INSTITUTE DIRECTORS & FACULTY
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Dr. Steven Lee Berman, Founder of NASA Award Winning DIGIVATIONS™ Education Ventures and President of its non-profit 501(c)(3) DIGIVATIONS™ CAMP DEMIGOD™ INSTITUTE (see Advisory Board). see also http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenlberman. Read More...
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Anne Deane Berman, PhD, Founder of NASA Award Winning DIGIVATIONS™ Education Ventures and Vice President of its non-profit 501(c)(3) DIGIVATIONS™ CAMP DEMIGOD™ INSTITUTE (see Advisory Board) Read more about Anne...
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Edward Buendia, Point Roberts, WA, DIGIVATIONS™ Camp Demigod Artist and Faculty, Founder of Artistas Del Barrio, Eyes of the Innocent (a children’s art program) and Point Roberts Arts Foundation; Director of the Point Roberts Children's Arts Festival. He has created more than 60 images in collaboration with DIGIVATIONS founders, including for our Rocketry Playbook and Sphere of Influence Game. He teaches drawing and painting.
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Robert Macdougall (2014, 2015), DIGIVATIONS Camp Demigod Martial Arts and
Theatrical Combat faculty member. From Seattle, WA, Robert is an award
winning Fight Director, Stunt Coordinator, Movement Teacher and Martial
Arts Instructor. His fight direction has been seen in theaters, and
live stunt shows, on five continents. Read more...
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John Nordinger, MFA Writer and Producer at Large DIGIVATIONS Camp Demigod Creative Writing and Film Faculty. After
a successful high tech career, John earned an MFA in Cinematic Arts
from USC and has embarked on a new life as a technologist and
storyteller with a social conscience. Read more...
He
worked with computers to pay for for his Philosophy degree at
Northeastern University. He took the NU CS curriculum as challenging
electives. He was hired by Digital Equipment Corporation and worked on
the VMS and DEC OSF/1 operating systems as a Principal engineer and as
the lead for the Alpha (64bit architecture) migration research project.
John then worked at Oracle as Technical Director where he launched the
first 64-bit database and then to Microsoft. where he lead the
Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise effort including the launch of 64-bit
SQL Server during Microsoft’s Scalability Day.
in
2001, John joined Microsoft Research where he collaborated with
Academic Institutions worldwide including convincing Microsoft to open a
research lab in Bangalore, India. John then focused on mitigating the
decline in CS enrollments with the use of robots and computer
games which included founding the annual Foundation in Games cruise and
the related Call for Papers. http://www.foundationsofdigitalgames.org/ and
participating on various game and education related panels, John has
co-authored multiple research papers on enhancing stem education
including: Teaching with XNA GSE and Teaching CS with socially relevant
themes. John
also co-edited the book "World of Warcraft and Philosophy” with Luke
Cuddy and contributed to the book "Ethics and Game Design" by David
Gibson and Karen Schrier. in 2009, John launched the Games for Learning
Institute, with NYU's Ken Perlin and Jan Plass, and partner
universities, towards addressing the deficit in middle school students
ability with math and investigating the potential of computer games to
address it. http://www.g4li.org
In
2008, John wrote, directed and produced his first short film "The
Allegory of the Game" a revisit to Plato's Allegory of the Cave, that
substitutes a MMORPG (Everquest 2) for Plato's cave. https://vimeo.com/12378474 Allegory of the Game has been selected for three short film festivals.
In
2010, John left Microsoft Research, where he attended USC's MFA program
in TV and Film Production. He produced and co-wrote the thesis The Gamer, wrote two Christmas stories Xmas Files and La Befana and wrote a suspenseful TV drama, Boots. John produced the award winning USC Thesis “An Exchange” and acted as show runner for his TV Pilot Boots, which won three nominations and won Best Student film at the Burbank Film Festival. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3805425/
John
is now adapting his feature XMAS FILES into a graphic novel and working
on a World War II screenplay based on the true story of a Black Tank
Commander and his battalions from D-Day to Dachau. He is also founder and chief technical officer for the LA tech startup Profinder.
