Executive Director, Writing Instructor
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Teaching History Rebecca founded Writopia Lab in April 2007, currently directs the national organization, and teaches writing workshops in NYC and at special events throughout the country. Rebecca has won multiple teaching awards including the 2008 and 2009 National Gold Apple Teacher Award for "submitting the most outstanding group of submissions on the national level" in the Scholastic Art & Writing event each year. She lectures at schools, events, and parents' organizations on a variety of topics including "How to Inspire the Writer Within Your Child" and on "Identifying and Participating in Positive Competitions." Previously, Rebecca established the creative writing program at the Abraham Joshua Heschel Middle School on the Upper West Side of Manhattan as a consultant. While she was there, the program outperformed every other school in the city (including every elite public and private institution) in Scholastic's prestigious Art & Writing Awards competition. She was awarded recognition from The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards as an "outstanding educator" in 2006, 2007, and 2008. (Writopia won Scholastic's official endorsement in 2007.) Rebecca was also nominated by students and selected to be entered into the 11th Edition of Who's Who Among American Teachers.
Rebecca has taught at SUNY Albany, New York University, The Katherine Gibbs School, and at Gotham Writers’ Workshop. In 2002, she had the pleasure of working with young writers in New York City public schools for the first time as a resident writer with the Teachers & Writers Collaborative. By 2003, she was working at the Heschel School, planting the seeds for a unique and successful creative writing program there. She also participated in the judging of the Scholastic competition in 2006 and currently serves as a judge of several national youth writing competitions (in which her students are not involved).
Writings Rebecca began writing for publications in 1997 as an intern at The Village Voice. Over the next ten years, she contributed five cover stories (and other pieces) to the Voice, served as Senior Editor at Psychology Today Magazine, contributed op-eds and thought pieces to The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, The Nation, and New York Newsday, and contributed to dozens of other magazines and newspapers including New York Magazine, Salon.com, and Spin. She won Salon's "Best People Story of the Year Award" for "Love Labor’s Flossed" and received recognition for other pieces as well. In 1999, she became a Journalism Fellow at Brandeis University. In 2003, she entered the world of comedy writing, and began writing and performing sketch comedy around NYC. She won a “Best Sketch” competition at the Upright Citizens Brigade in 2006. A full-length comedic screenplay she co-wrote is currently being represented by The Dorothy Palmer Agency.
Fiction Writing Instructor
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Courtney Sheinmel teaches summer and year-round fiction and memoir workshops at Writopia Lab. She grew up in California and New York, graduated magna cum laude from Barnard College, and Fordham University School of Law. After working as a litigator for several years, Courtney decided to focus on her true love: writing. Her critically-acclaimed debut “tween” novel, My So-Called Family, was published by Simon & Schuster in October, 2008. Her second book, Positively, came out in September 2009. She is also the author of Sincerely Sophie/Sincerely Katie (June 2010) and You Can’t Even Measure It (2011). You can visit Courtney online at www.courtneysheinmel.com.
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Léna began teaching workshops with Writopia in the fall of 2009. Léna's first YA novel, Edges, is to be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in September 2010. Her inspiration and touchstone is her late grandmother, author Madeleine L’Engle, who was able to transform the solitary nature of writing into a sacred sense of community where her art and the art of others could flourish. Léna received her BA in English from Barnard College, and her MA in Drama Therapy from NYU. Léna has created two writing workshops for the public education program at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where she works part-time as an educator. She is also a mentor with Girls Write Now, a non-profit organization serving at-risk high school girls.
Academic Fellow
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As a Writopia Fellow, Courtney Zoffness serves as a mentor and adviser to Writopia upperclassmen transitioning into college. Courtney taught fiction and memoir workshops year-round at Writopia Lab from 2008 through 2009, while teaching creative writing at Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, and the College of New Jersey. She has also taught writing at the University of Arizona, and Johns Hopkins University—and is thus well-versed in the rigors and expectations of college-level writing. Courtney's fiction has appeared in journals and anthologies such as Washington Square, Saint Ann’s Review, Tampa Review, and the international Fish Prize Stories, and has been honored by Best New American Voices, the UA Foundation, and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. She’s published nonfiction in Ladies’ Home Journal, Our Town, and New York’s daily Metro, worked in an editorial capacity for MTV Networks and Rolling Stone, and served as managing editor of the United Nations-sponsored Earth Times. She looks forward to drawing on her multifaceted career path to guide Writopia students, current and former, as they make professional choices. Courtney is currently a full-time visiting assistant professor of English at Allegheny College and divides her time between Meadville, PA, and Brooklyn, NY.
