Ripon Coaches
Emily Felt is going into her senior year at Sierra High School. This is her sixth year with the Great Valley Writing Program and her fourth year as a coach. This year, Emily’s tasks included training other coaches, managing photos, and supervising and playing with the kids during snack. Emily is very involved in the music program at Sierra High. She has been a part of the “In Harmony” advanced choir for the past three years and also participated in County and Regional Honor Choir. In the near future, Emily hopes to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and attend either Brigham Young University Idaho or Utah Valley University and major in elementary education.
Emmitt Marshal Grayson Jr. is a junior going into his senior year. Emmitt has been a coach for the writing camps for four years. He enjoys video games, sports, and traveling. He spends his afternoons working at Stonesoup, taking care of children and is also a seasoned custodian. He gets average grades and is involved in many extracurricular activities. He enjoys reading science-fiction and some romance novels, because he enjoys reading about things that will probably never happen. His three favorite genres of music are Rap, Rock, and Classical. His job consists of being webmaster, teaching younger coaches, and making sure things are finished.
Carissa is currently attending John H. Pitman High School. This is her fourth year working with the Great Valley Writing Camps. This year, she was the K-3 head coach. Her responsibilities included managing other coaches, training other coaches, and directing the snack distributors. She also created photo banners to be used on the GVWC website. Carissa has placed in four writing contests through Scholastic and CATE (California Association of Teachers of English) Magazine, and wants to be a school guidance counselor or an English teacher.
Raegan Wright has been in the program for three years, and a coach for two of those years. She is a junior and the ASB vice president at East Union High School in Manteca. She is also on the varsity swim team and swims for Manteca Dolphins. She loves watching Doctor Who and musicals. Raegan is also the secretary for the Science Olympiad club. She is the Co-Photo Manager and the Administrative Assistant. Her favorite part of working at the writing camp is being around children.
Daniel Acosta is fifteen and entering his junior year at Ripon High School. He is the Child Services Coordinator for the Ripon Great Valley Writing Camp. Daniel has always enjoyed making children smile and laugh, and planning fun games and activities for all children. He is the Tech Specialist at the Ripon Great Valley Writing Camp and has been involved in the writing camp for two years. In his free time he plays guitar, bass, and sings. He also enjoys watching TV and playing games.
Karla Vega is a sophomore currently attending Hughson High School. She has been in the Writing program for two years and this year has moved up to being a senior coach. Not only has she been involved with the Great Valley Writing program but she has also taken other writing classes. Karla is also involved with school activities such as clubs and sports. She is very passionate about creative writing and loves teaching children about the importance of fun in writing.
Maria Cecilia Soto attends Park View Elementary in Ripon and is entering her 8th grade year. She is an Honor Roll student and participated in Student Council as Activities Director. She was also in Park View's undefeated Girls Volleyball and Girls Basketball teams. This is her third year participating in the Great Valley Writing Camp and is her first year as a junior coach. Maria enjoys writing, drawing, dancing, and singing in her free time and cannot wait to be apart of Student Council, sports, and Choir in her 8th grade year.
Gilberto Diaz is in 8th grade at Jefferson Middle School in Tracy. This is his third year in the Writing Project and first year as a coach. His tasks include Webmaster for K-3, training others for Webmaster, and helping with technology problems. He loves school and regularly joins school activities such as Math and Science Olympiad and the spelling bee, and plans on joining ASB.
Isela De Leon is a sophmore at Sierra High School in Manteca. She plays softball for her high school and is also Spirit Wear Commissioner in her school's leadership. She loves writing and making short videos in her free time. After high school she hopes to go to Claremont McKenna College to hopefully play lacrosse and major in business management. She has been in the Great Valley Writing program for one year as both a junior coach and student in the program. In the program she learned how to communicate better and how hard it is to be an adult. At the end of the day she is glad to have experienced this opportunity.
Rachelle Felt is currently attending Stella Brockman and is going to be in 8th grade. This is her first year as a coach. She has been on her school’s volleyball team for the past two years, and was Willy Wonka in the production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In her free time Rachelle loves to write, sing, play the piano, and act. She has loved participating in the program this year and will definitely be coming back next year.
Emanuel Gutierrez is currently attending Hughson High School. This is my first year as photo manager and later was moved to assistant Web master. Photo manager includes going through many pictures and and picking the best of the best to post on the website. Being assistant Web master was a different challenge where you have to receive the photos that the photo managers picked out and post them on gvwp Website and put it under a specific person. Emanuel enjoys building things and loves to look at different types of architecture. He also likes learning new and interesting things such as technology, and pretty much anything.
Melanie Smith is currently attending El Portal Middle School. This is her first year as a coach and her second year attending the program itself. As a junior coach her jobs are Assistant Photo Manager and Web Page Editor. She enjoys playing sports such as volleyball, soccer, and softball. She is always active and looking for something new to do.