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Larry Tuch, DIGIVATIONS Camp Demigod Creative Writing & Scripted Spaces Faculty. Larry (Los Angeles, CA)
is a writer and creative consultant working in the areas of
traditional, interactive and themed entertainment. He has written for
prime time network television series and worked as a freelance writer
and interactive designer for Paramount Pictures and Walt Disney
Imagineering. Read more...
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Dana Cairns Watson, UCLA, Electrical Engineering
Dana Cairns Watson (Los Angeles, CA) received her BA, MA, and PhD in English from UCLA, then spent short teaching stints at Middlebury College and Santa Monica College before returning to UCLA. She taught American literature for three years before beginning to teach science writing, a next move that might have been predicated by her several years deciding among science and engineering majors as an undergraduate. Beginning college as an Electrical Engineering major, she switched to Computer Science and Engineering after a single programming class, then moved through Cybernetics and Mathematics before graduating in English. Now she teaches public science writing in UCLA's Honors Collegium, academic writing for UCLA's Electrical Engineering PhD program, and writing courses with miscellaneous themes in Writing Programs. After miscellaneous experiences as a day camp office manager, a UCLA Resident Assistant, a UCLA Orientation Counselor, and a UCLA campus tour guide, she's finally getting to work at a sleepover camp!
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Rebecca Cross, Kent State University School of Art
A recipient of the Textile Society of America New Professional Award in 2010, artist Rebecca Cross exhibits her work nationally and internationally. Cross has collaborated extensively with the Double Edge Dance Company, Kora Radella and Ross Feller, artistic directors, at the Cleveland Public Theatre, the Cleveland Ingenuity Festival and at Roulette in NYC in October 2013. She received her MFA in Textiles from the Kent State University School of Art, where she now teaches Surface Design and Professional Practices. Solo exhibitions include those at the Cleveland Sculpture Center, the Morgan Paper Conservatory; group and invitational exhibits at the Zanesville Museum of Art, FAVA Gallery, Mansfield Museum of Art, Malone University in Akron, and William Busta Gallery, Cleveland. In 2009-2010, Cross participated in artist residencies at the Hungarian Multicultural Center in Budapest, Hungary, at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont, and at Zygote Press and the Morgan Paper Conservatory, both in Cleveland. She looks forward to spending two months in Sweden in 2016 as a resident artist in the Jönkönping Kommun, sponsored by the Swedish government.
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Norman Greenberg, Rochester Institute of Technology/DIGIVATIONS Co-Op: Visiting Young Scholar, Counselor and DIGIVATIONS Creative Tech Day Camp Visiting Young Scholar is a 4th year student at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), pursuing a degree in Game Design and Development. In high school, he worked as a counselor at Camp Esh, and at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Monmouth County. At RIT he has learned many of the required skills for creating games. These skills include design theory, programming for games in languages including C#, C++, and Java, game engine environments such as Unity, and 3D modeling and animation in Maya. Norman currently works as a teaching assistant for an introduction to game programming course that utilizes C# and Monogame. This course teaches object oriented programming theory, and is the first foray for freshmen students into creating interactive media. In the spring 2015 semester, he worked as a programmer with a team of 11 other students to produce and create their own game, which is continuing development through the summer and fall of 2015. Together, they are looking to form an indie development company, to eventually release the game on Steam Greenlight. At Camp, he teaches game mechanics using both analog and digital game design (Unity game engine).
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Morgan Grody, Theatrical Combat Assistant and Counselor. Born and raised in the East Bay of Northern California,Morgan pursued Acting and Dancing with Young Actors Workshop and the Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company during his adolescence. He moved to Seattle in 2010 to attend Cornish College of the Arts, graduating with a BFA in Theater, Original Works. Morgan has worked as a Dance Instructor for Destiny Arts Center, and a Teacher's assistant for Stage Combat at Cornish College of the Arts.
