Excel at Amherst College

Brian Bender (Music Composition and Performance): New England Conservatory of Music, B.A.  A versatile professional musician based in the Pioneer Valley, Brian studied at U.C. Berkeley before graduating from the New England Conservatory in 1993 with a degree in Contemporary Improvisation. Brian has taught Jazz Ensemble, World Music Appreciation, and Music Theory at Suffield Academy, the Williston-Northampton School, the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts High School, and elsewhere. As a performing and recording artist for a range of groups—the Wholesale Klezmer Band, Black Rebels (African Reggae), the Pangeans (World Music), Fiddle Hill (Celtic), the Brian Bender Quartet (Jazz)—Brian has performed in venues worldwide, including Carnegie Hall, the Presidential Inauguration of Bill Clinton, Israel, Alaska, the Cape Verde Islands (West Africa), and the Great Pyramids of Egypt. This will be his eighth summer with Excel.

Susanna Brock (Social Psychology): A.B. cum laude in History and Science and honors certificate in Mind, Brain and Behavior from Harvard University.  Susanna was awarded magna cum laude for her senior thesis discussing the history of Alcoholics Anonymous.  Fascinated by trying to understand the human mind using an interdisciplinary method, Susanna has done independent research in medical anthropology, neuroscience, and abnormal psychology.  While at Harvard, Susanna taught urban dance with CityStep, a non-profit after school program.  Born and raised in New York City, she loves to travel and worked in Switzerland for International Summer Camp Montana as a sports and language instructor Summer 2004.  In the fall of 2004 Susanna spent a semester living and studying abroad in Aix-en Provence, France. Her other hobbies include acting, creative writing, and watching movies.   In September Susanna will begin work as a corporate strategy consultant for Accenture.  This is Susanna’s first summer with Excel, although she has brilliant memories of attending the program as a student in 1999. 

Jonathan Brunstedt (History of War, International Relations): UCLA, B.A.; Oxford University, M.Phil.; Oxford University, D.Phil. candidate. Jonathan graduated summa cum laude from UCLA where he studied ancient and modern history. After finishing at UCLA Jonathan received an Ambassadorial Scholarship to Russia and was a one-year visiting scholar with the History Faculty at Moscow State University. He subsequently completed a two-year M.Phil. with Distinction, at Oxford University, where he is currently a doctoral candidate in History. Jonathan has received numerous grants and scholarships from Oxford and the British government for graduate study and research. In his spare time he loves to travel, and has journeyed extensively throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa. His trips have included a third-class voyage on the Trans-Siberian and Trans-Mongolian railways, hitchhiking along the Silk Road through Central Asia, and a road trip in Africa from Cape Town to Nairobi. This will be his third summer with Excel.

Patrick Burleigh: (Acting, Scriptwriting): Dartmouth College, B.A; Trinity College (Dublin, Ireland), M.Phil. After graduating cum laude with high honors from Dartmouth, Patrick shipped to Dublin, Ireland, where he earned his Masters at Trinity College on Dartmouth's Campbell Scholarship.  While there, he worked as a staff writer for Irish Theatre magazine and had his first plays produced to acclaim at the Dublin Fringe and Edinburgh Fringe festivals.  He then moved to Los Angeles, where he has continued to work as a writer and actor.  His plays have received staged readings and productions starring the likes of James McDaniel and Reni Santoni.  He has written numerous feature films and was recently hired by Redhouse Entertainment to pen the feature "Fake I.D.”  He has twice been a top-ten finalist for the Chesterfield Fellowship and has been a finalist for the Sundance Filmmakers Lab.  Patrick’s screenplay, "Riot Song," about the 1992 L.A. riots, is currently generating strong industry interest.  Patrick also writes for television and worked as assistant to Senior Story Editor, John Romano, on the show American Dreams.  His work is regularly performed at the Naked Angel Theatre Company's reading series in L.A., Tuesdays@Nine.  His acting credits include: the features "Bereft" for Showtime and the upcoming "Illegal Aliens;” stage appearances with Ensemble Studio Theatre West, The Naked Angels, The Evidence Room, Padua Playwrights and Fox Television's "Naked TV" pilots.  He can currently be seen every Tuesday night as a regular on the MyNetworkTV drama, “American Heiress.”  This is Patrick's sixth summer with Putney.  He led Seeds for Progress Community Service programs to Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, taught Beat Literature at the Bennington Excel program, led the Cultural Exploration Theatre in Britain program and Assistant Directed the Williams Excel program.  Patrick is fluent in Spanish.

Geoff Casey (Criminal Law): Middlebury College, B.A.; Western New England College of Law, J.D.  Geoff is a Northampton-based attorney and educator.  After graduating from Middlebury, where he was a member of the varsity hockey team, Geoff spent several years leading adventure bicycle tours in Northern Maine before attending law school at Western New England College.  Geoff has wide-ranging legal experience, as an intern for the Northwestern District Attorney and the Western Massachusetts Probate Court, as a legal advisor for the American Postal Workers Union, and as an attorney for the Berkshire District Attorney's Office, and for Western Massachusetts Legal Services.   For the past six years Geoff has been employed as a Social Studies teacher at Hampshire Regional High School in Westhampton, Massachusetts. Geoff is an avid athlete and outdoorsman who enjoys hiking and mountain biking.   This will be his ninth summer with Excel.

Jill Certo (Psychology, Personality, & Behavior): Oberlin College, B.A. Jill received the Phyllis Jones Memorial Prize in Women's Studies at Oberlin, where she completed a double-major in Women's Studies with a Psychology concentration, and English with a Creative Writing concentration. Before coming to Excel, she taught Personality Psychology for Exploration Summer Programs at Yale University, tutored in the inner-city East Cleveland schools, and interned with Catalyst For Cleveland Schools magazine. She recently spent an academic year in the foothills of the Massif Central as an English Language Assistant at the teacher-training college in Mende, Lozère, France.  Jill is a teacher, Master Tutor, and trainer for the Princeton Review.  Currently, she is doing post-Baccalaureate study in French at Oberlin and studying voice at Cleveland State University.  She enjoys writing, yoga, and haggling with vendors at flea markets.  This will be her fifth summer with Excel.

Soumi Chatterjee (Business & Economics): Trinity College, B.A. in American Studies. Since graduating from Trinity, Soumi has taught English, Italian, and American History in Italy and Portugal including two years as the U.S. History teacher and Boy's Varsity Basketball coach at St. Stephen's School in Rome, Italy. While at Trinity, he served as the President of the Class of 2004, a Student Senator, and business manager for the College's newspaper, the Trinity Tripod. Additionally, he has worked with children of all ages as a tutor, mentor, and counselor at the Boys' and Girls' Club of Hartford, CT. Soumi spent a year and a half working at Salomon Smith Barney, managing client-expansion and recruitment projects. He also spent a semester working for ESPN and another semester studying abroad at Trinity's Rome campus. He was a student at Excel at Amherst College in the summer of 1998 and returned to Amherst in 2002 as a Resident Advisor. He was also a Resident Advisor for the Excel Santa Cruz program in 2003 and for the past three summers he has taught Business & Economics for Excel Amherst. This marks his seventh summer with Excel.

