FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com may 22, 2014 • The Queens Courier 3 Cyberbullying rocks students at Whitestone’s St. Luke School BY LIAM LA GUERE lguerre@queenscourier.com/@liamlaguerre Photo courtesy of Camp Rockaway A rendering of Camp Rockaway, a chic “tent-hotel” overlooking Jamaica Bay. KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN AIMS TO BRING ‘GLAMPING’ TO ROCKAWAY BEACH BY CRIS TABELLE TUMOLA ctumola@queenscourier.com/@CristabelleT Luxury will meet camping on Rockaway Beach if a Kickstarter campaign can help fund the project. Inspired by the tent colonies of the 1900s, the idea to bring “glamping” — a mash-up of glamour and camping — to the shores of Queens is the brainchild of New York-based designer and founder of Milktrout LLC, Kent Johnson. Camp Rockaway, a chic “tent-hotel,” combines “beach camping heritage with modern amenities,” according to the project’s Kickstarter website. It will feature safari-style canvas tents on a landscaped campground overlooking Jamaica Bay and just a short walk from the beach. Each tent is fully furnished, with real beds, crisp, white linen sheets and summer-weight blankets. Amenities include private fire pits, outdoor showers and hot tubs overlooking the bay. Johnson hopes Camp Rockaway will aid in the community’s efforts to restore the beach following Superstorm Sandy. That vision includes a team of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified and proficient installers of green-building strategies, which aims to help restore and protect the site’s native environment. The team has been researching, designing and trying to find support for the project for more than a year, and Johnson has just set up a Kickstarter campaign to raise $50,000 to make Camp Rockaway a reality. Those who pledge $25 or more will receive a gift, ranging from a Camp Rockaway friendship bracelet to a private stay for 20 friends during the soft-launch phase. A portion of pledges will also go toward sponsoring a kid participating in STOKED, a mentoring program that for almost a decade has been teaching low-income kids in New York City and Los Angeles to surf and skateboard, for a one-night stay at Camp Rockaway. To learn more about Camp Rockaway and to donate to the project, visit www.kickstarter.com/ projects/651502646/camp-rockaway. Students at St. Luke School in Whitestone were under a cyberbullying attack recently. A rogue Instagram account called Stlukeidiots started posting pictures on the social media service of students from the Catholic school, using vulgar descriptions and wishing for some kids’ deaths. “These kids are all ugly and fat! I’ll be posting the 6th graders that should die..,” the account Stlukeidiots said in its description. The user behind the account has yet to be found, according to school officials. Parents of targeted students reached out to Welcome to Whitestone Civic Association Founder Devon Michael O’Connor, who posted the Instagram account to the civic group’s Facebook page on May 17, telling parents to report the account. The account’s posts have since been removed, but the memories remain. “It’s absolutely disgusting,” O’Connor said. “It’s not nice. It’s cyberbullying. Who knows where this could lead?” The school has already taken steps to recover. Administrators contacted the NYPD, which is investigating the incident to find the suspect or individuals involved. The school also plans to bring in a team of counselors to teach kids the proper use of social media, and a separate workshop for parents as well. “We are taking this incident of cyberbullying very seriously,” said a spokesperson for the Diocese of Brooklyn, which oversees the school. “Catholic Schools teach the dignity and importance of people. There are consequences for hurtful speech and the perpetrators will face suspension or expulsion.”
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