SAS Summer Camp Staff
SAS Summer Camp Staff
SAS Summer Camp participants have the opportunity to craft their own personal weekly schedules as they select from a variety of instructor-lead sessions alongside traditional summer camp activities. We have grown tremendously from from our first year with a small staff of four counselors to our current robust 10-member staff plus instructors. This year we welcome our first camper turned counselor-in-training!
2023 Staff
Emily Wallace
Culinary Arts
Emily is a Certified Chef as a graduate of Washburne Culinary Institute in Chicago, and was our inaugural culinary chef in 2021. She owns Emily Wallace Catering alongside the extremely popular Scoop ice cream shop in Monteagle. She has been an executive chef in Tennessee the past 18 years, most recently at St. Andrew's-Sewanee and St. Mary's-Sewanee.
Stephen Brhem
Guitar
Stephen graduated with a BA from the Berklee College of Music. He has been a professional musician for many years, taught private lessons, and supplements the SAS music program. He is currently Associate Director of Advancement and lives on campus with his wife and two adorable daughters.
Barry Dillon
American Sign Language
Barry and his family live in Sewanee and his son Victor is a rising 11th grader at SAS. A former pastor and high school teacher, Barry has been teaching ASL for five years and is a full-time middle school science teacher at Belvoir Christian Academy in Chattanooga.
Julie Jones
Art / Painting
Julie is a former faculty member, head librarian, and gallery director at St. Andrew's-Sewanee and is the parent of a current junior. She received her BFA in painting from Indiana University and her MA in painting from Temple University Rome and a second master's in art and library science from the University of Iowa.
Ben Paty
Woodworking
From Nashville, Ben specializes in beautiful bowls and was recently recognized as a merit award winner for a wooden free-form vase during American Craft Week by the Tennessee Arts Commission. He is an alumnus of SMA, a parent school of SAS.
Speed Baranco
Mountain Biking
A lifelong biking fanatic, Speed is a graduate of The University of the South and head coach of the SAS Mountain Biking Team alongside owning his own real estate marketing firm. A parent of two SAS alumni, Speed also serves on the residential staff and is founding board advisory president of the Tennessee Interscholastic Cycling League.
Ben Tarhan
Technology
Ben is a mid-level full stack software engineer with experience building and iterating modern applications within cloud infrastructure. He has a masters of engineering from the University of Maryland College Park and graduated from State University of New York Buffalo with a BS in computer engineering. He lives in Sewanee. and is thrilled to join our summer team this year.
Michael
Cimino-Hurt
Karate
Michael has taught Karate and Iaido (Japanese sword) for 26 years at two dojos, and started martial arts programs at three secondary schools. He recently retired from a 25-year teaching career and works in security systems as he continues to pursue writing poetry, composing and recording music, and, of course, martial arts.
Josie Brown
Lead Counselor
Climbing/Yoga
Josie is an environmental arts and humanities major at The University of the South and is certified in Wilderness First Aid. She brings a wealth of experience with her absolute love of the outdoors. Josie serves as lead female counselor and instructor of climbing and yoga.
Elliott Duncan
Lead Counselor
Digital Music Prod
Elliott is a graduate of SAS and is currently completing his bachelor degree at Middle Tennessee University with a major in digital music production and film. He has been working as a dj for the past three years and is excited to be a part of the instructor team in addition to serving as a member of our leadership team.
William Cunningham
Lead Counselor
Swim / Lifeguard
William is a graduate of Sewanee: The University of the South and is currently working with the Vista program and Housing Sewanee and the University Farm in their work to address housing access and hunger relief by promoting food security through education and direct service. This is his second year as a member of our leadership team and is loved by all campers.
Wesley Smith
Lead Counselor
Pottery
An SAS alumnus, Wesley received a major in environmental art and humanities from the University of the South. He learned to throw pottery at SAS and creates inventory for Hallelujah Pottery while running his own clay business. Much to the delight of our campers, he is taking time off from his North Carolina apprenticeship to return as a member of our leadership team and pottery instructor.
Ryan Ostrowski
Counselor
Ryan is 2023 graduate of St. Andrew's-Sewanee and is attending Whittenberg University in the fall.
Lexi Phares
Counselor
Lexi is 2023 graduate of St. Andrew's-Sewanee and is attending University of Oklahoma - Tulsa in the fall.
Audrey Ward
Counselor
Audrey is 2023 graduate of St. Andrew's-Sewanee and is attending Wofford College in the fall.
Lydia Andrews
Junior Counselor
Lydia is a rising senior at St. Andrew's-Sewanee and has a passion for photography and writing.
Sarah Maleak
Counselor-In-Training
Sarah is a rising junior at SAS and is an amazing student and athlete.
Robbie Hamilton
Counselor-In-Training
Robbie is a rising junior at McCallie in Chattanooga - he is our first It's Better Than Camp! camper to transition to our staff counselor team!
Elizabeth Duncan
Camp Director
Theater
Lizzie has been with SAS since 2002. She served as Director of Alumni & Special Events for 17 years and is now Director of Auxiliary Programs & Special Events where she serves as Summer Camp Director, senior year coordinator, and manager of the school store. She has a BS degree in special and elementary education from Peabody of Vanderbilt University. She studied acting at the Studio Theater Conservatory in DC and with various coaches in Los Angeles, including Michael Shurtleff and Randy Kirby.