YouthWrite Peak I Experience 2026

June 28 - July 3, 2026

Overnight Camp For Ages 10-14
An unforgettable experience for creative youth, spending time with quality instructors and other talented peers discussing ideas and sharing their work.

$825.00 CAD

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$825 Base Price

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Peak I Experience!

PLEASE NOTE: REGISTRATION CLOSES ON JUNE 23, 2026

Day or Overnight Options

Ages 10-14
June 28 - July 3rd, 2026
Overnight camp. Campers arrive on Sunday evening and stay until Friday afternoon.

SR1 Site: 241001 Range Road 42, Rockyview, Alberta, T3Z 2X5 (include the postal code when using Google maps!)
Tuition: $825 - Overnight at SR1

YouthWrite Fees Include

12 hours of daily instruction/activities led by highly qualified instructional and supervisory staff, supervised meals, break times, and evening programs. All supplies are provided as are daily breakfast (only overnighters), lunches, suppers, and snacks. Each participant is required to dress for the weather, bring PPE, indoor/outdoor shoes, and will receive a complimentary copy of YouthWrite: The Magazine.

For those of you new to YouthWrite:

Registration steps continue after registration on this site. After you complete the registration on this site, we ask that you proceed to Campfax, a secure camp database and:

fill in important details
provide a letter of reference from a teacher/mentor
provide the answers to the four YouthWrite questions
provide a short sample of writing

You are not fully registered until all steps are completed.

Please note

Refunds:
All fees include $100 non-refundable fee. No refunds will be made if registration is cancelled after June 23, 2026.

A full refund will be possible in the event an applicant is not accepted into the program or if COVID restrictions require that we cancel or reconfigure camp. YouthWrite Society Canada reserves the right to cancel courses and restrict enrollment. Courses, instructors and supervisors may be subject to change.

Medical:
In consideration of our campers' and staff well-being, we strongly advise that all attendees be up-to-date on vaccinations for measles, rubella, and mumps.

When

June 28th - July 3rd, 2026

Full Week

Where

SR1 Site:

241001 Range Road 42, Rockyview, Alberta, T3Z 2X5

(include the postal code when using Google maps!)

Who

Guest Instructors thus far:

Aaron Coates
Francine Cunningham
Rachel Drouillard
Quickdraw Animation
Cecilia Ortiz Luna
Spyder Yardley-Jones

More TBA soon!

What's Your Story? Coordinator:

Salman Kovahled

Blue Pencil Café:

Timothy Anderson

Our Super Supers:

Ayla Chin
Jessica Davidson

Eli Smart
Em Smith

Keltie Squires
Étienne Fillion-Sauvé

YouthWrite Director-Coordinator:
Gail Sidonie Sobat

Peak I & II Coordinator:

Mason Repka

Guest Instructors

YOUTHWRITE INSTRUCTORS: THE CREAM OF THE CROP!

Throughout YouthWrite's history, we have prided ourselves on the calibre of our fine instructors.

YouthWrite invites superbly talented and reputable instructors who represent the many facets of the performing, visual, musical, dance, film, and written arts.

MORE AMAZING INSTRUCTORS TBA SOON!

Aaron Coates

Bio

Aaron Coates, is a director, writer, actor, and acting teacher. He studied acting at Mount Royal University and at École Philippe Gaulier in Paris. Aaron has written comedy shows, true crime dramas, opera libretti, a new adaptation of Greek tragedy, and devised work with actors, singers, and performers of all ages. He spent nine seasons with Dirty Laundry, Calgary’s improvised soap opera, where he directed over 150 episodes.

Course

Eye Say - Discover characters by taking a walk in their shoes! We’ll improvise to find out what makes someone tick, and then write from that experience. Where’s the story going to go? You’ll be in charge of it. Through the creation of an improvised TV show, we’ll dream up a vibrant group of characters and take them on a rollicking adventure.

Rachel "Sunflower" Drouillard

Bio

Rachel Drouillard's yoga journey started back in 2001 with a $5 Ginger Spice yoga DVD she found in a bargain bin — and it ended up changing the course of her life. In 2008, she tried her first studio class, quickly got hooked, and eventually left her corporate job to teach yoga full-time. By 2011, she became a certified yoga teacher, and not long after, she spent a year in India deepening her studies in yoga and meditation.
Since then, she’s continued to learn and train in areas like trauma-informed yoga, Yoga Nidra, Yin Yoga, Functional Movement, Anatomy, Yoga Therapy, and Kids Yoga. These days, a big part of Rachel’s work focuses on mental health, nervous system regulation, and self-awareness. She primarily works with the Calgary Police Service, supporting members through both group classes and one-on-one sessions, especially those living with PTSD and operational stress injuries. Her work uses yoga, breathwork, mindfulness, and grounding tools to help build regulation, resilience, and practical, accessible skills for everyday life.
Her classes are welcoming, down-to-earth, and often light-hearted — she encourages young people to show up exactly as they are, take what they need, and leave the rest..

