Daniel Hernandez Alvarenga’s mother noticed a change in her 17-year-old son when she picked him up from the Dallas airport following a two-week stay at a rural camp nearly 2,000 miles away in Maine.
Indeed, Hernandez had changed. The Dallas high school student gained energy, ideas and hope, he said in a testimonial video published by IRISI, a non-profit organization founded by Kirkland & Ellis Dallas partner Michael Considine and his wife, Megan Considine, that raises scholarships to send teenagers to camp.
“I learned to be more bold with my actions and to dive into things and commit myself to creating change,” said Hernandez, who noted that he initially felt a “culture shock” when he arrived at the camp after his first time on an airplane.
IRISI, which since 2023 has sent about a dozen North Texas students to the Seeds of Peace Camp in Otisfield, Maine, officially launched this year with the goal of substantially growing the number of students it can sponsor, Michael and Megan told The Texas Lawbook.
IRISI was born from the couple’s own experiences watching their children return from summer camps as more confident and empowered versions of themselves.
“We thought it’d be great to bring that to others, especially people that may be under-resourced or don’t have the same opportunities,” Michael said.
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IRISI, led by a five-member board, partners with the Uplift Education charter school network and Seeds of Peace to identify students for the leadership development camp. Kirkland & Ellis provided pro bono services to IRISI, helping the board form the organization and apply to the federal government for IRS Section 501(c)(3) exempt status, Michael said.
“I’ve had a great deal of support from my partners and from the firm as a whole,” Michael said. “They’ve been extremely encouraging of our work.”
The firm has also allowed Michael flexibility in visiting the campers. He and Megan have watched firsthand as the teens overcame fears of learning to swim and speaking publicly about personal situations.
Back home, Joziah Smith feels his peers judge him. But at the camp, Smith said in his testimonial, he felt safe and loved. A photo of the tall, muscular teen, his arms wrapped tightly around another camper, his brow furrowed, a tear running down his cheek, is prominently displayed on the IRISI website. The moment captured in the photo — as the campers said “goodbye” — symbolizes all that camp provides, Megan said.
“That’s why we love that photo so much,” she said. “It’s unbelievable the impact it had on these kids.”
For many of the students, the journey is their first time traveling by plane, lodging away from home and their families and spending time in nature, unplugged from cell phones and other electronics.
Getting the students out of the city and into a rustic, natural setting was important to the mission, Michael said.
“It kind of resets and refocuses you and allows you to be in an element where it’s fulfilling on a lot of different levels,” he said.
Just about every student in their video-recorded testimonials spoke about the camp’s natural beauty.
“I would sometimes just sit down and watch the lake,” Giselle Niyibimpa said with a smile.
As the program grows, the Considines said IRISI will explore partnerships with other campsites across the country. But Seeds of Peace is unique.
Journalist and foreign correspondent John Wallach, whose parents escaped Nazi Germany, founded Seeds of Peace Camp in 1993 to bring Arab and Israeli teenagers together to instill peaceful coexistence through dialogue and informed leadership. The camp has since hosted campers from other parts of the world.
Hearing other points of view from people with vastly different lived experiences speaks directly to one of the core tenets of IRISI, which is “perspective,” Michael said.
“It’s now probably more important than ever to try to see things from other people’s perspectives and not live in an echo chamber,” Michael said. “It is not an easy thing to do, to really challenge yourself to do something like this, but we think those that are up for it should have the opportunity to do that.”
Click here to learn more about IRISI.