Playwriting and Screenwriting Instructor
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Daniel Ajl Kitrosser teaches musical theater, playwriting, and fiction year-round at Writopia Lab. Dan is the resident story-teller at Central Park and an award-winning playwright. His 2009 children's musicals were performed at theaters throughout the city and in Bryant Park, and won rave reviews from Time Out New York Kids. At Writopia, three of Dan's students have won "Best Play" in Stephen Sondheim's 2008 and 2009 Write a Play! contests, and many others were named finalists or won honorable mentions. A graduate of NYU, Dan's screenplays include "Old Days," directed by Matt Shapiro and starring Brad Oscar (Tony Nomination, The Producers) and Mary Beth Piel (Dawson's Creek) and "Bodybuilder Island" directed by Matthew Kliegman. Dan has been a final committee judge for the Philadelphia Young Playwrights Festival for four years (this coming summer will be his fifth). Dan's play "Be Here Now" won this festival and was a finalist in Stephen Sondheim's National Playwriting Competition. Dan was a Summer 2007 Teaching Fellow with the Philadelphia Young Playwrights organization.
Fiction and Memoir Writing Instructor and Writopia Brooklyn Outreach Coordinator
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Rachel Ephraim teaches fiction and memoir at Writopia Lab year-round in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Westchester and spearheaded the establishment of Writopia Brooklyn. Rachel's fiction, "Please Send a Published Copy to 101 Harris Road," has been published in the Fall 2008 edition of the Apple Valley Review and is being taught at UCLA by Professor Harry Youtt. Rachel's Brooklyn branch of Writopia completed its first successful year: Rachel's students were honored this year at the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards with both regional and national awards. Rachel's journalism has appeared this year in the New York Spirit and the Park Slope Reader where she reviews restaurants, films, books, and community projects. Rachel is also the editor of the Park Slope Reader and Shop Local! She has earned an undergraduate degree in creative writing, screenwriting, and film production at Boston University and is currently pursuing her MFA at Columbia University.
Fiction Instructor
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Anya Yurchyshyn began teaching teen workshops at Writopia in the fall of 2009. She is finishing her MFA in fiction at Columbia University, where she is also a teaching fellow. In addition to working with undergraduates, she’s spent two years teaching fiction, poetry and dramatic writing to advanced high school students through Columbia University’s Summer Program. She’s written non-fiction and book reviews for Esquire, Budget Travel, Modart and Ploughshares, among many other publications. Her fiction and poetry have appeared or are forthcoming in Noon, Guernica, The Adirondack Review, On the Bus, and Elimae.
Fiction Instructor
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James Yeh began teaching at Writopia Lab in Fall 2009. He is a graduate of the Columbia University M.F.A. Program. His fiction appears or is forthcoming in PEN America, elimae, the innovative fiction anthology 30 Under 30 (Starcherone Books, 2011) and elsewhere.
James is also a founding editor of Gigantic, a magazine of short prose and art. He is at work on a novel-in-stories entitled I Love and Understand You and Would Be Perfect to You Now. He has taught writing in New York City over the last three years, and this year he served as a judge for the Scholastic Writing Awards.
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Alex co-developed Writopia's Language Play Program for Tots with Writopia, and teaches many of its workshops. Alex recently graduated summa-cum laude with a Masters Degree in Applied Linguistics from Montclair State University. She holds a B.A. in Speech Pathology and Audiology from the University of North Texas. Alex grew up in a bilingual home in both Texas and Mexico. Her love of language and learning took her abroad to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where she taught English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at Cultura Inglesa to students of all ages. Beyond Writopia, Alex dedicates her time to her home and family and raising her two children bilingually.
DC Director, Writing Instructor
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Kathy Crutcher joined Writopia Lab in March 2009. She received an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona in both fiction and creative nonfiction, and has taught composition and creative writing at the University of Kentucky, the University of Arizona, and through the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth program. Kathy has also read for various literary publications, including The Atlantic, The Sonora Review, and Limestone, and will serve on the national panel of judges for the 2009 Parent Teacher Association Reflections Literature Contest. Her writing has earned her an Artist Enrichment Grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women, fellowships to writing programs in Prague and Kenya, as well as accolades from contests such as the Glimmer Train Fiction Open and The New Millennium Writing Awards. Kathy is thrilled to be part of Writopia and looks forward to many good reads in DC!
