We’ll be back with two new camps the week of July 15, an all-genre SHORT STORIES CAMP and, for the first time, a VIDEO SHORT STORY CAMP!

Our SHORT STORIES CAMP is our classic camp for young writers who want to create and publish a short story, with an open focus for genre. Due to the demands of curriculum standards, our schools often have little time for fantasy, science fiction, or historical fiction. It’s not the fault of our awesome teachers or schools; it’s just the demands of our standards. This is a space for writers who want to CREATE! During the week, writers will develop a story idea, plan it out, draft it, revise it, and then publish it in an anthology of writing from the camp. Writers will receive multiple conferring sessions each day, to help provide feedback and reassurances on their decisions as writers. This session will take place July 15 – 19 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM at Mayflower Congregational Church. Sign up here!

We’re very excited to offer our first-ever VIDEO SHORT STORY CAMP! Much like our writing and graphic novel camps, we’ll be focused on telling short stories. This is NOT a camp on TikTok, Instagram Reels, Twitch, or how to be a YouTube streamer. This is all about how to make a video short story. We’ll go through the steps of pre-production, production, and post-production, with an emphasis on telling stories with a beginning, middle, and end. We’ll learn about shot composition, editing, and some general theory. This session takes place July 15-19 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM at Mayflower Community Church. Sign up here!

All camps are intended for students in 3rd through 6th grade, but we’ll always consider a student who’s really interested in writing!

Both camps are hosted by local elementary teacher Tim Saunders. Tim is a 5th grade teacher and former instructional coach in a West Michigan public school with 20 years experience as a teacher and educator. Additionally, Tim is a guest lecturer at the University of Michigan-Flint and Grand Valley State University, past-president of the Kent Reading Council, member of the National Writing Project, Teacher Consultant of the Lake Michigan Writing Project, a four-time attendee of the Teachers College Summer Writing Institute at Columbia University, and a published writer and journalist. Prior to earning his teaching degree, Tim completed a Film and Video degree from Grand Valley State University. Tim has also worked on a few local films with national distribution, as well as hosting video clubs during his elementary teaching career.