Join Day Eight’s DCPS spring break or summer Writing Camps, February 21-24, April 18-21, July 10-14, or August 7-11!
Day Eight’s writing camps are designed for middle school students and to encourage a love of language through poetry recitation and personal expression. Each week of camp the attendees read out loud from a core text, around which additional activities are designed. The last day of each week includes a public camper and faculty reading open to the community. Writing by youth in the camps will be published in Day Eight’s annual youth and faculty book, and celebrated at a book launch reading fall, 2023. The camps occur at Shepherd Park Juanita Thornton Library, 7420 Georgia Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. Read more about Day Eight’s education programming on our website here.
Scroll down for the online registration form. After completing the form you will be emailed additional details required to complete enrollment. A maximum of 10 campers are enrolled per week.
Camp staff
Regie Cabico, camp co-director, works regularly with the DC Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, Pen Faulkner, and others, bringing his love of language to school-aged youth. For Day Eight’s writing camps, Cabico serves as faculty member, staff supervisor, and curriculum director.
Robert Bettmann, camp co-director, founded Day Eight’s literary magazine, Bourgeon, and holds an MA in Education from George Washington University.
Shaquetta Nelson is a poet and arts educator, and author of the book, Ashes to Justice. She uses her love of language to advocate for the unheard, and to provoke a rethinking of commonly held understandings. Raised in the Washington, D.C. area, she has staffed Day Eight’s writing camps since 2021.
Casey Catherine Moore is a writer, teacher, and activist. She holds a PhD in Comparative Literature and in her fifteen-year career in education has taught writing, literature, and language at the collegiate and secondary levels, including KIPP-DC.