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Marina Koestler Ruben joined Writopia DC this fall. She is the 2004 winner of the New Jersey All Ages Playwrights Festival. Her one-act plays have been produced in Maryland and New Jersey. For two years, she served as a judge for CENTERSTAGE's Young Playwrights Festival. Marina earned her M.A. in Writing and the award of "Outstanding Graduate" from the Johns Hopkins University. Among the publications that have featured her articles are the Washington City Paper, Education Week, Smithsonian magazine, and CNN.com. Her articles are available online at www.marinaruben.com.
Marina also works as the Upper School Writing Tutor at Sidwell Friends School, and previously taught 10th-grade English and History at the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy. She has worked as a mentor for the International Rescue Committee and American Red Cross and as a tutor in Baltimore, Potomac, and in Washington, D.C.
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Fiction and Memoir Instructor, Writopia DC
Tony Mancus is very excited to be joining the good folk at Writopia Lab! He is newly transplanted in Rosslyn, VA and he holds an MFA in poetry from the University of Arizona. Tony has been teaching writing in varying capacities for the past six years, most recently at a small preparatory high school in DC and in Florence, Italy. He has taught creative writing and composition at Hunter College, Montclair State University, Queensborough Community College, the University of Scranton, and the University of Arizona. He co-founded Flying Guillotine Press, a press that makes small handbound books, where he helps in the editorial screening and book design process. Tony's poems have appeared in a number of print and online journals and his work received an award from the University of Arizona's Poetry Center.
Taylor began teaching workshops with Writopia DC in 2010. Her essays and articles have been published by National Public Radio, Northern Virginia Magazine, and Hypocrite Press. She also serves as the DC Race Relations Examiner for Examiner.com. Taylor is pursuing her M.A. at the Writing Program at Johns Hopkins University, where she studies memoir, profile, essay, and viewpoint journalism. She loves helping Writopia's students find their voices as writers.
Writing Instructor, Writopia Westchester
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Pei-Ling Lue began teaching creative writing workshops for Writopia Westchester in the spring of 2009. She is also an editor at One Story magazine, an award-winning literary magazine. As part of her quest to save the short story, Pei-Ling also writes for the blog www.savetheshortstory.com. She holds an MFA in Fiction Writing from New York University, where she was awarded a Starworks Fellowship to teach creative writing at a program for at-risk children. Pei-Ling has taught fiction and English composition classes at NYU and Iona College, where her students have won awards for their personal essays. Pei-Ling also teaches creative writing and college essay writing classes at the Larchmont & Mamaroneck Center for Continuing Education.
Visiting Intructor
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Daphne Grab taught summer workshops at Writopia Lab in 2009. Daphne's first book for teens, ALIVE AND WELL IN PRAGUE, NEW YORK, came out with HarperCollins in June 2008. It earned positive reviews, as well as being selected as an ALAN Pick and has been placed on several state reading lists. Her second book, this one for middle grade readers, will be out in spring 2010. Daphne earned her MFA in Creative Writing from the New School in 2006. She has taught writing and history to teens and is a valued part of the Writopia community!
Visiting Fiction Writing Instructor
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Heather Duffy-Stone taught summer fiction and memoir workshops at Writopia Lab in 2008 and 2009. Heather has designed and taught creative writing workshops for Los Angeles public schools, upstate New York classrooms and Manhattan community centers. Heather served on the founding staff of an organization called Writegirl, Los Angeles—a mentoring and creative writing organization for teenagers, where she developed the mentoring program and taught Saturday writing workshops. She has been a Program Director for PEN USA, an international writers’ organization and an editor for react magazine for teenagers and PEN America: A Literary Journal. Her first novel, This is What I Want to Tell You, will be published by Flux in Spring 2009. Her short stories have been published in Bold Ink and Pieces of Me, collections of women’s writing. She graduated from Bard College and has an MA in School Counseling.
