17100 Quaker Lane
Sandy Spring, MD 20860
301-774-7663
brian@bymcamps.org
Catoctin Staff
Dyresha Harris, Co-Director, Catoctin (she/her)
Dyresha Harris, Co-Director of Catoctin, first joined the BYM Camps community as a staff child in 1988. She was a camper for 8 years, and worked as Counselor and Assistant Director for 11 years. In 2010 she started the Working Group on Diversity at Catoctin. Outside of the camping program Dyresha has worked with young people of all different backgrounds and ages for over 10 years. Originally hailing from the heart of Washington DC, she now works in a community center in her West Philadelphia neighborhood. She has been studying and practicing diversity education for seven years and facilitates professional development trainings throughout Philadelphia. Dyresha earned her BA with a double major in Sociology & Political Science and a Master’s in Urban Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. In her free time, Dyresha enjoys travel, crafts, dance, creative writing and spending time with her partner, camp alum, Eo Trueblood.
Lyd Ahlum Hanson, Co-Director, Catoctin (they/them)
Lyd Ahlum Hanson, Co-Director of Catoctin, was a camper at Catoctin and Teen Adventure starting in 1995. They worked as a Counselor and Trip Leader for 8 summers and are excited to join Dyresha as her Co-Director at Catoctin in 2022. Outside of camp, Lyd works as an administrator, project director and youth worker in nonprofit and academic-research settings. Lyd holds a BA from Earlham College and an MSW and MPH from University of Michigan-Ann Arbor where they focused on sexuality and gender-related health disparities, youth-centered leadership, and community organizing. They live in Durham, North Carolina with their wife, dog & cat and greatly enjoy being outside and cooking for friends and family.
Opequon Staff
Jared Wood, Director, Opequon (he/him)
Jared Wood, Director of Opequon, is a lifelong educator and artist, committed to the work of learning about our differences so that we can, in his words, “learn to love each other more precisely”. Jared was a camper, Counselor, G-Staff, and Trip Leader at Catoctin, Opequon, and Teen Adventure. He was a Teaching Artist with the Mural Arts Program in Philadelphia for a decade, is currently an Art Teacher at Germantown Friends School, and is a Board Member with Reconstruction, Inc. Jared comes to Opequon and BYM Camps with his vision of creating spaces where “people from disparate backgrounds can engage in dialogue, reflection, and making that moves us past the destructive ideas we’ve inherited to the collective love, brilliance, and liberation we all deserve”.
Maria Adamson, Deputy Director, Opequon (she/her)
Maria Adamson was a camper at Opequon and Teen Adventure, began working as a counselor at Opequon in 2008, and as G-Staff in 2012. After a few years away, she is thrilled to be back on the ridge. Her early experiences at camp were key influences in pursuing a career in education; she is currently a social studies teacher and coach at the William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia. Maria earned a Bachelor’s in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies from Earlham College and a Master’s in Secondary Education from Temple University. She is also a co-clerk of Philly STRIDE (Strengthening Transformative Relationships in Diverse Environments), a group that works to break down barriers to access to BYM camps for campers and families of color. In her free time, she loves reading, dancing, and spending time outside.
Olivia Chalkley, Deputy Director, Opequon (she/her)
Olivia (or Olive) Chalkley loves camp! She has worked at Opequon since 2012 in various roles, most recently as a Deputy Director. Olivia sees camp as an ongoing experiment in co-creating a more just, sustainable, and joyful world, and she is so grateful to be part of this community.
Sandy Robson, Deputy Director, Opequon (she/her)
Sandy Robson, Deputy Director at Opequon, hails from Baltimore, Maryland. As an independent musician, Sandy believes in the power of art to help us connect more authentically with each other and ourselves. She brings experience in cultural and political organizing, and seeks to create the conditions for groups to come together in ways that allow everyone to grow and thrive. In her spare time she enjoys hiking, leisurely bike rides, and playing tunes on the porch.
Shiloh Staff
Hope Swank, Director, Shiloh (she/her)
Hope Swank, Director of Shiloh, was born and raised outside of Washington DC and grew up attending Shiloh and Teen Adventure as a camper. She later worked at Shiloh as a Counselor, and then Teen Adventure as a Trip Leader and Trip Manager. Hope studied Spanish Literature and Anthropology at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She moved to California in 2006 for an internship in teaching for San Mateo County Outdoor Education. Since then she has worked for a number of local outdoor education and nature awareness programs including Vide Verde Nature Education, Pigeon Point Environmental Education Program, and Riekes Center Nature Awareness. She has taught about redwood ecology, goat milking and cheesemaking, and the life and times of the Northern Elephant Seal. Hope is happy to be spending her summers in Virginia, and thrilled to be returning to Shiloh as a Director! She is happiest when outside.
