Introducing Elisabeth Kelly

Elisabeth Kelly has been coming to Dragon's Eye Adventures since 2016, when she and her sister Katherine joined the mystery called "Troll Troubles." With eleven mysteries, she has demonstrated her calm and collected method of handling some of my toughest characters, including the Grey Lady, Lilith, and the Midnight Cat.

Now, she is returning as my Program Assistant, bringing her wisdom and insight to a new roll as Dragonmage for the last three adventures of the summer. She also brings 75 hours of volunteer work as a CIT (Counselor in Training) at Cathance River Educational Alliance in Topsham, ME.

Elisabeth is a thoughtful person who likes to express herself through singing, sketching, and design. Her skills as an artist have been amazing us for years -- see below for a few of her lovely designs.

Elisabeth will be a senior at Mt Ararat High School this fall. She is involved in leadership activities such as the National Honor Society and PALS (Peers Assisting and Listening to Students) through her school. Her extracurricular activities include ensemble theater roles and stage crew for the Mt. Ararat Stage Company. In 2022, a short story she wrote was selected for publication in the Twisted Tales writing contest.

She enjoys playing tennis, rock climbing, reading dystopian novels, and playing open-world adventure games. Elisabeth is eager to come back for another summer of adventures, and I am delighted to welcome a new Dragonmage to our team!

Introducing James Jackman - Feb 2024

James Jackman will be joining me as a Program Assistant for the February vacation program. Here is what he has written about himself:

James is fifteen years old. He was born right here in Maine. All his life, he has taken care of his brothers and his friends, keeping an eye on them, playing with them and just having a good time with them. James has been good with kids his whole life, and is very patient with them.

He also knows a lot about Dragon's Eye. He first went to Dragon's Eye when he was in first grade, and has been going ever since.

Here are some of my observations about James, which support everything he has written about himself.

James joined the program in first grade and I learned quickly what a wonderful sense of humor he had.  He dove right into adventures, sometimes too quickly -- yet we learned that his quick thinking could get him out of as much trouble as he found!

He has been a valuable team member, with a wonderful sense of humor and an admirable ability to rally other children in creative yet free-wheeling ways. His friendships last -- he has built them in and out of the program, and Dragon's Eye has benefited from his community building.

James has built many art skills during his time with the program. He was one of my chaos sewers when he first tested his ability with needle and thread. The stitches were wonky, yet somehow, he managed to create a pouch that was still open, so it could hold things. We learned to admire those beautiful stitches because they worked!

With patience and perseverance, James built his sewing and drawing skills summer after summer. When his younger brother came to the program, he encouraged him with tales about his personal struggle to tame the chaos of tangling threads. He patiently helped the kids at his table.

James has asked if he could draw during breaks in the program, the way Oliver did. I look forward to sharing his designs! His artwork over the years has always had a wonderful sense of color and humor, as these photos show.

James is also a skilled D&D player. He has been organizing impromptu tabletop games with our detectives at the lunch break for years.

James will no doubt bring his sense of humor to the roleplaying we leaders do -- I am looking forward to his improv. I think he'll instinctively have both a sense of timing, suspense and humor that keeps our adventurers on their toes. I am also grateful to have his skills with yarnballs on my side -- the team will have to work to take him out of the games!

Introducing Our Summer 2018 Program Assistant

I am delighted to introduce our Summer 2018 Program Assistant: Oliver Van Soest.

Oliver is a rising junior at Casco Bay High School in Portland. He has spent two summers working at Waynflete's summer programs. He is a member of the Model UN at his high school, and studies fencing at the Portland Fencing Center. Last summer, he spent four week in Tokyo, studying the language and culture of Japan.

In 2015, Oliver organized a middle school climate change awareness march to City Hall in Portland. As a member of his high school's Environmental Awareness Team, he helped organize a symposium in conjunction with USM, to educate the public on the dangers of ocean acidification.

In his spare time, Oliver takes art courses at MECA and exercises his considerable talents in the arts. He is a young artist to watch--and clearly a civic leader in the making. I have watched Oliver grow into an amazing young man over the last six years, and he and I are both delighted to see him step into the role of Program Assistant.

Oliver is a veteran Dragon's Eye detective, one of the Maine Founders who joined in 2012 when Dragon's Eye first opened in the state. He is well-known among our team members as the one who summons Cernunnos, the Celtic god of the Wild Hunt. Cernunnos walks a path of extreme chaos, so the results of asking for help are always surprising.

Here's a link to some of Cernunnos' actions during "The Well of Destiny" and "The Golden Cage." This summer, Oliver will lead the detectives in the investigation into what happened when Cernunnos took the baby Koschei the Deathless into the Celtic underworld.

Welcome Back, Max!

A funny moment with Max from "Jewel of the Tides" -- Summer 2016

I am happy to announce that Max Middleton will be returning for a third season with Dragon's Eye Adventures. Some unexpected turns of fortune worked in our favor to bring him back, and I for one am grateful!

With his BA as a Classics major at Bowdoin and his D&D experience, Max brings a great deal to the table when it comes to playing characters and having a blast with young people.

Welcome back to Ike Voorhees

Detail, Ike Voorheers, 2013
Pen on paper

Ike Voorhees will be joining the Dragon's Eye Ventures staff for the remaining four sessions of the 2013 summer program! Ike is an extraordinary artist -- one of those artists whose drawings have story attached to them, so he's a wonderful addition to the Dragon's Eye team. Ike was with us last summer, and the adventures benefitted from his creative input!

Detail, Ike Voorheers, 2013
Pen on paper

If you'd like to know more about Ike, visit this post from last summer. He graduated this May from Bard College with a BA in art. Ike's focus at Bard was printmaking--and his artwork here demonstrates the kind of detailed focus that is characteristic of his work. He's one young artist with an exciting future.

Detail, Ike Voorheers, 2013
Pen on paper

The images posted here are all details of a drawing that grew out of Ike's hand during several adventures last summer. The figure is based on a famous carving on the tomb of a Mayan king named Pakal, showing the Vision Serpent Kukulkan. The Detectives visited this serpent as part of "Terra Incognita."

Welcome back, Ike! It's an extraordinary gift to the program each time you join us!

Introducing Ike Voorhees

Ike Voorhees

Dragon's Eye Ventures begins its first session of the summer on Monday, July 9.  I am pleased to announce that Ike Voorhees will be joining the program as a volunteer for four of our adventures (Sessions I, III, IV and V).  This adds another player into the game, which always means more good fun!  It's not easy to play two characters at once--and now Ike and I can share the roles! With the detectives and two adults playing parts, we have drama once again.

Ike is a young artist whose work never ceases to astound me.  His skills and imagination are amazing, and his art comes with a deep sense of story--so he's a natural fit for the Dragon's Eye program.   He will add a great deal to the adventures, and our young artists will reap the benefit of his rich imagination working alongside their own.

Here is his bio:
 

Ike Voorhees

Ike was creating art beginning at age 3.  His earliest mentor was Susie Wren of Georgetown, ME with whom he took art lessons from age 7 through age 18.  Ike was educated at a Waldorf elementary school where the curriculum was art-based.  He pursued his art studies at Waynflete School in Portland, ME where his art instructor referred to him as the “best draftsman Waynflete School has ever seen.” Ike spent the summer of his junior year of high school learning mask-making from Rebecca McNulty in Brunswick, ME and he has interned with Harpswell artist, Kate Beck.  Ike is currently a senior at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, majoring in art with a focus on printmaking.  In addition to art, Ike has an interest in history, space, Eastern religions, and the Middle East.