Gustavo Adolpho Chaves (Spanish Conversation): University of Costa Rica, B.A.   Gustavo received his undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Costa Rica and is currently completing graduate studies in Contemporary Latin American Literature at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.  His first book, "Cuentos etcétera" was published in 2004.  An early version of this volume was nominated for the Second Prize of Young Latin American Literature ST Dupont -MEET, in 1999.  At UMass-Amherst, Gustavo has taught the complete beginner and intermediate Spanish program as well as the
conversational level.  While most of his time is spent reading poetry in different languages, he is also passionate about the outdoors.  Music and sports are among the things he enjoys without being terrifically skilled at them.  As of late he has started to find great solace in movies and dancing.  This is his inaugural summer with Excel Amherst.

Josh Duclos (Law and Social Justice/ESL): Connecticut College, B.A.; Josh graduated magna cum laude from Connecticut College in 2004 with honors and distinction in Philosophy.  He studied Czech language and literature in Prague during his sophomore year. Josh spent two years as Editor-in-Chief of the college's interdisciplinary academic journal, and four years as a right-winger on the Connecticut College Football Club.   He presented at philosophy conferences on both the east and west coast and was awarded the Suzanne Langer Prize in philosophy for his work on the philosophy of religion.  He has taught philosophy, literature, and history at St. Paul’s School (NH), The Maine School of Science and Mathematics (ME), and the Darrow School (NY). Josh has also worked as a freelance research assistant for UNICEF and the Canada Chair on Pluralism and Islam.  In January of 2005 he traveled to Tamil Nadu, India to continue his work for UNICEF and to spend five months volunteering as a youth coordinator with an Indian NGO.  Josh has received a Fulbright to study and teach in the Czech Republic starting in September.  Josh's interests include hiking, dinosaurs, and soccer.  This will be his second summer with Excel.

Jessi Duston (Resident Advisor): University of Massachusetts at Amherst, B.A.  Jessi received a B.A. with magna cum laude honors from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in an independently created major entitled “Politics through Theater and Film”. During her time at UMass she spent a semester abroad studying film at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. Jessi also studied Spanish in Salamanca, Spain during the summer of 2003, and backpacked around Spain, France, Italy and Greece. Jessi was a member of the UMass Theater Guild for 4 years and served as artistic director, stage manager, actor, secretary of the executive board, and various other positions. Jessi enjoys international volunteer work and has helped to build houses in El Salvador and also worked in an orphanage in the Dominican Republic. Other hobbies include writing, music, photography, reading and skiing.  She has just spent a few months living and working in Ireland and returns with an even deeper love and fascination for Irish culture, history and literature.

Erica Ehrenberg (Creative Writing): Amherst College, B.A.; New York University, MFA.  Erica teaches writing at Montclair State University.  Her poems have appeared, or are forthcoming in Goodfoot, jubilat, The New Republic, The St. Ann's Review, at www.unpleasnanteventschedule.com, the Center for Book Arts broadside series, and in the anthology Dancing with Joy: 99 Poems (Crown, 2007).  She also makes hand-bound books with text, collage, and photos, and has photographed landscapes in Iceland, Scotland, Italy, and Massachusetts.  Currently, she is at work on completing her first collection of poetry, and on a graphic novel loosely based on the gangs of 19^th century New York.  This will be her first summer with Excel.

Melissa Extein (Assistant Director): Yale University, B.A., Rutgers University, Psy.D. candidate. While at Yale, Melissa focused on counseling as both a peer and resident counselor to her fellow Yalies, and as co-founder of the College Resource Center for New Haven high school students. After graduating, she worked in New York City as an art teacher and assistant camp director for HiArt!, a visual and performing arts program for children, and as a researcher at the Center for Human Environments at CUNY. Melissa is now an advanced doctoral candidate in Organizational Psychology at Rutgers University, where she received a Center for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations Fellowship. At Rutgers, she has served as the Student Alliance co-chair and lectured on emotional intelligence. Her work has been published in the Educational Psychologist, among other journals. Melissa also works as an organizational consultant to corporations and nonprofits – including high schools, universities, and arts institutions – helping them understand themselves better through assessment and implement changes to improve effectiveness through training, coaching, facilitation, and evaluation. Melissa's other interests include dance, writing, architecture, and the outdoors. Her love of travel began in high school when she participated in Putney Student Travel's France, Holland, and England program, and has since led her to study in both Spain and Brazil, and to backpack throughout South America. This is Melissa's sixth summer as a Putney leader, after three summers with Excel Madrid/Barcelona, one with Excel Cuba, and one leading Cultural Exploration Thailand/Cambodia.

Victoria Fener (Resident Advisor): Dartmouth College, B.A. candidate.  Victoria is an Economics major with a focus on International Trade and Finance. She works for the Dartmouth Admissions Office as a tour guide and led a pre-orientation kayaking trip for incoming freshmen last fall.  Her love of traveling led her to Israel for the summer after her freshman year where she studied Hebrew language in Haifa.  She also spent three months of her sophomore year in Puebla, Mexico, studying Spanish language and Mexican history, culture, and literature. This past winter, Victoria interned as an investment banking analyst for Lehman Brothers in New York City.  On campus, she works as a peer writing tutor, teaches Hebrew to middle school students, and is involved with a mentoring program for underprivileged children in Vermont.  Victoria enjoys drawing, cooking, jewelry-making, volleyball, swimming, foreign languages, and good conversations. Her first experience with Putney was as a student on the Excel Madrid/Barcelona program after her junior year of high school, and she is thrilled to be back as a member of the staff.

Katherine Gerdes (Fashion Design): Rhode Island School of Design, B.F.A.

After graduating from RISD, Katherine landed a plum job as a designer at Target Corporation’s headquarters in her hometown of Minneapolis. At the same time, Katherine started working on her self-named line of clothing. Her designs have been featured in numerous publications both locally and nationally including Mpls/St. Paul Magazine and Women’s Wear Daily and she has presented collections at the top fashion shows in town -from DIVA, MN’s largest AIDS fundraiser, to edgy artistic shows at the Walker Art Center and Prince’s own “1^st Avenue” rock club.  Most notably, Bravo's “Project Runway” recognized her talent when she was featured in the recent third season. She now spends her time designing her own clothing line, Katherine Gerdes (found at The Design Collective in Minneapolis and on her website katherinegerdes.com) In those spare moments she’s not sketching or stitching she finds time to teach snowboarding or play 3^rd base for the Weaselhawks. This will be her first summer with Excel.

Lewis Goff (Structured Writing): St. Lawrence University, B.S.; Middlebury College, Bread Loaf School of English, M.A.  After graduating from St. Lawrence, Lewis taught at Landmark College in Putney, Vermont which serves students with language-based learning difficulties.  During his eight years there, Lewis worked as a Resident Dean and taught a wide range of writing courses, including College Writing 101.  From there, he moved on to the Northfield Mount Hermon School where he worked as an English instructor, House Director, ice hockey coach and outdoor education instructor.  AT NMH, Lewis taught Humanities classes, Advanced Placement Language and Composition, and served as a learning skills specialist and study skills instructor.  This year was his second teaching English and Humanities classes at the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter School in South Hadley.  His interests include cycling, playing blues harmonica, and adventuring with his wife Carolyn and 5-year-old son Willem.  This is his third summer with Excel.