Visiting Science Fiction/Fantasy Writing Instructor
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Sheree Renée Thomas (Sheree R. Thomas) taught summer Science Fiction/Fantasy Workshops at Writopia Lab. Sheree was awarded the 2003 Ledig House/LEF Foundation Prize for Fiction for her novel, Bonecarver. Her anthology, Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction, from the African Diaspora won the 2001 World Fantasy Award for Year's Best Anthology and the Gold Pen Award. The volume was also honored as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, received a Washington Post Editor's "Rave," and was named an Amazon.com "Essential Book." Her second anthology, Dark Matter: Reading the Bones, was published in 2004 and won the 2005 World Fantasy Award for Year's Best Anthology. She is also co-publisher of the literary journal Anansi: Fiction of the African Diaspora, and founder of Wanganegresse Press.
Visiting Instructor
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Jill Santopolo lead a special Long-Form Fiction Workshop at Writopia Lab the summer of 2008. Jill is the author of the Alec Flint, Super Sleuth series, published by Scholastic Inc., which is launching in July 2008 with The Nina, The Pinta and The Vanishing Treasure. She is also a Senior Editor at HarperCollins Publishers where she edits teen novels and more. Jill earned a BA in English from Columbia University and is currently pursuing her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College. You can visit her online at jillsantopolo.com.
Visiting Instructor
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Deborah taught a summer blogging workshop at Writopia Lab in 2008. She is the author of Sisterhood, Interrupted: From Radical Women to Grrls Gone Wild (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) and co-editor of the literary anthology, Only Child: Writers on the Singular Joys and Solitary Sorrows of Growing Up Solo (Random House, 2007). She has also recently written op-eds and articles about contemporary families, women, and popular culture for many publications including The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, The American Prospect, Psychology Today, and on her blog, Girl with Pen. Deborah is co-founder of the webjournal, The Scholar & Feminist Online, which she launched while a Fellow at the Barnard Center for Research on Women in 2003. She received her doctorate in English and American Literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2001. We are so excited to have Deborah with us!
Director of Operations
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Jeremy Wallace-Segall is the Director of Operations for Writopia Lab. Jeremy oversees technology and back-office functions, contributes to the organizational literature, recruits new students and new schools, and does light housekeeping.
Jeremy has built and implemented databases and websites for 15 years. For the past six years he has run a consulting business, ABCDataworks, that brings database, website, and communications strategy to non-profits and socially minded corporate ventures. Jeremy spent a few years in the corporate world, but most of his work experience has been focused on making the world a better place by helping non-profit organizations manage their data collection and dissemination. Jeremy has written corporate policy documents, software documentation, branding copy for websites, tutorials, and recently published a featured article of the month on Idealware.org.
Intern
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Stephanie Pape is pursing her MFA degree in Creative Writing at American University in Washington, DC, where she is actively writing and striving towards becoming published. She received her BA in English and Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where she was a feature writer for The Daily Cardinal, Madison’s only independent student newspaper. She was awarded the Eudora Welty Fiction Award for her creative writing senior thesis titled, "Catalyze", which was a short story collection. She is excited to be interning as a teaching assistant for Writopia Lab, and can’t wait to help the organization get started in DC!
Hannah helped teach workshops in the summer 2009. She is a student at Columbia University, where she majors in history. On campus she is a senior editor for the monthly undergraduate magazine The Blue and White and the editor-in-chief of Tablet, the university's literary arts journal. Her writing has appeared in these publications, as well as in Preservation magazine, the magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. She hails from Washington, D.C. Many thanks to Hannah for being part of our summer 2009 program.
Paul, 14, is a high school freshman at Astor collegiate academy. He came to us through the Summer Youth Employment Program, summer 2009. Paul provided administrative and creative assistance on a variety of Writopia projects. He's also great with baby Maxanne! Thanks, Paul, for your hard work during the summer of 2009.
Louis is a Writopia Lab graduate, award-winning writer, and freshman at Harvard University. He is both a gifted teacher and a goofball. We were thrilled to have had him with us for the summer of 2009, and we're looking forward to stories of his adventures at college.
Andrea interned for Writopia in the summer of 2007 and continues to manage the graphics on Writopia Lab's blog, and designs and produces our fliers, event programs, and various other marketing materials. Andrea graduated from Vassar in May, 2009 and moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. She has already produced award-winning films and has assisted on the production of major documentaries.
Milana is a Writopia writer and a junior at Beacon High School. She also participated in the Summer Youth Employment Program. Milana provided administrative assistance (and comic relief). Thanks for helping us out this past summer--we're looking foward to seeing you again in a workshop sometime soon!
