Staff

In her fifteenth year as Director of the camp, Cookie Mellitz Shapiro, brings both her five years of experience as the camp Aquatics Director and fourteen years of experience as a Physical Education teacher at the Bank Street School for Children. She directed the 13's Musical Theater Production for 10 years. She is a dancer, choreographer and free-lance lighting designer. For the past five years she has been teaching Literacy through Theater, a course in New Perspectives within Bank Street College. Cookie received her M.S. in Education from the Bank Street College in Educational Leadership. She is certified in RTE, CPR, Lifeguarding, and WSI. As well she is a lifeguard instructor prior to Bank Street, Cookie directed a teen travel camp in New Jersey, ran a 6-week travel camp in Israel, and served as the Creative Arts Director of a summer camp in the Boston area. Her dedication to the camp program came from her positive experiences as a camper and counselor in an overnight camp in Connecticut.

Emily Linsay has been working in schools for fifteen years. She taught kindergarten, first and fourth grade in public and private schools, and she is currently in her eleventh year as a preschool teacher at Bank Street School for Children. Emily began working at Bank Street Summer Camp in the summer of 1996. She has been a head counselor in both the Lower and Upper Camps. She also served as the Upper Camp Unit Head. Currently Emily is the Lower Camp Unit Head. She looks forward to an exciting summer with staff, families and campers in the Lower Camp.

This is Jenel Giles's eleventh summer with the Bank Street Summer Camp. She is currently the Upper Camp Unit Head.  She has held various positions at the camp during that time including Head Counselor of Travel Camp and five years as Aquatics Director. She has taught swimming at various camps and programs for the past twelve years. Jenel is also a certified Red Cross Water Safety Instructor as well as a Lifeguard Instructor. During the school year Jenel is the 5/6's teacher at Bank Street School for Children.

Dylan Morgan has worked at Bank Street Summer Camp for the last eleven years. Upon graduating from the School for Children he became an LIT (Leader In Training) for the Musical Theater program and soon rose to the position of counselor when he developed the Film Writing and Directing program, the Animation program and then Photography After Camp. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with a Bachelor degree in Film, specifically Screenwriting. This is his second year in the office and he is now the Assistant Director.

Ife Collymore is a Bank Street School for Children Alum. She received her Bachelor's Degree in English Arts from Hampton University. She was a Substitute Teacher’s Assistant for Sara, Evi, and Oliva’s 6/7’s. Ife is certified in CPR and RTE. For a number of years, she was an Aquatics LIT and Junior Counselor for the Sports group at the Bank Street Summer Camp. This is her third year as the After Camp Coordinator.

Chris Mera has been a member of the Bank Street community for a long time. He is a School for Children graduate, and has been working at the Bank Street Summer Camp for the eleven summers. Certified in water safety instruction, Lifeguarding, CPR, and RTE, this summer will be his 3^rd year as Aquatics Director for the Lower Camp. During the school year Chris is the assistant teacher for the 7/8s in the Bank Street School for Children and is currently getting his Master’s Degree at the Bank Street Graduate School. 

Anneka Ward is the Aquatics Director of the Bank Street Upper Camp. She began working at the camp in 2005 and has worked here for the past four summers. She went to The Cathedral School of St. John the Divine for middle school, Columbia Preperatory School for high school, and Kenyon College. She is currently in her last year of Nursing School at Phillips Beth Israel School of Nursing. She is considering getting her master’s degree in Pediatric Nursing. 

Jordan Haynes is an alumn of the Bank Street School for Children and an assistant coordinator of the lower camp aquatics staff. He has certifications in lifeguarding, Water Safety Instruction, C.P.R. and First Aid. He is a recent graduate of Brooklyn College, having studied television, radio and film. It has been a pleasure for Jordan to be a part of the Bank Street community for most of his life, and he is thankful to continue to have the opportunity to work in such a well revered youth oriented program. 

Shuber Naranjois a Hunter College graduate with a Master of Bilingual Ed. degree, and is in charge of the Summer Camp Spanish Immersion programs. He worked at La Escuelita pre-school for four years, with children ages 2 thru 5. This is Shuber's fifth year teaching at Bank Street as a Spanish teacher in the Lower and Middle School.

Sara Stricker supervises and mentors our LITs (Leaders in Training).  She meets with this cohort individually and in groups to plan activities, hone leadership skills, and discuss the joys and challenges of working with young children.  Sara has been a 6/7s teacher at the School for Children for the past ten years, and is also a graduate of the College with a master's degree in Early and Elementary Education.  She earned her bachelor's degree in English Literature from Wesleyan University.

Devin Norik is the head of the Storefront Ensemble for the Hunts Point Alliance for Children and a teaching artist for Hunts Point Children's Shakespeare Ensemble.  As an actor he was most recently seen in Unnatural Acts at the Classic Stage Company for which his performance earned him the inaugural grant from the Rosemarie Tichler Fund.   Other New York credits include Robert Mapplethorpe Doesn't Live Here Anymore (Red Fern), I Am Frightened of My Body (Ars Nova), The Smoking Gun(Studio Tisch), and Sex of the Baby (NYU Graduate Acting).  Regional theater credits include The Lion in Winter (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey) and The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Geva Theatre).  Devin has appeared on film and television in The Trouble With Cali directed by Paul Sorvino, Surviving Family, Absense of Love and "I Just Want My Pants Back."  Devin Norik received his MFA from NYU Graduate Acting Program.