Julia Golomb (Resident Advisor): Vassar College, B.A. candidate.  Julia is a Sociology major.  As a Ford Scholar, Julia spent last summer at Vassar, where she collaborated with two professors to develop a Video Game Studies course.  Julia enjoys working with digital media, particularly photography and film editing.  She is graphic designer for Half Moon Theatre, a professional theater company in the New York Hudson Valley, and worked for two years in Vassar’s Apple computer store.  In the past, Julia worked in a darkroom, where she assisted high school students in developing prints for their photography class.  Julia serves on the executive board of Act Out!, a gay rights activism organization, and is a member of the Campus Life Resource Group.  During her sophomore year she held the Community Fellow leadership position in her residence hall.  Julia is passionate about music of all kinds, vegetarian cooking, yoga, and outdoor activities, including biking, hiking, and picnics.  This will be Julia’s first summer with Excel.

Dan King (Ethics; Philosophy): Dartmouth College, B.A.  Dan majored in History and minored in Moral Philosophy at Dartmouth, where he was an undergraduate advisor for the college's Office of Residential Life and worked for a year as "the in-school suspension guy" at Hartford High School just over the river in Vermont.  He was an on-air color commentator for the Men's Hockey team on the Dartmouth Sports Network, and also served as Program Director and General Manager of a small commercial rock radio station, 99Rock in Hanover, NH, in addition to being a DJ there.  Dan has taught rigorous five-week SAT preparation courses for The Princeton Review, and also spent a year teaching U.S. and Modern World history at Darlington School, a small boarding school in Georgia.  In 2004, he moved to our nation's capital to be a Program Instructor for the Close Up Foundation, using the city as a classroom and teaching civics and grassroots activism to high school students from all over the country in intensive weeklong sessions.  He has been with Close Up ever since, most recently as a Program Supervisor.  In addition to his academic interests, Dan enjoys local music, digital photography, and anything relating to the preparation or consumption of good food.  This will be Dan's fifth summer at Excel Amherst.

Ginger Legon (Acting, Theatre Production/Public Speaking): NYU, Tisch School of the Arts, B.F.A. Ginger is an actor, director, and educator based in New York City. She is a teaching artist for The Leadership Program and Lincoln Center Theater, facilitating a variety of workshops with youth of all ages using theatre as a tool for growth, empowerment and social change. Recently, she worked with NYU Law School using role play to train first-year law students. Ginger performs with Synaesthetic Theatre, creating original theatre works such as Arcana: Cycle of the Fool and The Trial of K. This will be Ginger's fifth summer with Putney. She co-directed Hold on Tightly, Let go Lightly at Excel Bennington, U.S. Undressed, a performance of Putney's Theatre in Britain program at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Can I See Your I.D.? and Drawn from the Dream at Excel Williams.

Marissa Leonino (Fashion Design): Oberlin College, B.A.  University of Akron, B.A., M.Mus. (anticipated 2008).  Marissa received the Dean of Students’ Leadership Award from Oberlin where she majored in English with a concentration in Media and Culture and studied music composition and piano privately in the Conservatory.  She was the costume designer for several theatrical productions at Oberlin, including Hair and Closer, and has worked with Pro-Model Management in Akron, Ohio, in fashion and make-up design.  Also an actor, Marissa has directed and performed with several improv troupes in Oberlin, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.  She auditioned for television shows, commercials and film in Los Angeles.  As a Teach For America Corps Member 2002-2004, Marissa taught music at an under-resourced elementary school in Washington, D.C.  Currently a graduate assistant at the University of Akron, Marissa is earning her Masters in Music Education with a concentration in piano and voice.  She is also a Master Tutor for the Princeton Review and creates her own fashion pieces for a local vintage resale shop.  This will be her fourth summer with Excel. 

Jake Levine (Architectural Design):  Lehigh University, B.A.; University of Pennsylvania, M.Arch candidate.  Jake’s interest in architecture can be traced back to an early inclination for design, both structurally and artistically based.  Studying in college sparked an interest in other cultures and contexts, which led him on numerous trips, both independent and education-centered throughout Eastern and Western Europe (including one summer as a student on the Excel Oxford/Tuscany program), Israel, Greece, China, and most recently Peru.  This also included a semester with Syracuse University in Florence, studying Renaissance art and architecture as well as field sketching and figure drawing.  Recently, he has been working on illustrations for a children’s book with his cousin which they hope to publish this year.  In his first year of graduate school, Jake placed 2^nd amongst his new peers in the annual Schenk-Woodman Traveling Scholarship Competition.  Besides spending summers working in architecture firms in New York City on projects ranging from World Trade Center proposals to 8,ooo sq.ft. homes, Jake also enjoys wakeboarding, barefoot waterskiing, and basketball.

John Lurz (Creative Writing): Princeton University, B.A.; University of California – Berkeley, PhD Student.  A native of Baltimore, MD, John graduated summa cum laude from Princeton in 2003 with a major in English literature and a minor in German.  While at Princeton, he was on the Varsity swim team and was a columnist for The Daily Princetonian and the Princeton Alumni Weekly.  After college, John taught English as a Fulbright Teaching Assistant in Eisenstadt, Austria, a provincial capital one hour south of Vienna.  Upon his return to the States, John moved to Manhattan and worked for the Paul
and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans, which gives immigrants and the children of immigrants support for post-graduate and professional study.  He is currently a second-year PhD student in the English Department at UC Berkeley where he is focusing on 19th and 20th century British and European literature, especially the work of James Joyce, Virginia Woolf and Marcel Proust.  He is also very interested in literary theory.  Having won the Joel Fineman prize for the best essay written by a first-year graduate student, John is looking forward to returning to the roots of his love for writing in his creative writing course.  In his spare time, John likes to go running, watch silly movies and wear cowboy boots.  This is his second summer with Excel.

Joshua Lustig (Journalism): University of Maryland, B.A. Josh double majored in Journalism and Government and Politics at the University of Maryland, College Park. While he was an undergraduate, he spent time working for many publications including the Associated Press and Washingtonpost.com. Josh also spent time as a local radio DJ for WMUC 88.1 FM, an independent student-run radio station. Josh is currently a Program Instructor in Washington D.C. for Close Up, a non-profit foundation aimed at civic education through educational trips to the nation’s capital. When he’s not working, Josh is an avid fan of music, movies, writing, food and travel.

Rob Miller (Director): University of California, Los Angeles, B.A.; University of Southern California School of Cinema/Television, M.F.A.  Rob is a screenwriter and Los Angeles native.  As an undergraduate art history major, he was assistant arts editor for the Daily Bruin and wrote for the upstart magazine Hot Spots.  In film school, he worked such disparate jobs as phlebotomist, middle school English teacher, and realtor.  He has written for several television series and has just completed an untitled pilot for cable.  He has two feature-length scripts in development: "Vortex" at Warner Brothers with Joel Silver ("The Matrix," "V for Vendetta") producing and "Windfall" with Max Wong ("Bring it On") producing.  He will enter the spec market late summer with an action/comedy "Crisscross" and a female action "Recoil" in the fall, and is currently working to secure independent financing for his thriller "Detour."  This will be his eleventh summer with Excel.

