Staff Bios

Luke Krueger - Program Director

Luke is an accomplished playwright and author whose work has been performed around the country. He is serving as Program Director for his third year at Summer Scholars. Luke is an alumnus of Miami University (Ohio) and Arizona State University. He resides in Chicago, where he works as a professor at Loyola University and Lake Forest College.

Lindsay Hoffman – Residential Life Co-Director

Lindsay earned her BA from Wayne State University, and helped found a youth organization in Detroit. She works for CBS Radio in New York City and has her own radio show on Long Island on 101.7. She has been the Director of Residential Life each summer at Centenary. She also teaches the Radio Broadcasting class.

Taylor Pierson – Residential Life Co-Director

Taylor is now completing his degree at Wayne State University; he is also a professional pianist, playing all around Detroit. He and Lindsay have known each other and worked together for many years. He has also worked at a number of youth and children’s programs and is returning for his third summer at Summer Scholars.

Emmett Sheridan - Academic Director

Emmet earned his BA at Wofford, a small liberal arts college in South Carolina. He is a native of Spartanburg and currently teaches at Dorman High School in South Carolina. He has many summers’ experience working in the academic camp environment, and this will be his third year as Academic Director at Summer Scholars.

Joe Stokes - Creative Writing

Joe holds both a BA and Masters degree in Music Education and currently teaches in a gifted high-school program in Sabine, TX. Joe plays a tremendous role in the school and in the community. In addition to many summers spent teaching and directing with the Summer Institute for the Gifted, Joe has traveled with students to expose them to new places and opportunities during the summer months. He is a marathon runner, sports coach, academic coach and mentor. We are honored to have him join our teaching staff this summer.

Becky Riley - Creative Writing

Becky received her BA in English from Keene State College and her MS in Teaching from Fordham University in New York. Curently, she teaches English in Rye Brook, NY. She has also taught in the summer academic environment with the reknowned SIG program (Summer Institute for the GIfted). In addition to teaching, she also advises a number of high school groups, including Model UN and Yearbook. She brings a great amount of enthusiasm for writing and teaching, and we are very excited that she is joining our summer staff to teach Writing weeks 3 and 4.

Matt Mendres - Television and Production

Matt is a very popular teacher in Centenary College's television and production program, and we are excited to have him teach our summer courses. Matt will introduce our summer students to the same equipment, techniques and skills that our college students use during the school year. He brings both production and teaching experience with him, and has planned some great projects for our students.

Crystal Smith - Fashion Design

Crystal is an Alumnae of Centenary College where she received her BFA in Fashion Design. Crystal is currently working as a freelance designer constructing custom sportswear and evening wear. She will be returning to Summer Scholars for her second year and has made our Fashion Design class very popular. Crystal has a well rounded knowledge of fashion and brings that experience with her to Summer Scholars.

RAs

Taylor Pierson, Karen Springer, and Sean Zelda will be our three RAs this summer! All three have experience working with students in a summer environment. Both Taylor and Karen will be returning to Summer Scholars for the second summer. Our RAs are responsible for creating an exciting list of evening activities for our students.