Catoctin Staff
Dyresha Harris, Co-Director, Catoctin (she/her)
Dyresha Harris first joined the BYM Camps community as a child in 1988. She was a camper for 8 years, on staff for 11 years and director since 2012. She believes that camp is, at its core, about discovering and strengthening connections: connection to self, to others, and to the natural world. In 2010 she co-founded the Strengthening Transformative Relationships in Diverse Environments (STRIDE) program to increase equity and access within the camping program. Outside of BYM, Dyresha has spent the last 20 years working with young people in schools, nonprofits, and community programs, while also engaged in her other passion: facilitating anti-oppression work and transformative justice programs around the country. Most recently, she served as the Director of Education and Training for the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives. Dyresha earned her BA with a double major in Sociology & Political Science and a Master’s in Urban Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. Originally hailing from the heart of Washington DC, she has spent the last 18 years in her beloved West Philadelphia neighborhood. In her free time, Dyresha enjoys craft (fails), dance, outdoor adventures and spending time with her partner, camp alum, Eo Trueblood.
Basil Bergman, Co-Director, Catoctin (they/them)
Lisa Bergman is more commonly known as Basil (Lisa B backwards) in the camp world, and has been attending or working at camps since they were 8 years old. Basil has held leadership roles at camps in Canada, California, and Missouri. They love being outdoors whether it is hiking, biking, gardening, or reading in a hammock. Traveling is their jam; they have lived in 5 countries and traveled to over 30. When they worked with Peace Corps Response Malawi, Basil designed a weeklong leadership camp for teens to gain skills that allowed them to be empowered to make direct impacts on challenges their communities faced. They hold a BS in Mathematics and Computer Science with a minor in Psychology and a MS in Kinesiology and Recreation with an emphasis in community and economic development. Basil grew up in the cornfields of Ohio and currently dwells in St Louis. They believe that the magic of camp can be found in the beautiful connections we make and the community we build together. Basil loves facilitating team building activities and is excited to spend nearly every night this coming summer around a campfire with so many other wonderful humans at Catoctin!
Opequon Staff
Peter Abrikian, Director, Opequon (he/him)
Peter has spent over 25 years creating transformative summer camp experiences that foster creativity, connection, and personal growth. His camping journey started in Jamaica when he was 9 years old, and it hasn’t stopped yet! Through camps, he developed a deep passion for youth development. A lifelong educator and dramatist, his work spans acting in Jamaica’s vibrant theater scene, directing youth and professional productions, and teaching drama internationally from Kindergarten through 12th grade. His multi-racial identity and global teaching experiences inform his commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. At Opequon, he is excited to continue his personal mission of helping young people discover their authentic selves through joyful community, creative expression, and outdoor adventure. While not currently a member of a Quaker meeting, Peter was raised in the Worthington Monthly Meeting in Kingston, Jamaica. He holds a deep respect and affection for Quaker SPICES, which continue to influence his life and work. Also, almost no one calls him Peter. Almost everyone calls him Brick.
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.
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.
BYM Camps Staff
Zora Tucker, Program Manager
Zora grew up in Central Virginia within the care of Charlottesville Friends Meeting and has been involved with the Camping program since the age of 11. For the past 35 years , Zora’s relationship with the BYM has evolved and grown; Zora was a camper and counselor at Catoctin, a Trip Leader at Teen Adventure, and worked both on the directing staff and as a Kitchen Manager at Opequon. After college, Zora worked for years in community and political organizing. For the past fifteen years, Zora worked as a teacher and a leader in public, charter and private schools teaching History, Social Sciences and Science in NYC, Massachusetts and Arizona. Most recently, Zora spent six years as a teacher and History Department Clerk at Mary McDowell Friends School, a Quaker school for students with Learning Disabilities in Brooklyn. When not working, Zora enjoys reading, community organizing, making music and spending time with nature, dogs and babies.
Randy Carl Mattern, Camping Program Associate (they/them)
Randy Carl has been involved with BYM Camps since 2016 when they joined the staff at Opequon for four summers. They have stayed connected, working on several projects for the program. Randy is passionate about the potency of summer camps as a container for campers and staff to experiment with and grow their visions of community and self as well as practice the skills to realize those visions beyond camp. Before coming to BYM, Randy helped organize Queer Rock Camp in Olympia, WA and worked with other summer camp programs. Outside of camp, Carl spends their time working as a studio assistant in a community ceramics studio, participating in mutual aid projects in their city, and caring for friends.
David Hunter, Camp Property Manager (he/him)
David grew up in New England, attending the Farm and Wilderness Camps in Vermont in the summer and spending many hour exploring and learning during the other 3 seasons on the F and W properties while his father was employed there as the executive director. He studied at Sandy Spring Friends School, Sterling Collage, Wilmington Collage and Attended classes at Earlham School of Religion. He has worked as a Kindergarten teacher, a director of extracurricular activities and on numerous farms, forests and ranches across the country.
David’s time at the BYM Camps began when he and his wife JoAnn became co-directors at Catoctin Quaker Camp in the late 1980’s. He has served on the Camping Program Committee and the Camp Property Management Committee and volunteered on the property before becoming the first Camp Property Manager in 2003 where he coordinates the management of the nearly 1000 acres of primarily forested land in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia that are homes to our Camps.
David loves being outdoors in forests and natural settings and working with young people. He is passionate about our camping programs, preserving forests and offering young people opportunities to understand the importance of forested land and sustainable land use.
Rai Carter, Coordinator, STRIDE
Rai Carter was born and raised in Philadelphia and grew up spending much of their free time outside, connecting with natural environments in both the city and on the trail. Over the past decade they have specialized in Racial Equity work by supporting organizations and individuals in building spaces in which everyone can thrive. They have spent numerous years working with youth and young adults and cultivating communities of practice with these age groups. Rai has had a focus on Peace and Social Justice, Labor Rights, Food Justice and Religion which has meant cultivating an understanding of the intersections of many experiences. In their free time Rai enjoys gardening, cooking new recipes for friends and family and indoor climbing.
Trish Franklin, MESH Director
Trish Franklin is both the MESH Director for the BYM Camping Program and the MESH coordinator at Opequon. She spent her first summer as a camp counselor in 2004, and has since served as a behavior specialist, residential life coordinator, and lead counselor at a number of programs, primarily specialty camps for children and adolescents who are seriously ill, neurodivergent, or are in crisis situations. Trish earned her Ph.D. in School Psychology from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. She completed her pre-doctoral residency in Child Clinical Psychology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center Munroe-Meyer Institute’s Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders, and her postdoctoral fellowship in Pediatric Psychology at Nemours/AI DuPont Hospital for Children, where she specialized in psychological evaluation and assessment, gender dysphoria, ADHD, medical adherence and adjustment to diagnosis, and oncology survivorship. Trish is a lifelong “camp person” and believes that camp is one of the absolute best experiences that children and adolescents can have. She loves watching campers build friendships and grow in confidence and independence. Outside of camp, Trish loves road trips, spending time with friends and is an avid reader.