Andrzej Rattinger (Video Production): Universidad Iberoamericana, Lic., B.A.; Columbia University, M.F.A. Born and raised in Mexico, Andrzej lives and breathes for film. He's been a movie critic for radio shows and websites, a sitcom writer, music video director, short film editor and cinematographer, and the youngest editor-in-chief ever for an advertising magazine. He's been assistant to cinema legends Andrew Sarris and Annette Insdorf as well as director David Jones, and has more recently been consulting on features, including the 2007 Sundance Grand Jury Winner "Padre Nuestro". His most recent film, "Killing Killian", is currently doing the festival rounds, and he's preparing several screenplays for development. He's a heavy metal fan who can't play the guitar, hates when people talk during movies but still would rather go to the cinema than rent, and loves Mexico yet calls New York home. This is his fourth summer with Excel, returning to Amherst after two years with the Spain program.

Shannon Rush (Resident Advisor):  Amherst College, B.A.  Shannon is a recent graduate of Amherst College, where she was an honors sociology major.  During her stay at Amherst, Shannon was a Peer Counselor and Educator with a campus organization promoting healthy relationships and sexual respect.  She was also the Resident Advisor of the only cooperative dormitory on campus - the Zu - whose focus is on conscientious, primarily vegetarian food preparation and communal living.  Shannon also studied biology and served as a research assistant for Professor Jill Miller, who examines plant reproduction systems and genetics.  Shannon enjoys weight training, biking, and outdoor activities, as well as cooking, good cups of coffee, and trying new foods.  She is looking forward to her first summer working at Excel Amherst.

Amber Scoon (Drawing & Painting): New York University, B.A.; American University, M.F.A. Amber majored in Studio Art at N.Y.U., and studied abroad in Naples, Pompeii, and Corciano, Italy. She spent a summer at the Chatauqua Institute of Art in Chautauqua, New York.  During the summer of 2002 Amber was awarded a travel grant from Smith College to make a documentary movie about the Dominican Republic, later exhibited at Smith College.  From 2002- 2004, Amber completed her M.F.A in Rome, Italy.  In 2004, she worked and lived in Sevastopol, Ukraine where she exhibited her work at the Sevastopol Children's Library and taught at the Sevastopol branch of Moscow University.  In 2005-2006, Amber ran the painting department and King Gallery at the College of Southern Idaho.  In the summer of 2006, Amber received a National Endowment for the Arts grant to attend the Bau Institute Art Residency in Otranto, Italy.  During the fall of 2006, Amber taught painting and drawing at American University’s abroad program in Corciano, Italy.  This spring Amber has been attending the Arts and Ideas Residency in Lisbon, Portugal. and looks forward to two upcoming solo exhibitions in the capital city.

Sophie Smith (Resident Advisor): Macalester College B.A. candidate. Sophie is a Humanities, Media, and Cultural Studies major, concentrating in Film Theory with minors in English and Art History. As a political organizer, Sophie is the co-chair of the Macalester Peace and Justice Coalition, helping to found Macalester’s first progressive lending library. She also volunteers at the Jack Pine Community Center in Minneapolis and works with local labor unions as a member of the Student Labor Action Committee. Sophie is the senior editor of The Chanter, Macalester’s literary and arts magazine, where her poetry and photography has been published over the past three years. Sophie works as a curatorial assistant in the campus art gallery, and her photography has appeared in the Northwest Regional Educational Journal. Combining her interests in art and social action, Sophie was a member of the production crew on several documentary films, and has contributed original music to the soundtrack for the forthcoming motion picture Queens of Heart, a film chronicling the oldest drag club in the United States. In the past, Sophie was a counselor at a summer residential program on the Oregon coast, and a youth boys’ basketball coach. In her free time, she enjoys writing creative non-fiction and poetry, playing guitar, taking photos, watching movies, and eating good food. This will be Sophie’s first summer with Excel.

Susan Smith (Digital Photography, Advanced Photography): Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, Photography & Imaging, B.F.A.  Susan is currently pursuing her MFA at the San Francisco Art Institute.  She has worked as a Gallery Assistant in Manhattan, and as Teaching Assistant at the International Center of Photography.  Her work has been featured in several photography exhibitions, including shows in New York at the Visual Studies Workshop, NYU’s Gulf and Western Gallery, Clearview 62nd & Broadway Cinema, The School at the International Center for Photography, and Gallery Henoch, as well as in San Francisco’s Red Ink Studios, and SFAI’s Stillights Gallery.  This will be Susan’s fifth summer with Excel at Amherst College and sixth year with Putney.

Shannon Leigh Woolley (Public Speaking/Theatre Production): Southern Methodist University, B.F.A.; NYU, M.A.  Shannon is the Artistic Director of Looking for Lilith Theatre Company, a professional women's ensemble theatre that creates original work based on interviews with women.  Shannon holds an MA in Educational Theatre from NYU, and a BFA in Acting from SMU.  She is an expert in oral history, story-telling, vocal training, and ensemble movement work.  She currently works through several theatre companies to create original theatre with women and young people, and is an artist in residence at The Youth Performing Arts School in Louisville, KY.  To date, Shannon (in collaboration with her teaching partners) has led Excel students in creating 5 original full length plays, including "Mirror, Mirror:  The Beauty Play;" "Jack and Jill:  A Gender Story;" "Hold on Tightly, Let Go Lightly:  Stories of Mothers and Daughters;" "Airplanes, Milk Cartons, and Answering Machines:  a play about FEAR;" and "Can I See Your I.D.?"  This will be her fifth summer with Excel.

Nicole Zvarik (Dance):  Wilson College B.S.; Mills College, M.F.A.  Originally from the East Coast, Nicole received her Bachelor's degree in Dance and Sociology from Wilson College.  While at Wilson, she danced with Chambersburg Ballet Theatre, and performed and choreographed for Wilson's Modern Dance Ensemble, including a performance for Italia Dance Festival in Cesena, Italy.  During her graduate education Nicole studied with Molissa Fenley, June Watanabe, Kathleen McClintock, Sonia Delwaide-Nichols and Anne Westwick.  She has taught dance on the East and West Coast including choreographic workshops for National Dance Week.  She is one of the founders of Deep Root Dance, a collective of modern dance artists who promote and support dialog about the art making process through low cost performances and workshops.  Nicole’s choreography has been presented throughout the Bay Area including at the Culture Catch Salon: Macworld Expo 2007 and ArtSFest’s Spectra Ball in San Francisco.  This is her first summer with Excel.

Excel Oxford/Tuscany (return to top)

Hana Alberts (Resident Advisor, Survival Italian): Harvard University, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, B.A. At Harvard, Hana was a cops reporter and editor for the student-run daily newspaper, a leader of camping trips in New England for incoming freshman, a social planner for her undergraduate dorm, and a light designer for Gilbert & Sullivan productions. She was elected one of eight marshals for the Class of 2006 by her peers. An aspiring writer, Hana has spent summers at the New York Daily News, The New York Sun, and Newsday, and she has freelanced for the New York Times. She spent the winter after graduation backpacking around Asia and teaching English in Taiwan. Hana is currently living in Florence, working as an au pair and interning at the Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza (Institute and Museum of the History of Science). Her guilty pleasures include pop music, dark chocolate, and the movie Love Actually. She is proficient in Italian.

