Monica Carvalho is a recent graduate of Teachers College, Columbia University, where she studied Secondary English Education.  She holds a Master of Arts in Teaching, as well as teaching licenses in both New York and Rhode Island.  She graduated from Brown University in 2010 with a B.A. in both English and Film Studies.  Monica currently teaches 7^th grade Humanities at a New York City public school, as well as a 6^th grade film elective.  She plans on teaching high school English in the city for a few years before moving back to her home state of RI.  This will be Monica’s third year working with Young Writers Camp.  She has taught Poetry at the camp for the past two summers, and also acted as the camp’s Assistant Director last year.  She is excited about this year’s theme, “Once upon a time at summer camp,” and is looking forward to the opportunities it will provide campers to both share their love of familiar fairy tales and use their imagination to tell their own stories.  Aside from teaching, Monica enjoys watching movies, reading (especially young adult novels, like The Hunger Games), going to Broadway shows, and tap dancing.

Assistant Director and Poetry Teacher: Merit O’Hare

Originally from Pittsburgh, Merit O’Hare is an English teacher who has worked with students in the 8th through 12th grades in NYC and at Penn State. Since she believes that a teacher of writing should also be a writer themselves, she has had her poetry featured in The Portland Review, The Potomac Review and Mad Poets Review, as well as on Sirius Radio and at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City. She was the recipient of Dickinson College’s Academy of American Poets Prize in 2009, 2010 and 2011, as well as the college’s Weiss Prize, a grant awarded annually to a senior in the arts. Merit received her Master’s in English Education from Columbia University’s Teachers College.

Writing for the Internet Teacher: April Hoover

April Hoover teaches at Shippensburg Area Middle School in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.  She holds a B.S. degree in Secondary English Education and a M. Ed in Education with a Reading Specialist Certificate.  While currently teaching 7th grade language arts, she has also taught at the high school level in Chambersburg, PA and has worked as an adjunct instructor in the English Department for Shippensburg University.  April volunteers with the National Council of Teachers of English and The Capital Area Wordfest as a presenter and the Promising Young Writer’s Program as a National Judge.   A National Writing Project fellow, April has most recently accepted a position as a Teacher Consultant Leader for the Capital Area Writing Project.  A goal of April’s is to help her students find their writing voices while practicing the art of writing their thinking. Journaling is a huge component in her student’s course of study.  A new and exciting experience for April’s students has been at the Shippensburg Shape Arts Gallery where writers (students, teachers, and SU professors) have the opportunity to share their work with the local community.  April enjoys kayaking, taking relaxing walks with her husband and hanging around with her two pups, Russell and Teddy.  She also loves reading and journaling.  Traveling is something April enjoys; however, her most treasured traveling takes her to the homes of her grown children Katie, (soon to be son-in-law) Michael, Anthony, and daughter-in-law, Cat.  This will be April’s first experience with the Young Writers Camp. She looks forward to working with the writers at camp this summer!

Counselor: Matt Bachtell

Matt Bachtell is a senior citizen at Grinnell College where he majors in physics, engages in pitched medieval combat with foam weapons, and cultivates a passion for Steam games and dubstep violin.  He is an expert swordsman, and four-time winner of National Novel Writer’s Month.  Wanted in six states for crimes against the crown, he can frequently be found constructing elaborate cityscapes in minecraft.

Counselor: Sarah Milback

Sarah Milback is a member of the Mercersburg Academy Class of 2013. She’s headed to an English boarding school next year for an academic gap year before she goes to college to study psychology. She loves playing piano, dancing (especially classical ballet), reading, and of course, writing. Her favorite book series of all time is Harry Potter, but the best thing she has read recently is The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath. She’s super excited for this summer at Young Writer’s Camp!

Counselor: Muslima Musawwir

Muslima Musawwir is an eighteen year old native from Richmond, VA majoring in acting at Shenandoah University. She has been a counselor for a local 4-H group for the past three years and is also active in her community as an instructor’s assistant for elementary school kids. Some of her hobbies include but are not limited to collecting quotes, exploring new cities or plays and being a wardrobe stylist for friends and school’s fashion shows.  She plans to share her joys of writing freely and with a detail imagination with the campers during the Young Writers Summer Camp!

Counselor: Jennifer Nelson

I’m currently a senior at Mercersburg Academy and will be attending Bucknell University in the fall. When I’m not hanging out with friends or
sleeping, I’m probably at a dance rehearsal. I was in a pre-professional dance program before coming to Mercersburg and have a passion for all
styles of dance. From classical ballet to street hip hop, I never get tired of turning on music and moving to the rhythm. In addition, I love
theater and public speaking, and although some may agree that I’m pretty tone deaf, I’m also a proud soprano in the Mercersburg Chapel Choir.