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Charis Martin, Visiting Young Scholar, Counselor and DIGIVATIONS Day Camp-Half Blood Visiting Young Scholar is an Ancient History student at the University of Edinburgh, focusing on the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. She credits growing up on the island of Cyprus, steeped in Greek culture and mythology, with nurturing her love for the ancient world and the tales that formed and inspired it. She has spent six years working with children from the ages of three to fifteen and loves the opportunity to share her knowledge with them and see them develop interests of their own. Her own interests include writing original stories and fan fiction, reading, sailing, scuba-diving, archery and acting. She also speaks Greek and often attempts cooking traditional Greek foods. Having participated in overnight camps since the age of six, she is very excited to meet other campers, share her love for mythology with them and have the opportunity to work with children in a fun and dynamic environment.
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Schuyler Samuel Coleman, DIGIVATIONS Visiting Artist, Rhode Island School of Design Student, August 4-8
Born and raised in Oberlin Ohio, Coleman has many talents as a trained violinist, a young scholar and an athlete. Following his early passion as a graffiti painter, Coleman has developed as a visual artist in drawing and painting at a smaller scale in recent years. He graduated from Lake Ridge Academy in North Ridgeville, Ohio in May 2015, where he completed the requirements for the school's School of Fine Arts program. This included exhibiting his work as a sophomore and as a senior. He has publicly "performed" large scale graffiti and gestural portrait paintings, with and of performing musicians, and has taken summer intensives at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago (2013, concentration Street Art) and at The Rhode Island School of Design (2014, concentration, Architecture). He will matriculate at RISD in September 2015.
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2015 COUNSELORS & DAY CAMP ASSISTANT FACULTY
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Clara Monheit Berman, Seattle and Point Roberts, WA, Camp Demigod Associate Director, DIGIVATIONS Director of Learning Services & Faculty, is a medical student at the Pacific Northwest University College of Osteopathic Medicine. She recently graduated with a BS in Biology and a focus in Engineering at University of Washington as one of fifty international high school seniors to win a four-year Walt Disney Company Foundation Scholarship. She is an integral member of the DIGIVATIONS curriculum team having taught more than 600 students in the last three years. In 2010, she presented a peer reviewed paper at the Microsoft sponsored Foundations of Digital Games Conference (“Precipice of Innovation: A Young Woman’s Dream of Empowering Present and Future Generations through Computer Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math”). Read More...
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Rowan Chappell, DIGIVATIONS Camp Demigod Senior Counselor, is a Sophomore at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, studying biology and chemistry on an NSF grant scholarship and the WA State Opportunity Scholarship. He is passionate about learning new ways to understand and change the world through science. Next year he hopes to enter a study abroad program focused on evolutionary biology and ecology in Ecuador. Rowan grew up in Bellingham, WA just south of Point Roberts. In high school he ran cross country and track, played in band, and participated in his school’s Science Olympiad and Imagine Tomorrow clubs. Rowan also spent time in High School working with and tutoring children at several Bellingham private schools. He is also an avid sci-fi and fantasy fan, finding enjoyment in all mediums across those genres. Some of his other hobbies include running and playing music. Rowan thoroughly enjoys working with kids and looks forward to sharing his love of science with Digivations campers.
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Samie Miles, DIGIVATIONS Camp Demigod Counselor & DIGIVATIONS Day Camp Assistant Instructor, Weston, Florida is going to be finishing up her high school career next year with great success as president of the Future Educators of America at Western High School. The FEA focuses on helping young children in the community through collection
(school supplies, toys for the holidays and hygiene products), community
service (through Teen Trendsetters Reading Mentors) and school spirit
activities (such as teacher appreciation week). She has also been an active member of the school's chorus. This will be her second summer with DIGIVATIONS Camp Demigod.