Course

Celebrate the Held Stories - We are truly a collection of our stories. Let's uncover how and where these stories are being held in the body and celebrate what we find! Through yoga, somatic awareness, mindfulness, creative writing, and regulation-based practices, turn inward and slow down enough to notice what's going on. Don’t force or fix — simply observe, allow, and work with what arises through movement, breath, and writing. From there, let's celebrate..

Kim Holter - Quickdraw Animation

Bio

Kim Holter is very excited to be teaching animation classes for YouthWrite this Summer. Her background is in art, animation, and education, and she currently teaches classes in these areas and works as a substitute teacher! Some of Kim's favourite things are spending time with family, playing board games, reading, and being creative. During the summer, she loves to be out and about, go camping, enjoy the weather, and meet new youth in the classes that she teaches. Kim looks forward to meeting this summer’s YouthWriters.

Course

Quickdraw Animation: Animate Your Story
Interested in a new way to tell your stories? In this class, hosted by Quickdraw Animation Society, you'll get the chance to become animators. Learn about the history, principles, and techniques of animation, and make your stories into cut-paper stop-motion animations.

Cecilia Ortiz Luna

Bio

Cecilia Ortiz Luna is a Philippine-born novelist and community organizer. Pre-Canada she was a criminal lawyer, horoscope writer and karaoke queen. Her novel, Blood Compact, was shortlisted for the Jim Wong Chu Asian Canadian Writers Award and longlisted for the Crime Writers of Canada Unpublished Manuscript Award. She is currently finishing her novel on Filipino mythological monsters. Cecilia is the founder of the arts non-profit Salingpusa Creatives which organizes events to support and showcase emerging Filipino and BIPOC artists. In 2025, she was appointed by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts as Artist Community Connector for Calgary.

Course

Micro but Mighty: How to Write Awesome Stories in 100 words or Fewer -

Sometimes the best stories are the shortest! Explore different forms of micro prose or poetry and how to write them, then how to self-edit and make every word count. Experiment with the epistolary essay, drabble/flash fiction, vignettes, limericks and haikus. Dabble in fresh metaphors with fewer words to create lean, engaging and original work.

Spyder Yardley-Jones

Bio

Spyder Yardley-Jones was born in the dark swamps of Edmonton. He's illustrated three children's books, an award-winning graphic novel, Jamie’s Got a Gun, and graphic story, In the Graveyard, both written by Gail Sidonie Sobat. Spyder has exhibited in 20+ art shows in Canada and the USA. His next publication is his first solo book, Boy, did I get postered last night, a visual documentary of gig posters created over decades in the city of Edmonton

Course

Facial Delusions and Mystical Delights - Check out this mask-making class where you take your wild imagination and create a mask for the wall or your face. Maybe it will become a character in your next story or comic! You’ll sculpt with tin foil, recycled/repurposed stuff, then paint and decorate. I made a wolf spider mask. What might you make?

What Your Story? Coordinator
Salman Kovahled

Bio

Salman (pronounced Sull like in sullen, and mon like in Pokémon) wanted to become an educator when he first watched Indiana Jones on a 22” television-VHS combo in his grandparent’s bedroom which instilled in him a desire to teach during the day and seek adventure in his spare time. Often falling forward and embracing the idea of trying everything, Salman is currently working in the area of social work while pursuing his Master’s Degree in Counselling Psychology. Never quite content with one form of expression, Salman is eager to learn and grow through storytelling in all forms; dabbling in poetry, children’s literature, essay-writing, painting, acting, editing, directing- and lately even stand-up comedy. His work is rooted in a deep commitment to wellness, marginalized voices, and the well-being of communities. He’s especially interested in the ways in which nature and creativity support healing and identity. At the core of everything he does is a belief in the inherent dignity of people, and the power of spaces that make room for complexity and care. If there’s one thing Salman knows it’s learning from falling face-first, being silly, and understanding that true failure comes from not trying. So, come and hang out in whatever capacity you can!

Course

Celebration and Allyship
“Am I normal?”
Maybe you’ve asked yourself this question- comparing yourself to friends, classmates, and peers. Perhaps it’s what bounces around inside of you- reading characters in books, listening to them speak, or watching them move. It could even be what comes to you after creating worlds of your own. But…what is normal?

Celebration of difference builds upon acceptance; built upon understanding, built upon tolerance, built upon awareness. These ideas will be rooted by an enriching, protective, and strong panel conversation on the first day of camp. The rest of the week will be an opportunity for you to explore what the word “celebrate” means; branching into storytelling and Indigeneity, the power of language, art and voice, and above all- allyship through love and choice.

