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 Charter High School, the Berkshire Hills Music Academy, 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), the World Beatniks (World Music), Little Shop of Horas (Klezmer-World Fusion), Fiddle Hill (Celtic), Big Bandemonium (Celtic), the Brian Bender Quartet (Jazz), the Gumbo Jumbo Dixieland Band—Brian has performed in venues worldwide, including Carnegie Hall, the Presidential Inauguration of Bill Clinton, Israel, Alaska, the Cape Verde Islands (West Africa), France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Holland, the United Kingdom, and the Great Pyramids of Egypt. This will be his ninth summer with Excel.

Ray Demers (Architectural Design): Lehigh University, B.A.; University of Pennsylvania, M.Architecture. Ray graduated from Lehigh University as a Presidential Scholar, where he majored in Architecture and History. He served as a teaching assistant for both design studios as well as architectural history courses. In the summer of 2003 he enrolled in an intensive study abroad program in Vicenza, Italy, analyzing the work of Andrea Palladio and Carlo Scarpa. After graduating from Lehigh, he attended the University of Pennsylvania in his pursuit of his Master of Architecture Degree, focusing on urban context and architectural autonomy. In 2008, he co-authored “Wireless Philadelphia: Cities in the Age of Ambient Connectivity,” which was published in Via Occupation. Ray has a diverse professional background, having worked with architecture firms and construction companies in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. This work experience has helped to fuel his interest in constructability and the translation of design to built work. Some of the projects Ray has worked on include a rural high school, hospital, 350-car parking facility, and the addition of a green roof to an existing building.

Benjamin Duclos (ESL, International Relations): Connecticut College, B.A. Benjamin graduated cum laude from Connecticut College in 2008 with honors and distinction in German Studies. Twice the recipient of the German Consulate of Boston Book Award Prize, Benjamin was a captain and four year member of the school’s club soccer team and worked three years as the assistant to the Dean of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life. During his junior year, he studied abroad at the Eberhard Karls Universität in Tübingen, Germany. While in Tübingen he worked at the regional German-American Institute as a translator, librarian and member of the USA Advisory board. He is an original member of “Rent-An-American,” a program based in Tübingen, which engenders discourse between German high school students and visiting American undergrads. After graduating college, Benjamin received a Fulbright to teach English and perform research in Germany. There he taught American Studies at a German high school and conducted research on the relationship between German soccer and German national consciousness while playing in the 9th division of the Bundesliga. In his free time Benjamin enjoys learning new languages, drinking good coffee and doing the New York Times’ Monday crossword puzzle. This will be Benjamin’s second summer with Excel.

Abby Eldridge (Administrative Coordinator): Plymouth State University, B.A. Abby majored in Communication Studies with concentrations in Visual Art and Corporate Communications. While at Plymouth, Abby was a member of the women’s softball team, and was elected co-captain. She was a C.H.A.M.P.S. Life Skills Representative, focusing on helping incoming freshman balance their studies with athletics. Abby was also involved in fundraising for the Athletic Department and various community service initiatives. A native Vermonter, Abby spent much of the winter giving ski lessons to young children and leading snowshoe hikes. Upon graduating, Abby worked in the advertising department for Media Newsgroup. Currently she works for Putney Student Travel full-time in the admissions department and as the program coordinator for the Excel Amherst College program. Abby loves photography, skiing, reading, spending time outdoors and volunteering her time at a local food shelf. Abby and her husband Dave are in the process of building a log cabin in Vermont. This will be her fifth summer with Excel.

Pamela Fernández (Film Studies, Video Production): American University (AU), B.A. Communications: Visual Media, Minor in Cinema Studies, cum laude, University Honors in Visual Media. Originally from Honduras, Pamela started her college education in Pennsylvania working as news editor for the college newspaper as well as a Spanish tutor. Later, she transferred to AU where she focused in photography and cinematography. She has equal passion for social media and experimental forms. Her two award winning series, “No Mas!” and “12am” were exhibited at ARTOMATIC in Washington, DC and Klein Bohemia in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. For the last year, she worked as Curations Specialist at AU’s photography department; Teaching Assistant for the Basic Photography and Large Format & Commercial Photography classes; International Orientation Coordinator and shot several short films. She is currently doing freelance photography and writing-directing a short animated documentary on cross-cultural adaptation. Pamela speaks Spanish, English and Portuguese, loves soccer, traveling and taking pictures at midnight. This is her first year with Excel at Amherst College.