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Haley Pihowich, DIGIVATIONS Camp Demigod Counselor and DIGIVATIONS Day Camp Assistant Instructor is a second year student of English at Simon Fraser University. She is passionate about reading anything she can get her hands on and telling stories. She loves exploring the world through art, and hopes to incite creativity through its many exciting mediums. With experience in martial arts, making crafts, and knowledge of a wide variety of fun camp games, Haley hopes to help make an enriching camp experience for everyone. Haley was born in Canada and has lived in California, Alberta, and Washington state. This is her first summer working for Digivations and she looks forward to meeting new people, learning new things, and going on adventures around Point Roberts with Digivations campers. See you tomorrow,
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Virginia Lester, RN, MSN, ARNP, DIGIVATIONS Camp Demigod Nurse Practitioner Point Roberts, WA has more than 35 years experience as a Nurse Practitioner and director of clinics in both California and most recently developed and managed the Point Roberts Clinic. She developed and managed the Nurse Practitioner program at California State University Fresno. She was on several different national committees helping to develop the health care plan under the Clinton Administration, the precursor to Obama Care.
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COUNSELORS IN TRAINING & DAY CAMP TEACHING ASSISTANTS
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Finnegan Blackburn, DIGIVATIONS Camp Demigod Counselor-in-Training, Bellingham, Washington. Finn is
a sophomore at Bellingham High School. He was a student last summer at
DIGIVATIONS, and was recommended for being a CIT this year by the staff
of DIGIVATIONS. Despite his mother's insistence on his humanity, he is
in fact an extraterrestrial vessel containing multiple unique
individuals. His main reason for coming to this camp is to pass on
knowledge to the growing youths of this generation. His innate ability
to “hop” through dimensions, and his knack for time/space travel, make
him an excellent resource for these Adolescents. He has dabbled in
innumerable art forms, but has taken a passion in writing, drawing,
music, Dungeons and Dragons, worldbuilding, and Tol-Fuuin. He has also
partaken in many of the first plays of Shakespeare, currently practices
Tai Chi sword form and has studied muay thai in the past, and has been
learning piano for the past nine months. He is fluent in Common,
English, Infernal, Kragonian, Draconic, and Divine.
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Bryson Stoughton, DIGIVATIONS Day Camp Teaching Assistant and Camp Demigod Student, began as a homeschool DIGIVATIONS student more than 3 years ago. He volunteered as an intern for a year in after school programs. He attended Camp Demigod in 2013 and returns in August of this summer to help create the World's First Camp Fandom. Additionally, he will be a teaching assistant for various LEGO+ARTS and Camp Half-Blood day camps in Ladner and Tsawwassen. When he's not learning with DIGIVATIONS, he's busy acting in Shakespeare plays, making films as a member of the Delta School District Film Academy, and helping take care of more than 40 horses at his families stable business.
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Jo Adegbola (via SKYPE from Bellevue, WA) Former Director of Platform Services for PopCap Games, part of EA is a game industry veteran. Jo will advise on how to teach game development, building teams and inspiring passion and fun. Read More..
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David Boloker (via SKYPE from Boston, MA), CTO of IBM's Emerging Internet Technology Group and Distinguished Engineer. David will address Innovation, and specifically, Watson, the computer best known for winning at Jeopardy™ (also being applied to big data and medical advances). Read More...
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Chuck
Dages, Chairman, Board of Trustees, for the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is both a DIGIVATIONS INSTITUTE Board Member, and participates as part of Camp Demigod's faculty. Chuck has been instrumental in redefining traditional entertainment industries in film, television and games, and creating new businesses in digital technologies while working with the talent which has driven epic movies such as Harry Potter, The Hobbit, Inception, Matrix, and many others. Read more...
