Summer 2019: July 8-11 & 15-18
Meet our student writers for Summer 2019!
Kaia Lancour is 13 and will be heading off to Mount Shasta High School for 9th grade this coming school year. Her hobbies include art activities such as painting, sketching, sewing and crafts. She also takes part in outdoor activities like mountain biking, horseback riding, swimming, camping and hiking. She participates in gymnastics, modern dance and silk dancing classes. She is excited to go into high school and is ready to take part in the organization Upward Bound through College of the Siskiyous. She hopes to attend college following high school and spend time at home during the summer.
Mia Stanfield is a high school student Junior at Yreka High School who plans to join the US Army in the medical field. She has always wanted to be a nurse. As a young girl she has always wanted to help people improve their health.She was born in Ocean Springs, MS and was raised mostly in Southern Louisiana and now lives in Yreka, CA. Mia has always had a passion for working to solve community and civic issues in her area.
Jane Grantham has always had an affinity for writing, starting from a young age. She grew up in Yreka, California and will be attending Yreka High School as a senior, age 17, this Fall. Over the course of her educational years, she has grown both academically and personally, participating keenly in subjects such as english and history, with a soft spot for creative writing. She enjoys involving herself with her local highschool theatre, marching band, and yearbook. Jane hopes that, once she graduates, she will see the world, find a passion worth pursuing for the rest of her life, and most of all, be able to tell her stories to the world.
Willow Tinsman attends Mt. Shasta High School as a 14-year-old 9th grader in Mt. Shasta, CA. In her spare time she enjoys photography, reading, writing, drawing, listening to music, and trying out random crafts. She would like to travel around the world and compose a poem about each location that she visits along the way. She dreams of benefitting the world as a lawyer, therapist, or author.
Sylva Carpenter was born and raised in small town Mt. Shasta, CA. She is 14 years old and will attend Mt. Shasta High School as a Freshman in the fall of 2019. In her spare time, Sylva enjoys playing basketball, musical instruments, and tutoring younger students. She is very academically motivated and hopes to attend a university after high school. Sylva loves learning about foreign languages and cultures, traveling overseas, and many political matters. A couple of aspects that inspired these interests are the French lessons she has taken since 2015, and her previous travels.
Trista Russell is a 15-year-old who lives in Weed California. In the upcoming school year, she will be a sophomore at Weed High School. She’s a type one diabetic, which separates her from the general population of her school. Her hobbies include reading, obsessing over fictional characters, cheerleading, softball, volleyball, and bothering her cat Luna. In the future, she hopes to either major in journalism or pediatric surgery at the University of California in San Francisco, where she will most likely buy season tickets to San Francisco Giants games.
Jordan Dailey is a 16 year old Yreka High School student. She loves photography as well as painting with acrylics. She lives with her family in a small house in Yreka, California. Her sister Rebekah, her mother and her father. Currently she is planning on becoming a phlebotomist after high school. She has aspirations to become a teacher or possibly a nurse.
Having grown up in Montague almost his entire life, Archer Strelow is a 17-year old with a strong desire to see the world. He will be starting his senior year this Fall at Golden Eagle Charter School and he hopes to attend Brown University the following year. He has a passion for film and cinematography, as well as more academic studies, like sociology and human anatomy. He wants to pursue a degree in directing and screenplay writing, with a bit of acting on the side. Most importantly though, and while cheesy, he wants to help others, any way he can.
Brenden Short is a twenty year-old Writing/Thinking partner with Siskiyou Students Write and a college student who was born in Lake Shastina and grew up in Montague. He tends to be contemplative, and enjoys engaging people in discussions about things they are passionate about. He has received multiple Associate’s Degrees from College of the Siskiyous in Weed, California, including AAs in Philosophy and Psychology. He is transferring to CSU Chico in the fall, and plans to pursue further study in Philosophy including a graduate education.
Nate is a 16 year old junior at Yreka High School. He is planning to go into carpentry after he graduates. He was born in Southern California and has lived in California all his life. He is writing a piece on how teachers do not give students the respect and freedom they deserve. His interests include woodworking, spending time with his family, and school reform.
Lila Knutila is a Writing/Thinking partner for the Siskiyou Students Write program. She spent her childhood in the small town of Gazelle; current population is seventy, small enough to be classified as a village. She’s grown beyond the hills around her home and is moving on to Southern Oregon University to pursue her passion in Psychology and Communications. Twenty-one and excited, she is passionate about her endeavors and plans on doing all she can to reach them.
Lance Stratos is a 16 year old male who has a huge love for neuroscience and culinary, both of his love for his hobbies came from his caring mother Heather Stratos. He also loves hanging with friends at school and playing video games. He goes to Golden Eagle Charter School. He is told he is a strong writer and has a creative mind. He has helped his community before from big things like feeding the homeless to just being a shoulder to cry on for friends. He finds this article as a big step in doing his part in helping his community and hopefully others as well.
Zoe is a young highschool girl with high aspirations to launch a career in a Naval Military Police or MOA (Master Of Arms) she has a keen eye for detail and a compassion for victims she is currently is launching a fight against cyber bullying against multiple social media platforms in her community. For example she has stopped and was able to remove four hate pages that after one was gone she was blasted on the other three and got them all shut down. She has also dealt with the hatred and cruel words on snapchat as well. Zoe’s never afraid to take on new challenges. Besides academics she has participated in Girl Scouts, 4-H, Volunteer Coaching, and her wide sport career. She has done Competitive Cheer on a US national team, Varsity High School Cheer, Varsity Soccer, Co-Ed Soccer, Track and Field, Powder Puff, Softball, Baseball, Tap Dancing, Karate, MMA, and currently doing KickBoxing.
Ashlynn McIntyre is a senior at Weed High School. She was born in Yuma, Arizona, and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. She’s currently 17 years old. She loves to write, read, and draw. She hopes to one day publish a story she writes as a graphic novel.
Siskiyou Students Write is a two week, action packed writing experience for high school students in Siskiyou County. Students in this camp will write to effect change in Siskiyou County and the world beyond! SSW is designed using 21st Century Maker-Space principles, and participants will enjoy an active, fun, creative experience! Published writers will visit and share what they’ve learned about writing for civic engagement, and student graduates of the camp will be published!
Dates: July 8-11 (Monday to Thursday) and July 15-18 (Monday to Thursday). Students must agree to attend all dates.
Time: 9am-1pm daily
Location: College of the Siskiyous , Weed, CA
Provided: Snacks and a full lunch; all necessary materials
Upon Completion: Students receive a 100$ stipend, as well as a certificate of completion that can be used for job and college applications.
Who: Students who are interested in learning more about their community and about the power of writing to improve that community. No GPA or other academic requirements exist; students of all writing abilities are welcome.
The NCWP is grateful to the Silver Giving Foundation and the National Writing Project (NWP), whose generous grant makes this summer civics writing experience possible.