Eve Grinstead (French Conversation): Smith College, B.A. Eve graduated from Smith College where she majored Art History, and minored in Medieval Studies. At Smith, Eve was Pre-med for two years until an eight month stay in the South of France (where she worked as an au pair) motivated her to devote herself to studying Art. Returning from France, she lived in the school’s Maison Française where she and her housemates communicated in French, participated in and hosted French cultural events, and went on annual trips to Montreal. In addition to her French activities, Eve was a campus tour guide for prospective students, worked at the Smith College Art Museum as an educator, and performed Art Historical research for several of her professors. After finishing at Smith in December, Eve worked at the Museum of Modern Art in her hometown of New York City. She is currently a finalist for a Fulbright Fellowship to study in France for the 2009-2010 academic year. She plans to return to school the following year to pursue a PhD in Art History and teach at the college level.

Alex Gutierrez (Drawing & Painting): Maryland Institute College of Art, M.F.A. Born in Managua, Nicaragua, Alex is a native Spanish speaker and has traveled extensively throughout Latin America and Spain. Primarily a visual artist, Alex works in a number of disciplines, ranging from drawing and photography to installations that incorporate sound, video, and architectural elements. He has exhibited his work both in the United States and internationally. Before receiving his masters, Alex studied in Florence at La Scuola Lorenzo de Medici where he double majored in Studio Art and History of the Renaissance. For the last three summers, he has taught Art through the Ages, Architectural History, and the visual art classes on board Putney’s Excel Oxford/Tuscany and Excel Madrid/Barcelona Programs.In 2008, he moved to Chicago where he currently lives, and works as middle school art Instructor at the North Shore Country Day School. In his spare time, he enjoys playing musical instruments, visiting his favorite architectural sites, and playing fútbol.

Dan King (Assistant Director): Dartmouth College, B.A. Dan majored in History and minored in Moral Philosophy at Dartmouth, where he was an undergraduate advisor for the colleges’ 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 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 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 moved on to be a Program Supervisor there, administrating and overseeing the program for nearly 200 different students each week. In 2007, Dan returned to a more traditional classroom at Bullis School in Potomac, MD, where he currently teaches U.S. History and Journalism in addition to being the advisor for The Bulldog, Bullis’ student newspaper. In addition to his academic interests, Dan enjoys local music, entering various 48-hour film contests, and anything relating to the preparation or consumption of good food. This will be Dan’s seventh summer at Excel Amherst.

Simone Küng (Spanish Conversation): Bard College, B.F.A. As a Fine Arts’ major, Simone concentrated on painting and printmaking, but she also explored a variety of other disciplines, including Spanish, Biology and Creative Writing. While at Bard, Simone taught printmaking to children at a transitional residence for foster children and arts and crafts to children from New York City homeless shelters. Her interest in Spanish language and cultures was further enhanced after a winter session abroad studying intensive Spanish and traditional craft making in Oaxaca, Mexico. After graduating in 2006, Simone received a two-year grant from the Spanish Education Ministry to teach English at a public elementary school in Málaga, in the Andalucía region of Spain. Completely enamored with the vibrant culture and people of Spain, she traveled the country and Europe extensively– hiking the Camino of Santiago, witnessing the spectacle of Las Fallas in Valencia, road-tripping through the “Pueblos Blancos” of Andalucía, and skiing the Sierra Nevada, among other adventures. Simone enjoys painting, playing basketball, biking, practicing yoga, playing Scrabble (and Escrabble), traveling, and exploring art museums.

Jess Landis (Structured Writing, Creative Writing): University of Delaware, B.A.; Boston College, M.A.; University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Ph.D. candidate, English. Jess has taught college-level composition and literature courses at institutions across Massachusetts, including Boston College, Suffolk University, Newbury College, Mount Ida College and UMass Amherst. The experiences at these diverse institutions have afforded her the opportunity to work with students who have a variety of academic and cultural backgrounds. She was a nominee for the Distinguished Teaching Award at UMass Amherst for the 2007-2008 academic year. She also has experience as a professional writer as a Research Associate at The Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College and a graduate assistant at The Office of Research Liaison and Development at UMass Amherst. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate concentrating in Renaissance Drama. Her interests outside of academia include going to the theatre, running, perusing used bookstores, and rooting for the Boston Red Sox. This is her second summer with Excel.