Cory Bernat (Renaissance History, Travel Photography): University of Florida, B.F.A.; San Francisco Art Institute; University of Maryland, M.A. candidate. Cory has studied abroad at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and traveled in numerous European countries and Japan. She has combined her love of visual culture and historical interpretation while leading school groups, photography excursions, and the general public on tours of Alcatraz Island for the National Park Service in San Francisco. She has held educational positions at the San Francisco Art Institute and at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, as well as a digital photography position in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Currently, Cory is a full-time graduate student focused on food culture and history at the University of Maryland in College Park while residing in downtown Washington. She pursues good food, art, design, photography, and history while treasuring her urban wanderings.

Ned Courtemanche (Resident Advisor, Medieval History): Middlebury College, B.A.; Johns Hopkins University, M.L.A. candidate. Ned graduated as a European History major and History of Art and Architecture minor from Middlebury, where he was also a goaltender on the National Championship Lacrosse Team. While at Middlebury, Ned had the opportunity to study modern art at Goldsmiths College in London, England and intern at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. After graduation, he spent a year teaching for the Making Waves Education Program, a non-profit in San Francisco, California that teaches and mentors gifted urban children through after-school programs. Ned currently teaches High School history at the Saint Paul's School in Baltimore, Maryland while taking classes at Johns Hopkins for his Masters in Liberal Arts. In his free time, Ned enjoys playing the piano, cooking and exploring the great museums of the world.

Willa Kammerer (Resident Advisor, Survival Italian): Middlebury College, B.A. candidate. Willa is an Italian major, with a minor in Environmental Studies. She is currently working on her senior thesis, “Olives and Olive Oil in Italian History and Culture,” which combines both disciplines. Before matriculating at Middlebury, Willa lived in Perugia, Italy, where she studied Italian language and culture at the Università per gli Stranieri. She has traveled extensively in Europe, from Romania to Norway, and has both American and Irish citizenship. After her freshman year of college, she attended Middlebury’s summer language school, and spent a semester abroad at the Università di Ferrara during her junior  year. Willa is one of the lone snowboarders on Middlebury’s Snow Bowl Ski Patrol, and a member of The Sunday Night Group, a group of students focused on climate change. She loves hiking, skiing, running, cycling, and yoga.

Tom Kane (Director): Northwestern University, B.S.; American Conservatory Theater, M.F.A. Tom is an educator and theater professional with extensive educational leadership experience. For over twenty years he has worked with teenage actors at the Storm King School in New York, the American Conservatory Theater and the Hamlin School in San Francisco, Camp Laurel in Maine, and the Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts. Tom has been directing the Oxford/Tuscany program since 2000; previously he co-directedthe theater program at Excel at Williams. Tom is currently the Head of the Theater Department at the Middlesex School where he lives with his wife, Samantha, and daughter, Zoe. This will be his eleventh summer with Excel.

Avram Kline (Creative Writing): Sarah Lawrence College, B.A.; Teachers College, Columbia University, M.A. Avram majored in philosophy and literature at Sarah Lawrence, and spent his junior year at Wadham College, Oxford.  He has worked in New York City public high schools since 1996 as an English and humanities teacher and staff developer.  He is also an adjunct at Pace University.  A grant recipient of the National Endowment for the Humanities, New Visions for Public Schools, and the Shakespeare Society, Avram has studied literature, history, and language in France and the Czech Republic. Avram helped found Lyons Community School in Brooklyn, a public 6-12 school that will open in September of 2007.  He has taught creative and expository writing at Excel at Williams College as well as Shakespeare at the Oxford/Tuscany program.  This will be his seventh summer with Excel.

Magnolia Laurie (Drawing and Painting, Art of the Sketch): Mount Holyoke College, B.A.; San Francisco Art Institute, P.B.A.; Maryland Institute College of Art, M.F.A. Magnolia is a multi-media artist whose work has been shown in the United States and abroad. She graduated cum laude from Mount Holyoke College with a double major in Studio Art and Critical Social Thought and was awarded the Ruth E. Warful Award for her senior thesis work in painting. Magnolia worked for three years as a resident faculty member at The Buxton School in Williamstown, MA, where she taught classes in Studio Art and Photography. She has also taught art at the Gateway Arts Center, in Brookline, MA. Magnolia has traveled in Indonesia, Cuba, and Europe, and has spent years living in Puerto Rico. Magnolia currently lives in Baltimore, where she will complete her MFA in the spring. She enjoys traveling, learning, making, and playing. This is her fourth summer with Excel.

Rachel Levin (Administrative Coordinator): Connecticut College, B.A.; Bank Street College of Education, M.S.Ed. Rachel recently completed her Master’s in Museum Education.  Her love of traveling and exploring different cultures has led her on adventures throughout Europe and the Middle East.  Rachel studied Art History, Italian, and Museum Studies at Connecticut College and spent a year teaching and living at St. Stephen’s School in Rome, Italy.  She has extensive experience as a trip leader and residential advisor and currently teaches at The Town School in New York City.  Rachel’s hobbies include hiking, wandering in foreign cities, going to museums, and eating gelato.  Rachel is fluent in Italian and is an alumna of Excel at Amherst College.  This will be her fifth summer with Putney.

Joshua Mann (Archaeology & Classical Studies): Harvard College, A.B. Joshua majored in Classics at Harvard, studying both Greek and Latin with a special interest in ancient Greek tragedy. He captained the Harvard Alpine Ski Team for two years, and was a DJ at WHRB, 95.3 FM in Cambridge. For the past four years, Joshua has been teaching Greek and Latin at the Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts, where he is also the Head Coach of the Alpine Skiing team and Assistant Coach of the Varsity Baseball team. In his spare time, he has been learning German and trying to pursue his interest in photography. This is his first summer with Excel.

Nicole Nemec (Creative Writing): University of North Texas, B.A., Hollins University, M.A., University of Massachusetts-Amherst, M.F.A. Nicole has taught creative writing, film and the arts at UMass-Amherst, Franklin Pierce College, Mariamante Academy, Storm King School, and Mount Holyoke College. She currently teaches at the UMass-Amherst Honors College, manages the Montague Bookmill and the Bookmill concert series, and works as a book-buyer and business consultant for Quabbin Books. Nicole's poetry and fiction have been published most recently in Conduit and News from The Republic of Letters. She won the Harvey Swados and Andrew James Purdy prizes for fiction, has twice been nominated for Scribner's Best New American Writers anthology, and has received a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant for fiction. She has a book of short stories in search of a publisher, and is working on a book of short-short stories, in search of publishers with short attention spans. Nicole has traveled through West Africa, Europe, Canada, and Southeast Asia. Most recently Nicole has worked the camera at circus shows, and practiced her tennis game and the french horn (yes, simultaneously). Nicole speaks French and this is her second summer with Excel.