This class will be on a drop-in basis. YouthWriters are welcome to participate only on the days they want to.

Blue Pencil Café with Timothy Anderson

Bio

Timothy Anderson is a writer, editor, instructor, performer, director, composer, and visual artist whose career has taken him from Yellowknife to Singapore, Australia to Greece, Carnegie Hall to Dollywood, in live productions. He's performed on radio, television and film, and written poetry, novels, screenplays, short stories, opera texts - all with a view to expanding minds and hearts.

Activity

Blue Pencil Café - Share a piece of writing with our resident editing expert and get constructive feedback on your wordsmithery! Poetry, fiction, dialogue, plots, operas, plays - our Blue Pencil expert can help you with your craft. Sign up is daily at camp.

The Amazing Supers

Handpicked and multi-talented, YouthWrite Supers are the centre of our camps. As artists, teachers and mentors, they bring the X-Factor to YouthWrite.

MORE AMAZING SUPERS TBA SOON!

Ayla Chin

Ayla Chin is a student at the University of Alberta pursuing a degree in bioinformatics. They are a music instructor who teaches a variety of instruments and genres. They love to write and record music, as well as perform with their band across local venues. Ayla loves to learn and do their own research projects, additionally creating educational resources and activities to share. They are super excited to join Youthwrite this summer and become Gail’s favourite!

Jessica Davidson

Jessica Davidson is a movie theatre manager by day, an avid movie-goer by night, and has spent the majority of her life dreaming of making those movies herself. While studying Film and Video Production at the University of Regina, she found time to work with The Living Skies Student Film Festival, Regina Little Theatre, UR Improv, CJSW radio, and on the 2018 feature SuperGrid. She is excited to be bringing the experience of these many hats, and her experience as a former YouthWriter to camp this summer in her Super debut and as Gail’s soon-to-be favourite!

Eli Smart

Eli Smart (He/They) is a local award-winning director/writer/producer from YYC. He started writing prose at the age of 9 which, in turn, kickstarted his filmmaking and theatre journey, which he began at age 15. Eli’s passion for filmmaking has given them many amazing opportunities, and shown him that the best part about the arts is the community surrounding it. Whether it’s staying up late with your friends trying to finish a project, or sharing ideas while juggling the ones you already have, being in the arts is one of the greatest joys in the world, and Eli is honored to be a part of it!! They are also eager to become Anna’s favourite!

Emily Smith

Emily Smith is so stoked to be joining the YouthWrite team this year! Emily recently graduated from the first MacEwan BFA program and is an actor, playwright, and clown in the Edmonton area. Currently, they are working on a cabaret and writing a musical! When not working in the arts, Emily works in North Edmonton mentoring at-risk youth. Emily's favourite things to write are plays and poems, and some favourite books include A Series of Unfortunate Events, Barkskins, and any play that Sarah Ruhl writes!

Keltie Squires - Lead Super

Keltie Squires is a graduate of MacEwan’s communications program where she majored in professional communication. She has been involved with the wonderful people at YouthWrite since 2019. She has dabbled as a marketing writer, art model, actor, dancer, social media and marketing manager, and competitive athlete. These days, Keltie is the program director and instructor for multiple martial arts facilities. She is so excited to spend a week with some amazing kids. She knows that deep down, even though it takes her forever to write a bio, she is Gail’s favourite.

YouthWrite Director- Coordinator

Gail Sidonie Sobat

is a multi-award-winning teacher and author, with twelve books for children, teens and adults, and a number of educational and academic articles. A Global News Woman of Vision and an Arts and Culture Citation Award recipient, she is the YouthWrite creator/ coordinator, an international presenter, an instructor in the professional writing program at MacEwan University and in the Faculty of Education at U of A. Gail was The Writers’ Union of Canada Regional Representative for Alberta, NWT and Nunavut, and writer in residence with the Metro Edmonton Federation of Libraries.

She has moved forty times in her life from Badlands to Siksika Nation Reserve to hideous suburbs to Istanbul to the Sunshine Coast to her writer’s garret in a century-old temperamental house. She adores all of her Supers & Coordinators equally, and loves YouthWrite like a madwoman!

Peak I & II Coordinator: Mason Repka

Mason Repka (he/him/ they/them), is a game designer, writer, and communications manager for YouthWrite Society Canada, working in the office with Gail and Tania year round. They are the director/coordinator of Dark Ascension LARP, a live-action roleplaying game for adults based in a medieval-esque fantasy word. Mason studied at MacEwan University and the University of Victoria for creative writing and English literature, and has been with YouthWrite since 2020, working as an instructor, supervisor, and office worker. Mason is excited and honored to take on the role of coordinator of the Peak I&II camps this year, and to celebrate YouthWrite's 30th!