Growing up as the daughter of a U.S. diplomat and Japanese mother, my life has been anything but normal. It’s funny when people ask me where I’m from because I’ve moved over ten times all around the world! Naturally, I want to remember my experiences living in different countries and as a child, I used to worry that I would lose my memory like my grandpa did. At around age nine, I started writing in a journal to remember important events in my life. Years later, I’m still keeping journals, and while I laugh at how terrible my grammar and writing skills were, I’m happy because it’s helped me grow as a writer as well as store my memories with me forever.

In the spirit of the 2012 Olympics, MAC campers began the day bright and early with the Hurricanes vs Tornadoes Marathon. One of the events is watermelon eating.

In the afternoon, it was WATER WARS! Campers were slimed and splashed.

JAC campers spent the morning making food creations, finishing their arts and crafts projects, and doing science experiments. In the afternoon, they went to Cowan’s Gap.

The kids spent the night out by the barn after a fun evening playing games by the campfire.

The final campfire was bittersweet for MAC, and tomorrow everyone goes home with new friends and memories.

Theme night is always a much anticipated event among the counselors and staff at Mercersburg Summer. The kids get to experience it as a JWAS, so it’s a great surprise for them all. This session’s theme was FIESTA. Last night we ate tacos, listened to some Latin tunes, and annihilated a pinata.

In the morning, campers went to all day great outdoors activities. The rock climbing group had a beautiful morning in the woods in Waynesboro.

Kayakers went to Antietam Creek and took a break to swing on the rope into the water.

JAC went to an alpaca farm yesterday. These weird and gentle creatures are a sight to see, and they sure are soft.

After alpacas, JACers went to Monkey Joe’s to play in the giant bouncey house. So much fun!

There are a TON of new photos on Flickr, so be sure to check out the Summer 2012 Collection.

Who says Quidditch isn’t a good way to start the day? Tuesday morning MAC campers engaged in some Hurricanes vs Tornadoes competition.

In the afternoon, both MAC and JAC went to Hershey Park to ride the coasters and eat some candy!

This JAC camper is having a great time on the Scrambler!

Here, London is looking a little nervous before riding on the wooden coaster, but…..

it turns out it was really fun!! More photos on the way on the Flickr page, so check back often!

Adventure alert: MAC and JAC enjoyed the beautiful summer day with their fellow campers and new found friends.

These campers were making art in the Adventures in Clay enrichment class.

If you heard funny popping sounds outside Irvine Hall today, do not fret. They were only awesome potato guns!

After tubing this morning, JAC played some after dinner kickball.

Better run! MAC campers played capture the counselor after dinner. The counselors hide all over campus while teams of Hurricanes and Tornadoes search high and low searching for them. Check back on the Flickr for more exciting JWAS to come!

Junior Adventure Camp arrived this afternoon and felt right at home in their cabins. Here the JAC girls are working on “Who I Am” posters to present to the group. And there are no boys allowed.

During the first JAC campfire, the campers told everyone what they hoped to get out of the week and then threw their own stick in the fire. Afterwards the counselors began teaching them the songs they will soon know by heart.

MAC spent the afternoon practicing their cabin skits, which they performed before campfire. David played a green monster in his cabin’s skit. The performances had everyone laughing, and they were definitely some of the best of the summer!

Making volcanoes out of clay, vinegar and baking soda

Making pudding

Tonight is the overnight campout on campus, an evening spent playing hurricanes vs. tornadoes games like the orange pass and watermelon eating contest. After that, campers headed up to the campfire for songs and s’mores, and then they were off to their campsites to sleep in cozy tents!

I know I wouldn’t. These MAC campers were ready for some serious H vs. T competition today during the camp wars. In the spirit of the 2012 Olympic games, the two teams played frisbee and other games this morning as part of their ongoing rivalry.

After a relaxing afternoon at Greenbrier Park in Maryland, the campers packed up dinner and went to either the Frederick Keys baseball game or to play laser tag.

Today was also the last day of Discovery Camp. The campers finished up building their robots and other crafts today before getting pick up. We’ll miss you!

The weather affected most of region today. We began and ended the day with thunderstorms, and had a beautiful day in between. Dance worked on their final performance dances today in Hale Studio.

MAC campers went to their Great Outdoors activities in the morning, and then returned to campus to play dodgeball and other games in the gym. The campers then packed up for the not so long trek to the Burgin Center for movie night!

The sky was looking pretty fierce during the Discovery camp out, but it was pretty exciting for everyone. Tim and Trini grilled burgers and dogs over the campfire while the campers took shelter for the night in the rock climbing barn. They played games and watched a movie on a blow up screen. Then it was time to unroll and zip up the sleeping bags for bed.

See all the summer 2012 photos here: Flickr

Mercersburg Campers had a ton of summer fun today. The MAC senior group went to Ohiopyle, PA to go white water rafting, and their photos will be up soon. The Discovery Camp went to Cowan’s Gap today to go to the beach, go hiking, and to take the canoes out on the lake. It was a beautiful day!

The junior MACers went rollerskating in West Virginia, and in the afternoon they went tubing (photos up soon!). Though there was no disco music playing, the campers managed to have a great time and play in the awesome obstacle course.

Check back on the Flickr often for updates!