Carrie Nordlund (International Relations, World War II History): Gustavus Adolphus College, B.A.; Brown University, M.A; Ph.D. Carrie received her Ph.D. in Political Science; her dissertation examined the relationship between religious institutions and individual political behavior. She continues this line of research inquiry, while also exploring the importance of institutional social networks that can facilitate and influence political participation. She has worked on several political campaigns including a race in the UK, the Rhode Island Gubernatorial race, and the Michigan Coordinated Campaign in 2004. In the latter position she facilitated day-to-day finance operations between the Michigan Democratic Party and the Kerry/Edwards 2004 Presidential campaign. Carrie’s passion for travel has led her most recently to Ethiopia where she explored the ancient ruins in Lalibela in addition to other historic places in Ethiopia. Carrie enjoys reading The New Yorker, eating good food, and is currently training for a marathon. 

Kasia Ozga (Art Through the Ages, Travel Photography): Tufts University, B.A., B.F.A.; School of the Museum of Fine Arts,Boston, D.F.A.; Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, Krakow, Poland,M.F.A. Kasia graduated in 2006 with a degree in sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, Poland where she had a graduate research fellowship from the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York. As an undergraduate in the combined degree program at Tufts and the Museum School, Kasia studied abroad at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Ozga's paintings, sculptures, and photography have been exhibited in 5 states in the USA and 7 foreign countries. She is currently a Harriet Hale Woolley Grant recipient at the Fondation des Etats-Unis in Paris and a Young Artist Travel Grant Award recipient from the Polish Ministry of Culture. Born in Polandand raised in the Chicago area, Kasia now lives and works in Paris.

Erika Prahl (Assistant Director): Kenyon College, B.A. Erika majored in  Spanish and Italian at Kenyon, where she was a member of the Kenyon  College Chamber Singers and lettered in both Field Hockey and Lacrosse.  She spent two summers working for Case Western Reserve University's  Upward Bound program, most recently as Residential Director. Erika has worked as the Director of Diversity at the Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts, and is currently Assistant Director of Admissions and Director of Financial Aid.  Erika also coaches lacrosse, sings karaoke whenever she gets the chance, and consumes sushi frequently and voraciously. Erika has traveled extensively in Italy and Spain and is fluent in Spanish and Italian. This is her fourth summer with Excel.

Lutz Robbers (Art through the Ages, Architecture through the Ages): Universitat Bonn, B.A.; Freie Universitat Berlin, M.A.; Princeton University, Ph.D. candidate. Lutz is currently pursuing his doctorate in Architecture at Princeton, where he is a teaching fellow instructing Princeton undergraduates in architectural theory and history. A citizen of Germany, Lutz is fluent in German, French, and English. He has worked for the Red Cross and Mercedes-Benz in Delmenhorst, Germany, and as an assistant to the editorial staff of several German radio and television companies. He was the founding coordinator of Studentenwerk Bonn, a student housing organization. Lutz enjoys soccer, basketball, running, and windsurfing. He is currently teaching for Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Paris.. This will be Lutz’s eighth summer with Excel.

Damen Scranton (Shakespeare's Legacy): University of California at San Diego, B.A., M.F.A. Damen was one of two U.S. recipients of a Princess Grace Award for Acting in 1996. Since 1997, Damen has worked as an actor and teacher for the Irondale Ensemble Project - an improvisation-based, political theatre company in its 25th season in NYC (www.irondale.org). As an actor, he has performed at the Lincoln Center Theater in NYC, the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, and the Granary and Firken Crane Theatres in Cork, the Republic of Ireland, among others. As a playwright, Damen has had four plays produced in the U.S., Ireland, and Northern Ireland. He has taught courses in Shakespeare, acting and playwriting at Carnegie Mellon University, UC San Diego, Marymount College in Manhattan, numerous NYC public high schools, the Port Stewart Community Center in Port Stewart, Northern Ireland, and at Riker's Island (a prison facility in Queens, NYC). This is Damen's fifth summer at Excel Oxford/Tuscany.

Excel Paris/Provence (return to top)

Jillana Burgess (Administrative Coordinator, Conversational French): Acadia University, Nova Scotia, Canada, B.A,, Université de Paris, M.A. After completing her bachelor’s degree, which included a year abroad studying French in Aix-en-Provence, Jillana returned to France to teach English in Rouen and Marseille over a period of three years.  She taught in a variety of settings ranging from the University of Rouen to various businesses and professional environments as well as designing children’s programs for a daycare. Inspired by teaching, she then returned to her studies of the French language and linguistics at the Sorbonne where she received a ‘Licence’ in FLE (Français Langue Etrangère), a program designed specifically for future French language teachers, followed by a Masters program at the University of Paris. Jillana is currently teaching French at a private high school in Massachussetts.  This will be her third summer teaching with Excel.
 

Virginia Brumby (Intermediate French): Washington and Lee University, B.A. summa cum laude & Phi Beta Kappa. Growing up in a Georgia household where foreign accents mixed with southern drawls, Virginia became fascinated by languages at an early age. She has traveled extensively throughout Europe, Central America, and South America, and has spent time in Asia, as well as in Canada and Mexico. After one year of high school in France through Phillips Andover Academy, she worked as a hostess at a restaurant on the French Riviera. Virginia's language background helped her land positions at the United States Department of Justice and later at Quebec's bilingual Office of National Affairs in Washington, DC. She lived and worked in Buenos Aires, Argentina for three years, and currently resides in Delhi, India, where she works as a journalist and handles International Marketing for a travel company.  Her hobbies include hiking, tennis, softball, kayaking, writing, storytelling, and food! This will be Virginia's fouth summer with Putney Student Travel.  She has led Language Learning programs in France and Spain, and a Cultural Exploration program in Australia, New Zealand, & Fiji; and has helped coordinate Putney's programs in Argentina and India. Virginia is fluent in French and Spanish, but her Hindi leaves a lot to be desired.

Jude Leitten: University of Virginia, B.A.  Monterey Institute of International Studies, M.P.A. in International Management.  Jude majored in French and minored in Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia.  Before that, she spent two years at the University of Cincinnati studying fashion design.  Last summer, Jude completed a fellowship working on an HIV/AIDS learning initiative with Pact, Inc in Lusaka, Zambia.  Before arriving in Monterey to earn her masters, Jude was an information management specialist at Talisman International in Washington DC, consulting for the Department of Energy and projects in information security. She has also worked as a Senior Analyst for The White House in the Executive Office of the President. Jude was a founding principal of EU StudyAbroad, Inc., an international education abroad organization based in Washington, D.C. and Grenoble, France. Additonally, she has taught high school French in the United States and was an English language teaching assistant in Auxerre, France. Jude was awarded two fellowships from the Cabell Brand Center for International Poverty and Resource Studies for research and publication in the areas of international conflict management. She completed studies during her junior year of college at l'université de Grenoble in Grenoble, France and in high school with the Indiana University Honors Program in St. Brieuc, France.  This is Jude’s first summer with Excel.
 

Benjamin Pitt (Resident Advisor, Travel Photography): Brown University, B.S. Ben hails from Rhode Island, where he spent much of his childhood on the water sailing with his family. In college, Ben spent his Junior spring studying abroad in Paris, where he practiced his French-speaking and croissant-eating avec plaisir. While his studies in college were in the brain sciences, he spent his summers pursuing his passion for photography at the Maine Photographic Workshops. Since graduating he has taken his talents to Israel, where he worked as a photographer for an environmental organization. Recently, he was part of a four-month program in Israel, where he spent his time hiking, learning, and working as a volunteer English teacher. In addition to sailing, Ben also enjoys drumming, squash, the Simpsons, and dark chocolate, preferably in combination. 

