{"id":738,"date":"2025-06-13T18:13:15","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T22:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.writopialab.org\/writopiaspeaks\/?p=738"},"modified":"2026-02-10T13:26:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T18:26:32","slug":"creative-portfolio-getaway-in-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.writopialab.org\/writopiaspeaks\/creative-portfolio-getaway-in-philadelphia\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Writers from Across the Country Connect for a Fun Getaway in Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by L\u00e9na Roy, Director of Teen Programs, and Rebecca Wallace-Segall, Founder and CEO<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A central tenet of our youth development work: in community, we shall be held up and thrive. This is what motivates us each year to make the CP Getaway happen! (CP is the acronym for Creative Portfolio.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the last weekend in May, from Friday, May 30th through Sunday, June 1st, 19 Writopia teens from both the NYC and DC areas traveled to meet up and spend the weekend in Philadelphia together. This was the fourth year Writopia has run the CP Getaway with the help of the teens in the Event Leadership Committee. Since 2022, we have switched off between Washington DC and Philadelphia. This year’s teen planners were juniors Zoe Becker (DC) and Naomi Jeske (Hartsdale). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chaperoned by the delightful DC Regional Manager Rita Feinstein and the whimsical Writopia alum and UPenn rising junior Sophia Hall were our DC contingent: Zoe Becker, Viraaj Raofield, Brian Li, Annika Lamberti, Ellen Rugaber, and Nell Choi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coming from the NY area were Naomi Jeske, Analia Rivera, Angelika Rubenstein, Ella Goodman, Emily Appleyard, Lili Sella, Sonali Browning, Charlotte Bellinson, Maxanne Wallace-Segall, Julia Barney, Max Lally, Yanic Valbrune, and Aravah Chaiken. They were chaperoned by none other than the dynamic duo of Rebecca Wallace-Segall (Founder and CEO) and L\u00e9na Roy (Director of Teen Programs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zoe and Naomi met with L\u00e9na throughout the year to plan a wonderful Getaway — we met up together at the Hilton Home2Suites across from the famous Reading Terminal Market (which we sampled for dinner on Friday night and lunch on Sunday) and that first evening were led through the streets of Philadelphia by a ghost storyteller. Saturday we walked through the oldest part of town and visited the Betsy Ross Museum and Elspreth Alley, had a picnic at Spruce Street Harbor, visited bookstores, and went to a matinee of RENT at the Arden Theater. With the help of Philly native and Founder of the Worldwide Plays Festival Dan Kitrosser, we scored couch seats to RENT which meant we were almost part of the set, which made for a unique and memorable experience. In the evening, we shared our writing aloud as a group. Sunday morning we walked to Rittenhouse Square for some writing time and group sharing, and walked back through some PRIDE festivities before exploring Reading Terminal Market one last time and heading back to the train terminal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2026, the CP Getaway will take a break from alternating between DC and Philly, and we\u2019ll be in either downtown NYC or Brooklyn for a weekend in mid-June!<\/p>\n\n\n\n