development of responsibility and resiliency through sports, community service, fundraising activities, education, and community training.

The Campbell Soup Foundation has donated $7,000 to help fund this year's summer program. In June the STARR teens traveled to the Pinelands for canoeing; in July the female STARR members went hiking in the White Mountains; and in August group members traveled to Vermont for a full week of soccer, hiking, swimming, reading, and cooperative work.