Excel Madrid/Barcelona (return to top)

Christian Cousins (Advanced Spanish, Conversational Spanish): Trinity College, B.A., University of Texas, PhD candidate. Christian graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, CT with a degree in Spanish, earning the PRESHCO Prize for Hispanic Studies. While at Trinity, Christian worked as an athletic trainer, tutored inner-city middle school students, and studied abroad at the Universitat de Barcelona. In Spain, Christian lived with a Spanish family, studied literature and philosophy, and traveled throughout the country. His other travels include Greece, Germany, Austria, Portugal, France, the Czech Republic, Chile, Peru, and most of Central America. After graduating from Trinity, he taught Spanish and coached soccer and baseball at a private school in Dallas, Texas. Christian is currently a doctoral student at the University of Texas, Austin studying Spanish literature.  Last summer, he spent 2 weeks working as a translator in Chile for Habitat for Humanity.  This summer before meeting up with Putney, Christian will spend the month of June perfecting his German at the Goethe Institut in Schwäbisch Hall, Germany.  This will be his fifth summer with Putney and fourth summer with Excel Madrid/Barcelona. Christian is fluent in Spanish and conversant in German.

Jordi Cucurella (Digital Photography, Travel Photography): Institut Polytecnic de Sarria, Gris Art Photography School.  Jordi was born and raised in Barcelona, Spain. He studied image and sound at the Institut Polytecnic of Sarria and also took additional Photography classes at the Gris Art Photography School in Barcelona. After his studies he worked as a photography assistant for magazines such as Casa Viva, El Mueble, and Marie Claire.  Currently he works as a wholesale book distributor and continues to do photography as a freelance artist.  In his free time you can find him playing soccer, working on his website, or sailing the Mediterranean Sea.  He has his Captain’s Recreational Yacht license and enjoys touring the Costa Brava of Spain and the Baleric Islands.  Jordi has traveled to Brazil, Argentina, the United States, and all throughout Europe.  He is fluent in Catalan, Spanish, and English. 

Alex Gutierrez (Spanish Art History, Art of the Sketch): University of Maryland B.A., La Scuola Lorenzo De’ Medici in Florence, A.A., Maryland Institute College of Art, M.F.A. Alex, a visual artist who works in a number of disciplines, ranging from painting and drawing to installations that incorporate sound, video, and architectural elements, has exhibited his work both in the United States and internationally.  Before graduating, Alex studied in Florence at La Scuola Lorenzo de Medici where he double majored in Studio Art and History of Renaissance.  Continuing to fuse his love for education with travel, Alex then relocated to Japan where he taught English and Art classes for two years in the Japanese public school system. Born in Managua, Nicaragua, he is a native Spanish speaker and has traveled throughout Latin America, and Spain. His other travels include South Africa, China, Japan, Italy and Indonesia. He is also fluent in Italian, and proficient in Japanese. Last summer, he taught Art through the Ages, and Architecture through the Ages with Excel Oxford/Tuscany; this will be his first summer with Excel Madrid/Barcelona. In his spare time, he enjoys playing musical instruments, visiting his favorite architectural sites, and playing fútbol.

Leah Hamilton (Intermediate and Conversational Spanish): University of Massachusetts, Amherst, B.A., School for International Training M.A.T. Leah's varied interests brought her from studying Opera in Amherst, Mass, to Spanish studies in Granada and Oviedo, Spain during her junior year of college. Sparking a love for travel and language learning, she journeyed to Argentina, France and later, Barcelona, Spain where she lived and taught English for two years. After working in centers for International Study Abroad Programs, she is now pursuing her love for teaching. Recently, Leah was honored with an invitation to present her work, developing creative curriculum to teach language, at an education conference at Columbia University. Her fifth summer with Putney, Leah has taught Spanish at Excel Cuba and Excel Spain. She is fluent in Spanish and conversant in French.

Sarah Harper (Resident Advisor): Amherst College, B.A.  Sarah recently received her undergraduate degree in Spanish and Latin American History from Amherst College.  While at Amherst, she sat on the Five College Latin American Studies Council, serving as the webmaster for the Five College LAS web page.  Additionally, she was a member of both the Amherst College Women's Golf and Women's Squash teams, and has served as Women's Golf captain for two years.  During her junior spring, she spent five months in Buenos Aires, Argentina, advancing her language skills and studying Argentine history.  She is currently learning French and applying for graduate programs in Spanish.  She recently accepted the Hitchcock Fellowship from Amherst College Athletics Department, which will allow her to pursue her goals as an educator, both on and off the athletic field.  After two summers as an R.A. at Excel Amherst, this will be Sarah's first summer with Excel Spain.

Patrick Noyes (Director): Georgetown University, B.A. Patrick graduated cum laude from Georgetown, where he received the Retablo prize for excellence in Spanish theatre and was a founding member of Hoya Computing, the university’s first computer store. He spent his junior year of high school in Barcelona and his junior year of college in Sevilla.  After college Patrick spent three years living in Madrid, where he was a bookstore owner, a free-lance writer, and the product manager for the Bit-Bang Network—a computer consulting firm.  He took advanced courses at the University Complutense of Madrid and translated screenplays for Lola Films S.A.  He directed the Excel Spain program in 2002-2004, Excel Amherst in 2005. and Excel China last summer.  Patrick works year-round on the Excel programs from our base in Putney, VT.  This is his ninth summer with Putney Student Travel, and his sixth as an Excel Director.

Haley O'Neil (Administrative Coordinator): Skidmore College, B.A.; University of California, Santa Barbara, M.A. Haley graduated magna cum laude from Skidmore with a dual degree in Spanish and Anthropology. At Skidmore she received the Sonja P. Karsen award for excellence in Spanish and was inducted in the Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Delta Pi, and Periclean honors societies. She spent her junior year studying at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and holds a diploma in Spanish as a foreign language from the Spanish Ministry of Education. Haley recently completed her second year at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she is pursing a doctoral degree in Hispanic literature. She has traveled extensively throughout Europe and Latin America and is fluent in Spanish. This is Haley's sixth year with Excel Madrid/Barcelona.

Melissa Pritchard (Drawing and Painting, Spain’s Architectural History): Alfred University, B.A. Melissa graduated summa cum laude from Alfred University with a Fine Arts degree concentrating in Ceramics and Graphic Design. During her four years, she worked as a Tour and Orientation Guide and a Resident Director in a Freshmen Residence Hall while being an active member of several honor societies. In her junior year, she studied Ceramic Design in Northern England and was awarded the Alfred University International Internship Award to work with a Damasquing artist in Toledo, Spain. After college, Melissa worked as a dinnerware designer for the Pfaltzgraff Company in York, Pennsylvania. In 2002 she was awarded a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship to study design in Barcelona, where she currently lives. Melissa finished a Jewelry Design degree at Barcelona’s Escola Massana in December. For the past two years she has been teaching Elementary Art at The Benjamin Franklin International School in Barcelona and gives private English classes. In her free time she enjoys travelling, hiking, running, and sketching. Melissa is fluent in Spanish and Catalan. This is her third year with Excel Madrid/Barcelona.