Courtney Sheinmel teaches summer and year-round fiction and memoir workshops at Writopia Lab. She grew up in California and New York, graduated magna cum laude from Barnard College, and Fordham University School of Law. After working as a litigator for several years, Courtney decided to focus on her true love: writing. Her critically-acclaimed debut “tween” novel, 
, was published by Simon & Schuster in October, 2008. Her second book, 
, came out in September 2009. She is also the author of 
(June 2010) and You Can’t Even Measure It (2011). You can visit Courtney online at 
Léna began teaching workshops with Writopia in the fall of 2009. 
Daniel Ajl Kitrosser teaches musical theater, playwriting, and fiction year-round at Writopia Lab. Dan is the resident story-teller at Central Park and an award-winning playwright. His 2009 children's musicals were performed at theaters throughout the city and in Bryant Park, and won rave reviews from Time Out New York Kids. At Writopia, three of Dan's students have won "Best Play" in Stephen Sondheim's 2008 and 2009 Write a Play! contests, and many others were named finalists or won honorable mentions. A graduate of NYU, Dan's screenplays include "Old Days," directed by Matt Shapiro and starring Brad Oscar (Tony Nomination, The Producers) and Mary Beth Piel (Dawson's Creek) and "Bodybuilder Island" directed by Matthew Kliegman. Dan has been a final committee judge for the Philadelphia Young Playwrights Festival for four years (this coming summer will be his fifth). Dan's play "Be Here Now" won this festival and was a finalist in Stephen Sondheim's National Playwriting Competition. Dan was a Summer 2007 Teaching Fellow with the Philadelphia Young Playwrights organization.
Rachel Ephraim teaches fiction and memoir at Writopia Lab year-round in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Westchester and spearheaded the establishment of Writopia Brooklyn. Rachel's fiction, "Please Send a Published Copy to 101 Harris Road," has been published in the Fall 2008 edition of the Apple Valley Review and is being taught at UCLA by Professor Harry Youtt. Rachel's Brooklyn branch of Writopia completed its first successful year: Rachel's students were honored this year at the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards with both regional and national awards. Rachel's journalism has appeared this year in the New York Spirit and the Park Slope Reader where she reviews restaurants, films, books, and community projects. Rachel is also the editor of the 
James Yeh began teaching at Writopia Lab in Fall 2009. He is a graduate of the Columbia University M.F.A. Program. His fiction appears or is forthcoming in PEN America, elimae, the innovative fiction anthology 30 Under 30 (Starcherone Books, 2011) and elsewhere.
Alex co-developed Writopia's Language Play Program for Tots with Writopia, and teaches many of its workshops. Alex recently graduated summa-cum laude with a Masters Degree in Applied Linguistics from Montclair State University. She holds a B.A. in Speech Pathology and Audiology from the University of North Texas. Alex grew up in a bilingual home in both Texas and Mexico. Her love of language and learning took her abroad to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where she taught English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at Cultura Inglesa to students of all ages. Beyond Writopia, Alex dedicates her time to her home and family and raising her two children bilingually.
Kathy Crutcher joined Writopia Lab in March 2009. She received an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona in both fiction and creative nonfiction, and has taught composition and creative writing at the University of Kentucky, the University of Arizona, and through the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth program. Kathy has also read for various literary publications, including The Atlantic, The Sonora Review, and Limestone, and will serve on the national panel of judges for the 2009 Parent Teacher Association Reflections Literature Contest. Her writing has earned her an Artist Enrichment Grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women, fellowships to writing programs in Prague and Kenya, as well as accolades from contests such as the Glimmer Train Fiction Open and The New Millennium Writing Awards. Kathy is thrilled to be part of Writopia and looks forward to many good reads in DC!
Tony Mancus is very excited to be joining the good folk at Writopia Lab! He is newly transplanted in Rosslyn, VA and he holds an MFA in poetry from the University of Arizona. Tony has been teaching writing in varying capacities for the past six years, most recently at a small preparatory high school in DC and in Florence, Italy. He has taught creative writing and composition at Hunter College, Montclair State University, Queensborough Community College, the University of Scranton, and the University of Arizona. He co-founded 
Taylor began teaching workshops with Writopia DC in 2010. Her essays and articles have been published by National Public Radio, Northern Virginia Magazine, and Hypocrite Press. She also serves as the DC Race Relations Examiner for Examiner.com. Taylor is pursuing her M.A. at the Writing Program at Johns Hopkins University, where she studies memoir, profile, essay, and viewpoint journalism. She loves helping Writopia's students find their voices as writers.