Bridget Lanigan (Advanced Photography, Digital Photography): State University of New York at New Paltz (SUNY), B.F.A, Photography, summa cum laude; San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI), M.F.A. Bridget Lanigan completed her Master of Fine Arts in photography at the San Francisco Art Institute in 2008. She is a recipient of the 2006-2008 San Francisco Art Institute M.F.A. Fellowship Award and studied with renowned artists Doug Hall, John Priola and Tony Labat. In 2008 she was awarded First Place for color photography in the Paul Sack Photography Competition. Additional exhibitions have included: Vernissage – SFAI Graduating MFA Exhibition at Herbst Pavillion, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA; Spring Show 2008, Still Lights Gallery, San Francisco, CA; The Big Tiny, Red Ink Studios, San Francisco, CA; Girls, Trees, Teeth, Meat and Strangers, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Evocation, Gallery 4222, Port Jefferson, New York; The Token Women Show, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA; America, Walt Whitman Birthplace, Huntington, New York; Portrait of my Mother . . . Things Left Unsaid, Center for Contemporary Art, Sacramento, CA. Her affinity for the fine arts also led to work as Studio Manager and Photographer with Spinnato Art Gallery and Photography Studio and Assistant Photographer with both Macy’s Photography Studio and the photographic artist Will Faller. This is her second year with Excel at Amherst College.

Lydia Mangle (Resident Advisor): University of Manchester, England, B.A., American Studies with Honors. At the University, Lydia was an active member of the student community, playing for the Women’s Rugby team, and working as a tour guide for prospective students. During her time at university, Lydia traveled through an exchange program to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville where she studied the History of Jazz, Literature, and Native American Culture. She then extended her stay on campus to work as a Resident Advisor for the University’s Academic Enrichment Upward Bound Program. She is now based in Chicago where she has worked for the past year as a 3rd grade after-school teacher. At school, she leads ‘Bling club’, an extracurricular course she designed to introduce students to Jewelry design. A native of England, Lydia is working on visiting each of the states since moving to America -- 30 down, 20 to go!

Claire Markham (Resident Advisor): Boston College Honors Program, B.A., magna cum laude, Theology. In her junior year, Claire studied philosophy of religion and international politics at Oxford University. While abroad, she had the opportunity to travel all over the UK and Western Europe. As a senior, Claire expanded her travel horizons through an immersion trip to El Salvador, spending time with a non-profit community development program in San Salvador and living with a family in rural El Ocotillo. After graduation, Claire spent a year as a full time volunteer with the Amate House Young Adult Volunteer Program in Chicago. She continues her Amate House work as a teacher, campus minister, and coach at Our Lady of Tepeyac High School in Little Village, a Mexican neighborhood on the city's south side. Next year, she is very excited to start a masters program at the Catholic Theological Union as a Bernardin Scholar. Aside from teaching, Claire's passions also include backpacking, photography, and music. Claire is very excited for her second summer at Excel.

Michelle Marrion (Film Studies, Video Production) graduated B.A. magna cum laude from Howard University where she was a member of the Annenberg Honor Society for communications, and graduated with a major in film and a minor in photography. After college Michelle worked as an au pair in Valence, France, where she became fluent in French. She is a long-standing volunteer teacher’s assistant at the International Center for Photography in NY. She teaches many classes including video editing, and digital photography. She served as both cinematographer and offline editor for a documentary, Catch them Young, which was part of the Africa Rising series aired on the South African Broadcasting Channel 2 in 2006-2007. She is a freelance cinematographer and camera assistant, has worked internationally on commercials, feature films, music videos, and documentaries, and has partnered with charities such as Keep a Child Alive and Dramatic Need.

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 a pilot ("Valley Blvd.") 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 in the summer with an action/comedy ("Two Truths and a Lie") and a female action (“Recoil”) in the fall and is currently working to secure independent financing for his thriller “Detour.” This will be his thirteenth summer with Excel.

Tim Nelson (Resident Advisor): University of Notre Dame, B.A. Candidate. Tim is an English and Theology major entering his fourth year at Notre Dame. In his time there, he has devoted himself to volunteering at after school programs and promoting literacy in the South Bend community. Tim has spent past summers as an instructor at sports camps and a high school football coach in his home state of California. He enjoys playing a variety of sports, including football, golf, and whiffle ball, and listening to oldies music.

Boomer Pinches (Journalism): University of Massachusetts at Amherst, B.A., English. Boomer started his literary career writing articles in his high school newspaper in 1994. Since then, his fiction, poetry and journalism have appeared in many publications, including The Massachusetts Review, Global Widespread Panic, and The Cape Cod Voice. He was also a staff writer for The American, a newspaper for American expatriates living in London, and The Shopper News, based in Northern New Jersey, and worked as an intern for The Canada Post’s London branch. Born in New Jersey, he has lived in Boston, New York, London, Istanbul, and Adelaide, Australia. He received a fellowship to attend the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts, where he is currently working on a novel. He was awarded the Deborah Slosberg Memorial Award for Poetry in 2008 and his short story “Bethlehem Is Full” was recently selected for inclusion in this year’s Best New American Voices anthology.