Student Interns

Kensey E. Cope is a 15 year old Senior Intern working with GVWP. She has participated in GVWP as a whole, for 10 years and worked as an intern, 3 of those years. Her current job at GVWP is the Anthology Editor/Communications Editor. Her job consists of writing about daily student activities, conducting interviews, observing what students are working on, and asking for feedback on her work.

Outside of GVWP, she enjoys traveling with family, drawing, reading, and writing. She is currently attending Sierra High School and will be a Sophomore this year. She plans on taking medical classes to fulfill her dream career as a Registered Nurse or Pediatric Nurse and would like to join other classes such as theater, art, yearbook, and astronomy since these classes intrigue her the most.

Rachelle Felt is 16 and will be going into her junior year at Sierra High School. This is her fifth year at the Great Valley Writing Program and third year as a Student intern. In past years she has been in charge of certain webpages on the GVWP website, but this year Rachelle is the Webmaster. The title of webmaster has given her the opportunity to team up with Mrs. Ochoa and build this year’s website via Google Sites. Her responsibilities consist of being in charge of the website, creating webpages, and uploading photos and Kensey’s newsletters to the website. She collaborates with fellow interns and works with many of the lead teachers. Rachelle also revises and edits most of the content that goes onto the website.

Outside of the Great Valley Writing Program, Rachelle enjoys studying art and film, and writes music in her spare time. She participates in a musical theatre program in Modesto and recently had a performance at MJC. Rachelle loves spending time with family and being around friends, and looks forward to the rest of the summer. She cannot wait to return to GVWP next year.

Sam Jex is in his third year at GVWP. This year, his jobs include Student Activities Director and Communications Manager. As part of his job as Activities Director, his tasks include planning and executing activities for the children of participating teachers while their parents are in their after-camp meetings. As part of his job as Communications Manager, his tasks include looking over written pieces before they are published to make sure the writing is reaching its maximum effect.

Sam recently graduated Lathrop High School and is going to be attending Delta Junior College in the fall to get his GE’s and then will be transferring to a theater arts school in Los Angeles where he will be majoring in theater arts or film which he will use to jumpstart his acting career.

Courtney-Jane Lopez, a sophomore, has been attending the GVWP for the past three years as a student intern. She started out as junior social media intern, but was promoted to Social Media Manager soon after. Currently, Courtney is working a Team Supervisor. This job requires her to assist and manage other interns and their jobs. On the side, Courtney accommodates any computer or website situations. She also trains the current Social Media Manager, publishes daily online posts, and organizes a majority of the documents, folders, and images of the writing camp.

Outside of the program, Courtney-Jane is a volunteer in children’s ministries and works extra events at Crossroads Grace Community Church. In school, she is an honor roll student and is a part of the health science pathway. Courtney is also involved in Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) to prepare for her dream career as a Pediatrician. Along with academic activities, Courtney also takes part in other extracurricular activities, such as tennis, ballet, and swim. She is dedicated to serving as a student coach and enjoys every moment of it.

Charleen Madayag has attended GVWP as an intern for 3 years. The first year, she was the 6th-12th Junior Video Intern at Ripon High School, last year, she was the Videographer Manager at River Islands, and this year she is the Team Supervisor along with her partner, Courtney Lopez, at RHS. Her job is to regulate, supervise, and assist the interns and their jobs, and to organize videos of the students to be sent to the Social Media Manager and Webmaster. She also specifies in guiding the current Videographer Manager and Junior Video Director, and is responsible for the Webmaster, Videographer Manager, Anthology Editor, and the Student Publications Manager.

Charleen is a sophomore attending Manteca High School. Other than GVWP, she is on the Retreat Team at St. Anthony of Padua Church, planning and running retreats for those being confirmed. At MHS, she is on the tennis team and the track team as a pole vaulter. During the spring, she has traveled to Anaheim to attend HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) conferences. Charleen is also involved in many clubs including Thespians Club, MAC (Manteca Asian Club), HOSA, and the A Cappella club, and is in the Health Science Pathway at her school to prepare her for a future career in the Healthcare field.

Portia Marie Madayag is a 13-year-old girl who is currently working as an assistant photographer in GVWP. She is also working as an assistant with another photographer. Portia has been working as an intern since June of 2016 when she was 11 years old. Last year, she has been working with another intern on anthology. In June of 2016, she was training to be an intern by shadowing one of the senior interns.

Portia will be attending Sierra High School as a freshman in the fall. Portia altar serves at her church in Manteca called St. Anthony of Padua. In conclusion, her main goal is to get an honor roll in high school.