Pei-Ling Lue began teaching creative writing workshops for Writopia Westchester in the spring of 2009. She is also an editor at One Story magazine, an award-winning literary magazine. As part of her quest to save the short story, Pei-Ling also writes for the blog www.savetheshortstory.com. She holds an MFA in Fiction Writing from New York University, where she was awarded a Starworks Fellowship to teach creative writing at a program for at-risk children. Pei-Ling has taught fiction and English composition classes at NYU and Iona College, where her students have won awards for their personal essays. Pei-Ling also teaches creative writing and college essay writing classes at the Larchmont & Mamaroneck Center for Continuing Education.
Daphne Grab taught summer workshops at Writopia Lab in 2009. Daphne's first book for teens, ALIVE AND WELL IN PRAGUE, NEW YORK, came out with HarperCollins in June 2008. It earned positive reviews, as well as being selected as an ALAN Pick and has been placed on several state reading lists. Her second book, this one for middle grade readers, will be out in spring 2010. Daphne earned her MFA in Creative Writing from the New School in 2006. She has taught writing and history to teens and is a valued part of the Writopia community!
Heather Duffy-Stone taught summer fiction and memoir workshops at Writopia Lab in 2008 and 2009. Heather has designed and taught creative writing workshops for Los Angeles public schools, upstate New York classrooms and Manhattan community centers. Heather served on the founding staff of an organization called Writegirl, Los Angeles—a mentoring and creative writing organization for teenagers, where she developed the mentoring program and taught Saturday writing workshops. She has been a Program Director for PEN USA, an international writers’ organization and an editor for react magazine for teenagers and PEN America: A Literary Journal. Her first novel, This is What I Want to Tell You, will be published by Flux in Spring 2009. Her short stories have been published in Bold Ink and Pieces of Me, collections of women’s writing. She graduated from Bard College and has an MA in School Counseling.
Jill Santopolo lead a special Long-Form Fiction Workshop at Writopia Lab the summer of 2008. Jill is the author of the 
Jeremy Wallace-Segall is the Director of Operations for Writopia Lab. Jeremy oversees technology and back-office functions, contributes to the organizational literature, recruits new students and new schools, and does light housekeeping.
Stephanie Pape is pursing her MFA degree in Creative Writing at American University in Washington, DC, where she is actively writing and striving towards becoming published. She received her BA in English and Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where she was a feature writer for The Daily Cardinal, Madison’s only independent student newspaper. She was awarded the Eudora Welty Fiction Award for her creative writing senior thesis titled, "Catalyze", which was a short story collection. She is excited to be interning as a teaching assistant for Writopia Lab, and can’t wait to help the organization get started in DC!
Hannah helped teach workshops in the summer 2009. She is a student at Columbia University, where she majors in history. On campus she is a senior editor for the monthly undergraduate magazine The Blue and White and the editor-in-chief of Tablet, the university's literary arts journal. Her writing has appeared in these publications, as well as in Preservation magazine, the magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. She hails from Washington, D.C. Many thanks to Hannah for being part of our summer 2009 program.
Paul, 14, is a high school freshman at Astor collegiate academy. He came to us through the Summer Youth Employment Program, summer 2009. Paul provided administrative and creative assistance on a variety of Writopia projects. He's also great with baby Maxanne! Thanks, Paul, for your hard work during the summer of 2009.
Louis is a Writopia Lab graduate, award-winning writer, and freshman at Harvard University. He is both a gifted teacher and a goofball. We were thrilled to have had him with us for the summer of 2009, and we're looking forward to stories of his adventures at college.
Andrea interned for Writopia in the summer of 2007 and continues to manage the graphics on Writopia Lab's blog, and designs and produces our fliers, event programs, and various other marketing materials. Andrea graduated from Vassar in May, 2009 and moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. She has already produced award-winning films and has assisted on the production of major documentaries.
Milana is a Writopia writer and a junior at Beacon High School. She also participated in the Summer Youth Employment Program. Milana provided administrative assistance (and comic relief). Thanks for helping us out this past summer--we're looking foward to seeing you again in a workshop sometime soon!