Lexi Klein, Deputy Director, Shiloh (she/her)
Lexi Klein has been involved with BYM Camps since 2003 as a camper at Shiloh and Teen Adventure and then on staff. This will be her 10th year working at Shiloh. She was a counselor for 8 of those years; then a rock climbing instructor, bus driver, and Assistant Director. Along with being a Deputy Director at Shiloh, she is the Youth Programs Manager for BYM and a high school rock climbing coach. She’s a big fan of the outdoors and will always take time to go adventuring to find a new waterfall or a new path to skateboard with her dog Abe. Lexi is absolutely stoked to be supporting campers, families, and staff alike in this role this summer.
Diego Ramos-Meyer, Deputy Director, Shiloh (he/him)
Diego Ramos-Meyer is THRILLED to be Deputy Director at Shiloh. Camp has been home for him ever since he volunteered as a cook there at the age of 2 (riding around in a backpack on his mother’s back). He has since been a camper at both Shiloh & Teen Adventure, a counselor, a member of the staff support team, and a part-time bench builder. Born and raised in Washington, DC, he has cultivated a deep love for the sounds of both crickets and musical instruments. He studied Jazz Composition & Performance at Amherst College, and now teaches piano in New York City to a wide range of students. He also enjoys cooking, bike-riding (WITH A HELMET), and respectful mischief.
Teen Adventure Staff
Jesse Austell, Co-Director, Teen Adventure (he/him)
Jesse Austell, Co-Director of Teen Adventure, began working for BYM Camps in 2003. He has worked as a Counselor, Trip Leader, Trip Manager and starting in 2010 as a Director of TA. When not at camp, Jesse is a research and financial consultant for nonprofit organizations. He has an MA in Applied Sociology and Nonprofit Management and a BA in Nonprofit Finance. Jesse enjoys biking and urban agriculture and recently completed a cross-country bike trip from Florida to San Francisco. In the past Jesse has also helped lead an outdoor adventure and experiential learning program for inner city youth in DC.
Rosie Eck, Co-Director, Teen Adventure (she/her)
Rosie Eck, Co-Director of Teen Adventure, was a camper at Catoctin and Teen Adventure starting in 1999. After TA, she worked as a counselor and staff at Catoctin for five summers and as a trip leader at TA for two, spending one summer away in Chile, but returning in time to cook at Catoctin! She has been a Director at TA since 2016. She majored in Studio Art and Hispanic Studies at Oberlin College and especially enjoyed painting animals. In 2013, she moved to Baltimore where she facilitates art-making among various groups, including Make Studio, an art studio for adult artists with disabilities. She also enjoys fiber arts, reading, volleyball, and spending lots of time outside with friends.
Amelia Bird, Deputy Director, Teen Adventure (she/her)
Amelia Bird, originally from north central Florida, has a background in environmental studies, nonfiction writing, teaching, graphic design, book arts, and summer camps. For the last decade, she has worked with Edible Schoolyard New Orleans, managing a program that teaches children at four schools to make healthy connections through food and the natural world. When she’s not working with ESYNOLA or BYM or volunteering to support ethical, sustainable deathcare in her city of New Orleans, Amelia might be creating something with her hands, working in her home garden, running, or swimming underwater with her daughter Indigo, but most likely she’s making some kind of list.
BYM Camps Staff
Brian Massey, Program Manager (he/him)
Brian Massey, Program Manager of BYM Camps, started attending Shiloh as a 9-year old in 1994, and then proceeded to spend 19 of the next 20 summers as either a camper or a staff member with the BYM Camps. His favorite parts of camp included: canoe trips on the Rappahannock, James, and New Rivers; hiking up Pocosin Hollow and Old Rag; building relationships in Rockbridge Country through service projects for TA; fire circle on the first night of camp; general silliness while on Pots & Pans chore at Shiloh; and driving the bus down winding country roads while campers sang songs behind him.
Before coming back to BYM, he spent a decade as an educator and urban farmer working in the schools, and with the youth and families, of Washington, DC. Committed to justice, equity, and the transformative nature of youth empowerment, Brian was a classroom teacher in the DC schools, did early childhood special education outreach for DCPS, and ran school garden, edible landscaping, and food security programs all over DC. He was the Founding Family & Community Engagement Coordinator with Bard High School Early College DC, and was the Founding Enterprise Coordinator with The Sojourner Truth Montessori Public Charter School. When he’s not working, Brian spends as much time as possible with his wife, Ellie, and their two young sons, Rye and Cypress, biking together on the trails next to the Anacostia River, and caring for the veggie beds, fruit trees, and backyard chickens at their home in Mount Rainier, MD.
Mariel Sass, Director of Mental, Emotional, & Social Health (she/her)
Mariel Sass, MESH Director, first attended Camp Louise – a sleepaway camp just ten miles north of Catoctin! – in 2000, spending nine summers as a camper and three as a counselor. This is her first summer with BYM Camps! She attended Oberlin College where she majored in Gender Studies, and got her Masters in Social Work at the University of Washington, Seattle. Her goal as a clinical social worker is to center healing for youth and adolescents and offer support that upholds the needs, humanity, and dignity of all people. She currently leads the Social Worker in the Library Program at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, where many BYM Camp alumni are her friends and neighbors. Outside of work, she is an avid bike rider and knitter.