Excel China (return to top)
 

Jennifer Brown (Intensive Beginning Mandarin, Issues Facing Modern China): Wesleyan University, B.A. East Asian Studies and Government.  During her time at Wesleyan, Jennifer spent six months in Beijing and Hangzhou studying Chinese language, culture, and history; and trying to navigate Chinese traffic on a bicycle.  In her senior year, she directed an outreach program for grade school students in Connecticut, which introduced them to aspects of East Asian culture through hands-on activities.  After working for a small non-profit in Washington, DC, she finally relocated to China in summer 2006 to be part of the Excel staff.  She has since been working in Beijing for a travel specialist, directing their educational group travel department and leading student trips all over China.  She is an avid traveler who has visited over 25 countries.  In her free time in Beijing, she enjoys running, playing Frisbee, and photographing the city’s diverse street scenes. Jennifer is fluent in Mandarin.

Mark Chapman (Assistant Director): Colby College, B.A.; Hopkins Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies, graduate diploma.  Originally from Zimbabwe, Mark has studied abroad since high school when he attended Pearson United World College in B.C., Canada.  He majored in international relations and religious studies at Colby, where he graduated as class valedictorian.  During his junior year, Mark studied abroad in Beijing and with the help of a grant from the Freeman Foundation undertook field research for his senior thesis on the relationship between Chinese Muslims and Muslims in the rest of the world.  Mark taught Chinese religions and co-instructed Chinese cuisine on the Excel China 2006 program and is back for his second summer with Excel.  In the interim, Mark has worked at a Chinese market research firm in Shanghai. He greatly enjoys outdoor activities and travel and has backpacked on four continents. Mark is fluent in Mandarin.

Jiang Dan “Danni” (Mandarin 2, Chinese Cuisine): Harbin Normal University, B.A. Management. Danni is originally from Harbin, a northern Chinese city famous for its Ice Lantern Festival and ski resorts. Between 1999 and 2005 she lived in Beijing where she taught Mandarin to American university students. In 2004, Danni went to the UK to travel and study English, during which time she lived with a host family and visited many cities and castles in Scotland and England. Last summer she worked as an Administrative Coordinator and Chinese Cuisine instructor with Excel China, leading students on mouth-watering expeditions. Danni currently operates her own Chinese language private tutoring school in Shanghai. She will head back to the UK to study Linguistics at the University of London at the end of the summer. Danni enjoys backpacking, has traveled extensively in China and hopes to do the same abroad.

Megan Featherstone (Administrative Coordinator, Survival Mandarin): Kalamazoo College, BA, double major in English Literature and Chinese Language and Culture. A native of Detroit, Megan's fascination with China began when she enrolled in her first Mandarin class merely to try something new.  After studying the language for two years, she moved her studies abroad to the Beijing Language and Culture University in the fall of 1999.  Upon receiving her B.A. she returned to China to teach English for a semester at BLCU, and journeyed throughout the country perfecting her Chinese travel and survival skills.  Megan then worked in education and franchise development until moving to Vermont in 2006 to pursue a Master’s Degree in International Education at the School for International Training, where she prepares for a career in experiential education abroad.  Megan enjoys cooking, crafting, taking road trips and spending as much time biking and running outside as possible. Megan is fluent in Mandarin.

Cameron Jahn (China and the World Economy). University of California, Davis. BA with Honors. Cameron spent his junior year outside Madrid, Spain at the University of Alacala de Henares studying literature. After graduation, Cameron spent nearly 6 years chronicling life in California's Capitol for The Sacramento Bee.  As a journalist, Cameron covered murders, helicopter crashes, political and land use matters, cultural affairs and everything in between.  Already fluent in Spanish, Cameron started learning Chinese in order to prepare for his dream job: covering China's rise as a foreign correspondent.  Currently, he is pursuing a Master's Degree in International Trade Policy at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California with an emphasis on U.S.-China trade relations and Mandarin.  Cameron has traveled to 18 countries, and he basketball, photography, rock climbing and cooking for crowds. Cameron is fluent in Mandarin.

Jeff Jorve (Director): Wesleyan University, B.A. East Asian Studies.  During his time at Wesleyan, Jeff was captain of the men’s lacrosse team, a member of the theater community and an applicant interviewer with the Office of Admissions.  He studied abroad in the Chinese cities of Beijing and Hangzhou during the summer and fall of 2002 through the Duke University program, and upon graduation in 2004 returned to Shanghai, where he continues to live and work.  Jeff takes summer breaks from his job as a contributing editor for the Economist Intelligence Unit and a freelance journalist to join Excel China.  He was Administrative Coordinator for the inaugural Excel China program.  In his spare time Jeff continues his study of the Chinese language and travels the Asian region with the Shanghai ultimate Frisbee team.  He is fluent in Mandarin.

Kerren McKeeman (Resident Advisor, Art of the Sketch): Kerren is a Middlebury College senior majoring in East Asian Studies with a focus on the Chinese language.  She is an avid dancer, and enjoys co-directing and choreographing for Middance, a club that performs bi-annually at Middlebury College, where she also writes for the school newspaper and works as a member of the resident life staff.  She is a graduate of the Middlebury Summer Language School’s intensive Chinese immersion program and in 2006 she spent the spring of her academic year studying abroad in Beijing and Hangzhou with the Middlebury College/C.V. Starr School.  Before attending Middlebury she performed for five summers with Circus Smirkus, an internationally renowned youth circus troupe.  Kerren is also an alumna of the Midnight Circus in Chicago. She is fluent in Mandarin.

Peter Robbins (Resident Advisor): Kenyon College B.A.  Peter began studying Chinese during his sophomore year at Kenyon and later majored in Chinese Language and minored in Religious Studies.  His interest in Mandarin brought him to Middlebury for the Middlebury College Summer Language School intensive Chinese program, and to Beijing and Hangzhou where he studied abroad at the CET and Middlebury programs.  After leaving Hangzhou, Peter backpacked through rural parts of China in Guangxi, Guizhou, and Sichuan provinces, living with farmers and learning about their way of life.  Peter originally hails from Maine, where he has volunteered at English Courses for Chinese Immigrants and worked as a camp counselour in nearby New Hampshire.  In his spare time Peter enjoys hiking, skiing, sailing, playing Frisbee and photography. He is fluent in Mandarin.

Tara Sun Vanacore (Mandarin 2, Modern Chinese History): Middlebury College, B.A., Summa cum Laude. At Middlebury Tara majored in Chinese Language and Literature and wrote a senior honors thesis on the 1940s Shanghai woman writer Su Qing.  She attended the Middlebury College Language School for Chinese in the summer of 2004 and studied in Beijing and Hangzhou with the Middlebury College/C.V. Starr School in China during her junior year.  Tara also took several creative writing classes and worked as a peer writing tutor at Middlebury, where she won a student scholarship to attend the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference.  Tara grew up in Bridport, VT just up the road from Middlebury and moved to Portland, OR after graduation, where she currently is an assistant coordinator for the Portland Public Schools/University of Oregon K-16 Chinese Flagship Program.  Tara is happiest when swimming in Vermont rivers, spending time with friends and family, cooking, reading, writing, and running. She is fluent in Mandarin.