Blog Kids Worldwide
Discover how our summer camps and online sessions bring teens together to learn, grow, and make a difference
June 25, 2025
Summer 2025: Best session yet!
This summer was an exciting reunion. After months on Zoom, we finally saw our students in person and got to work.
Our program ran smoothly because we started planning all the logistics early. We began in January, recruiting a new team of volunteer teachers, creating a Ukrainian-language sign-up site so families could register their children easily, and raising money so children could attend for free. All resources (lunches, textbooks, snacks) were covered by our program.
In Budapest we taught 30 students organized into 5 groups roughly on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) scale, from A1 beginners to C1 advanced. We met every night with all the teachers to discuss the lesson plans for the next day, and assigned 1-2 teachers to each group. In the afternoons we took the younger kids to the park, where English-language games turned grammar into play and energy into verbs, and our snack bag might as well have been a dictionary.
Every child in our program is from a Ukrainian refugee family. Many arrived in Budapest with their mothers when the war began, some have fathers or older brothers still back home, and some families are grieving. Our classrooms gave them steady ground, a place to laugh, try again, help a friend, and leave proud of what they could say out loud.
We are already thinking about Summer 2026. We plan to grow the teacher cohort, expand project-based units into mini newsrooms, science fairs, and story slams, deepen parent communication in Ukrainian so practice at home feels simple, launch a reading-buddies track that pairs advanced students with younger learners, and make our park sessions a twice-a-week tradition. More voices, sharper skills, a stronger community.
With gratitude and big smiles,
Keira Bigman and Rachelle Karpovsky
Co-Presidents 2025, KidsWorldwide Budapest
Our program ran smoothly because we started planning all the logistics early. We began in January, recruiting a new team of volunteer teachers, creating a Ukrainian-language sign-up site so families could register their children easily, and raising money so children could attend for free. All resources (lunches, textbooks, snacks) were covered by our program.
In Budapest we taught 30 students organized into 5 groups roughly on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) scale, from A1 beginners to C1 advanced. We met every night with all the teachers to discuss the lesson plans for the next day, and assigned 1-2 teachers to each group. In the afternoons we took the younger kids to the park, where English-language games turned grammar into play and energy into verbs, and our snack bag might as well have been a dictionary.
Every child in our program is from a Ukrainian refugee family. Many arrived in Budapest with their mothers when the war began, some have fathers or older brothers still back home, and some families are grieving. Our classrooms gave them steady ground, a place to laugh, try again, help a friend, and leave proud of what they could say out loud.
We are already thinking about Summer 2026. We plan to grow the teacher cohort, expand project-based units into mini newsrooms, science fairs, and story slams, deepen parent communication in Ukrainian so practice at home feels simple, launch a reading-buddies track that pairs advanced students with younger learners, and make our park sessions a twice-a-week tradition. More voices, sharper skills, a stronger community.
With gratitude and big smiles,
Keira Bigman and Rachelle Karpovsky
Co-Presidents 2025, KidsWorldwide Budapest
Summer 2024
Looking back at our amazing week at Budapest!
We keep coming back to Budapest and the people we met there. For three summers, we returned to lead an English-language camp for Ukrainian students. What started as lesson plans and icebreakers turned into something sturdier: a classroom that felt like a meeting place.
Our students came from Ukraine. Many of our volunteer teachers had roots in Russia and now live in the United States. We met in Hungary, which became home for so many of the families. JCC Budapest welcomed us, even though only a handful of us were Jewish. While governments argued, we sat at the same tables and learned together. Trust showed up in small ways first—someone risks a new word, someone else nods them forward—and then it stayed.
The work changed how we think about leadership. Collaboration isn’t lofty. It is careful listening, honest feedback, and a thousand tiny repairs when cultures, histories, and habits bump into each other. We left Budapest believing that students can build real bridges and that a good classroom is one of the strongest ones.
Our students came from Ukraine. Many of our volunteer teachers had roots in Russia and now live in the United States. We met in Hungary, which became home for so many of the families. JCC Budapest welcomed us, even though only a handful of us were Jewish. While governments argued, we sat at the same tables and learned together. Trust showed up in small ways first—someone risks a new word, someone else nods them forward—and then it stayed.
The work changed how we think about leadership. Collaboration isn’t lofty. It is careful listening, honest feedback, and a thousand tiny repairs when cultures, histories, and habits bump into each other. We left Budapest believing that students can build real bridges and that a good classroom is one of the strongest ones.