Macie Rose McPeak is going to be a sophomore at Ripon High School. She has attended Great Valley Writing Program (GVWP) for 6 years and started out at as a 3rd grader. Eventually, she became a photographer and an assistant for photo manager. Now she has filled the position of photo manager and she is in charge of the images that GVWP wants people to see. She takes pictures of the students’ activities, as well as organizes and distributes them to the website managers and social media. She enjoys working with fellow interns on projects and tasks.

When Macie is not taking pictures she enjoys playing and training for soccer, volleyball, and track. She consistently maintains a 4.0 in school with honor and AP courses. While juggling sports and academics, she is involved in FFA and is a part of the 2018- 2019 officer team as reporter. Macie loves being involved with school clubs such as the United Club or the Ping Pong Club. Over the next 3 years of high school, she hopes to learn as much as possible to earn her seal of biliteracy and prepare for college where she hopes to major in biochemistry or plant genetics. She is very excited for the years to come in high school, and for the memories she will make with her friends.

Abby Pendleton is the current Administrative Assistant at the Great Valley Writing Project (GVWP) camp. The duties of her position include, but are not limited to, taking care of attendance lists, getting contact information, and creating spreadsheets for organization. This is her second year of being part of the leadership team, and the first was spent as a junior intern, helping put the website together.

Abby will be a senior this fall semester and will be attending Ripon High. She plays tennis and is a journalist for the high school newspaper. She also plays the flute in the band. She enjoys writing poetry and making music.

Malia Taylor is sixteen years old and will be a senior at Ripon High School. Malia plans on attending MJC for general education then transferring to Stan State. Malia plans on being an English major and teaching in her hometown, Ripon, CA. She is currently our social media manager at Great Valley Writing Camp. This job title includes taking, editing, and organizing pictures of each grade level, and making fun, interesting captions for parents to enjoy.

Malia will be yearbook editor-in-chief in the 2018-2019 school year for Ripon High. Malia’s friends, family, and school work are very important to her. She devotes a lot of her time to yearbook, making sure stuff gets done efficiently— and by a deadline. In her free time Malia enjoys taking photos and capturing the fun, memorable moments in life.

Karla Vega graduated from Hughson High this May and will be attending Modesto Junior College in the fall. Karla is the video manager and her duties are to visually document special moments so that parents can get a glimpse of their children's experience. Karla has been a part of GVWP, as an intern, for three years and has learned many tools and skills she will use in her future college career. She has become fully equipped in Google Drive. Her job does involve many technological skills and throughout her time in GVWP she has become experienced in photography and videography.

Outside of GVWP Karla is quite busy. She is preparing for college in the fall. She also travels quite frequently and spends lots of time with her family.

Harshita Chaudhary is 13 years old and will be entering the eighth grade at Ripona this upcoming fall. This is Harshita's first year attending the Great Valley Writing Project. She goes to the 6th to 12th grade writing camp and after that lets out, she heads to the leadership club to scan photos, write captions, interview teachers, and help the Web Team publish content of the happenings at GVWP.

Outside of the Great Valley Camp Harshita loves swimming, reading, and watching movies.

Vidhee Patel is thirteen years old and will be entering the eighth grade at Prescott Junior High School this upcoming fall. This is Vidhee's first year attending the Great Valley Writing Project and has taken on the role as the Intern Website Manager. She attends the 6th through 12th grade writing camp and then heads over as a junior intern in the technology lab. This job includes editing the website by scanning photos, writing content and collaborating with teachers and other intern students.

Vidhee enjoys listening to music and playing basketball and soccer. She like to hang out with her friends and spend time with family. Her favorite artists to listen to are Maren Morris, Khalid, Daya, and Halsey. She is also a dancer and loves to perform.

Naomi Wilbur is fourteen years old and she will be entering the ninth grade at Ripon High School this upcoming fall. This is Naomi’s first year attending the Great Valley Writing Project and she has taken on the role of the intern social media manager. She attends the 6th through 12th grade writing camp and then heads over as the junior intern in the technology lab. This job includes organizing photos, creating captions, and learning new softwares.

Naomi will be a freshman class representative for Ripon High’s leadership class. She wanted to join leadership because she wanted everyone to be heard and she wanted everyone to have fun at school. Naomi has been dancing for 11 years and has been a competition dancer for 7 years. Dance has taught Naomi how to express herself and how to be responsible with balancing school work and dance. When not at dance she enjoys hanging out with her friends, riding her bike, reading, playing with her dogs, and listening to music. Her favorite artists to listen to are Shawn Mendes, Ed Sheeran, Khalid, Lin Manuel Miranda, and Ben Platt.