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Camp Staff
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Mrs. Stacey Allred
Director, Ball State University Faculty
Stacey Allred graduated from Ball State University with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and Special Education. She also has a master’s degree in Learning Disabilities and Education Administration. Her areas of interest include classroom management, instructional strategies, and family engagement.
Her work has been featured in both the 4thand 5th editions of The First Days of School as well as in SAGE Publications’ Encyclopedia of Classroom Management. Currently, Stacey is an instructor in the Department of Elementary Education at Ball State University and celebrating over 20 years in education.
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Mr. Gavin Wilson
Director of Future Cardinals Mentoring Program
Gavin Wilson is a senior Elementary Education major at Ball State University. He is also pursuing two minors in Psychology of Human Development and Strategic Communications. He serves a member of several leadership organizations at BSU. These include: Kappa Delta Pi, Future Educators Peer Mentoring, and Teachers College Dean’s Student Advisory Committee. Gavin is an advocate for all children he works with and is passionate about developing leadership skills within elementary children. Currently, he is researching the benefits of teaching leadership skills to upper elementary students from across Delaware County.
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Dr. Ruth Jefferson
Director of Research
Dr. Ruth Jefferson holds many teaching and administrative certifications, most notably in the areas of reading, learning disabilities, mild disabilities, elementary education, and special education administration. She has extensive experience in PreK-12 education, both in teaching and in administration, and discovered early in her career a passion for helping reluctant readers become avid ones. Dr. Jefferson led the High Riding Art and Equestrian Camp for children with disabilities for seven years. She is currently an Associate Professor at Ball State University, working with inservice and future teachers and has conducted research primarily in the areas of Response to Intervention (RTI), evidence-based practices in reading, at-risk youth, and higher education/community engagement. Dr. Jefferson and Dr. Michael Shaffer recently published a book on engaging boys in learning to read: From Pushups to Angels’ Wings: Great Things Happen When Boys Read.
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Dr. Peggy Rice
Director of Poetry in Nature
Dr. Peggy S. Rice, Associate Professor of Elementary Education at Ball State University, graduated from Western Illinois University with a BS in Psychology. Since teaching was in her heart, she returned to college at the University of Texas-El Paso. First, she earned a Texas Lifetime Grades K-8 certification; then, a Masters in Education that includes Texas Lifetime Certifications as a K-8 Reading Specialist and Gifted Teacher. She has 10 years of teaching experience with children— 7 years in El Paso, Texas (Grades 1, 2 & 3 ELL and regular), 2 years at the Louisiana State University Laboratory School, Baton Rouge, LA (4th Grade) and one year at Covington Middle School in Austin, TX (6th grade reading/language arts).
Her Ph.D. is from Louisiana State University in Curriculum and Instruction with areas of specialization in Children’s Literature and English Language Arts. She has been a faculty member at Ball State University since 1998, teaching courses required in the ELED graduate and undergraduate programs with a researcher’s lens.
Her professional interests include literature-based integrated curriculum to develop the whole child using literature reflecting diverse perspectives and multi-genres text-sets, along with developing life-long readers and writers who are responsible citizens via reading-writing connections and the arts. The power of poetry performance to develop fluency & vocabulary, as well as a passion for poetry and nature is a focus at Camp Adventure. Following is a primary goal she has for summer campers to experience…“Poetry, like nature, refreshes us.”
She encourages everyone to live mindfully and literately at the intersection of poetry and nature.
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Mr. Jack Kwiatkowski
Facilities Director for Camp Adventure
When growing up near Toledo, Ohio, Jack developed a love for the outdoors as he and his family were active in the Boy Scouts and avid campers. Jack graduated from Maumee, Ohio and went on to play football at Ohio Wesleyan where he majored in accounting. He spent over thirty years as a supervisor for a logistics company in Indianapolis.
Jack and his wife relocated to Muncie where he found his dream job. He became the Facilities Director at Camp Adventure in 2020 and takes pride in caring for the camp as well as organizing groups to visit.
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Mrs. Michelle Harris
Camp Co-Director
Michelle Harris graduated from Indiana University with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education in 1999. She also has a minor in Spanish. In 2004, she earned a master’s degree from Ball State University. Michelle has been teaching for over 20 years. Currently, she teaches fifth grade at Burris Laboratory School. Her interests include STEM, writing, reading, and math.
In her spare time, she enjoys being outside, baking, and reading. She fell in love with Camp Adventure during the summer of 2021. She truly enjoys working with the Ball State teaching candidates, as well as, seeing the growth in the children that attend. Now, she cannot imagine her summers without Camp Adventure!
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Alumnus
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Mr. David Lamb
Co-Founder
Mr. Lamb has been teaching for 15+ years, most of that time in third grade at Wes-Del Elementary School. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Ball State University. In his spare time you’ll likely find him outside fishing, hiking, or camping. He is passionate about science and mathematics, and loves to see students experience them both outside at camp!
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Mr. James Leslie
Emeritus Camp Adventure Facilities Director
Mr. Leslie was the Challenge Education Coordinator for Muncie Community Schools and Caretaker for Camp Adventure from 1995-2020. Mr. James would often be seen leading nature hikes, facilitating ropes courses/team building activities, and giving “roller-coaster” like wagon rides.
Now, he can be found relaxing in his dream retirement home in Virginia and taking 7 mile strolls every day.
We miss you and Sparky! Come back to camp and visit us anytime!
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