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Topher Bradfield, DIGIVATIONS Camp Demigod Story Advisor, created BookPeople's first Literary Camp, Camp Half-Blood: Austin Branch, in 2006. He has been entertaining and training demigods every summer since then. He has been consulting with Steve and Anne Berman of DIGIVATIONS and believes this amazing couple has planned a spectacular camp for this summer. Camp Half-Blood: Austin Branch feels that there should be more opportunities in the world for demigods out there to find a home to train as a hero, broaden their understanding of the world and become a part of a story that is uniquely their own. "Steve and Anne Berman understand our culture of Literacy, creative problem-solving, and inclusion."
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Mark Friesen, Vancouver, BC, Movement Advisor and Level 3 Nationally Certified Gymnastics coach. DIGIVATIONS has been working with Mark since February 2012 to develop an integrated dynamic Science of Movement Program. He has coached gymnastics for over 15 years. He has coached both men’s and women’s competitive athletes and was a regional coach for Pacific Sport in Northern BC. He eventually shifted focus to recreational and community gymnastics through outreach programs to schools and programs for sport and community groups. Read more...
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Former Faculty & Guest Artists
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Christina Norberg, Vancouver, BC recently completed a
DIGIVATIONS commission to create an upcycled plush toy art piece
that represents DIGIVATIONS Tardigrade and one of its mastcots.
This adorable character also makes its appearance in DIGIVATIONS
ImagineSTEM blog and future ePlaybook series projects. Norberg’s art has can be found in both private and public collections across North America, and overseas. In 2012, she was awarded an art commission by Vancity, Canada's largest credit union. She had a solo show at the Britannia Art Gallery in Vancouver, December 2013. Read More...
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Bethany Roy, Los Angeles, CA, History, Mythology, Creative Writing & ESL recently completed her Bachelor of Arts in English and History (with great distinction) at Trinity Western University, BC, and eagerly shared her knowledge in and enthusiasm for Greek and Roman mythology with DIGIVATIONS students. Read More...
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Kim Turney (2013, 2014), DIGIVATIONS Camp Demigod Theatrical Combat Faculty Los Angeles, CA, Co-Founder of the Academy of Theatrical Combat offers year round stage combat training. Ms. Turney holds an BFA in Theatre from The Ohio State University and an MFA in Acting from The Ohio State University. Read more...
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Carrie Thiel (2013), Bowen Island, BC, Actor/Stunt Performer, Fight Choreographer, and 'Performance Capture' Designer and Director teaches the art of safe sword fighting and theatrical combat. Her film credits include: Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Alexander and Kingdom of Heaven, read more...
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Samantha (Astro Sam) Fix, DIGIVATIONS Camp Demigod Assistant Director and Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering Faculty. Samantha graduated from the University of Washington, where she is a part of the NASA Space Grant program. In high school she was president of the Math and Rocketry clubs, and participated in marching band and drama. She also participated in Washington Aerospace Scholars where she fell in love with all things space and engineering related. At the University of Washington she spent two years researching magnetospheres in the Space Plasma Simulation Lab. Between her Aerospace classes she is trying to minor in Mathematics and Physics. Her life goal is to become an astronaut and inspire young girls to pursue careers in the STEM field.
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John Hodges, DIGIVATIONS Camp Demigod Counselor, Combat Trainer and DIGIVATIONS Day Camp Assistant Faculty,
has spent his 18 years following his passions and absorbing everything
that seems interesting at the moment. By his early teens his focus on
history became an obsession. That lead to studying sword play and
reading and watching everything he could find on the development of
western and eastern civilizations. John also loves all the traditional
geeky pursuits like Si Fi, Anime, Science and Technology. Other
organizations and projects that he has been invovled with include:
Ignite Youth Fest Panel Member; Fringe Festival Volunteer; Vancouver
Folk Festival Volunteer; Academe Duello Demo Team; Purple Thistle
Guerrilla Gardner member; and Volunteer Crew on a Tall Ship for Grays
Harbour Historical Seaport. As a counselor at Camp Demigod last year he
loved sharing his knowledge and learning so much more from the other
staff and campers. John can't wait to return next year.
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