Our teaching staff is comprised of educators and technology experts – adults who provide a safe and nurturing environment that will help your child have a more rewarding summer and experience technology in a safe and productive way.

Program Directors
We staff each location with a program director who works in the lab each day. We ensure that each of our directors has had extensive training in supervision, program facilitation, healthcare and camp safety. Many of our directors are professional educators, and all of them are passionate about technology education and kids.

Night Facilitators
For residential programs, night facilitators focus solely on achieving productive and safe evenings and must stay in the dorms with the students. Night facilitators may throw a LAN party, stage Rock Band® competitions, initiate night laser tag, plan an ice cream social or supervise other recreation in the lounge.

Instructors
Our expert recruiters hire instructors based on their ability to teach technology with enthusiasm, relate to kids of all ages and be a healthy role model for your child. Our instructors value higher education and the inquisitive mind, bringing our stellar curriculum to life by contributing their valuable insights to each camper’s experience.

Junior Instructors
Junior instructors at Giant Campus are at least 17 and have graduated from our Teen Leadership Program in addition to excelling as campers and personal leaders. They do not work with overnight staff in residential programs or have medical responsibilities, and they supervise campers in partnership with senior instructors.

Leaders-in-Training
The first phase of our Teen Leadership Program is the Leader-in-Training program. LITs do not teach courses on their own, but do choose an area of expertise where they assist by supporting other kids, answering questions and leading some structured activities under the supervision of the program director.

Instructor Interns
Members of our Teen Leadership Program, instructor interns are successful graduates of our Leader-In-Training program who have proven themselves ready and able to direct their own activities while remaining focused on the needs of other campers. Interns continue to develop their leadership skills by supporting camper work and leading activities.

How We Screen and Hire Staff
After a regimented series of screening and interviewing, Giant Campus requires each staff member to pass a detailed background and reference check. We employ a professional firm to verify every state of previous residence or employment of applicants, and we require multiple forms of ID and verification of our employee data. In addition, we require three references for each staff member - even if they have worked for us previously. If a potential employee does not meet our high standards, we will not employ them at Giant Campus.

We are currently accepting applications for summer 2009. Apply here.  

Meet Our Instructors

Our instructors are subject matter experts who thrive on teaching cutting-edge technology while having fun. Their project-based instruction aspires to be both engaging and academically rigorous. Our instructors return year after year, and as a result have a consistency that ensures our campers have a great experience each year. Many of our instructors work with our virtual program students during the academic school year.

Tanya Grinnel
Welcome, my name is Tanya Grinnel, and I have been teaching for over six years, both online and in a traditional classroom setting. Before teaching, I enjoyed a career for several years as a news anchor and reporter in Elmira, NY. I have also worked for a U.S. Representative, as a volunteer recruiter for a non-profit agency and as the International Student Director at Elmira College. I have a Bachelor's degree in Journalism from the University of Georgia as well as a Master's degree in Educational Leadership from Saint Leo University in Florida.

For fun, I love to read, run, perform in community theater, visit with friends and spend time with my family. I am looking forward to getting to know you online!

Bradley Johnson
My name is Bradley Johnson, and I have been a high school technology teacher in Washington State since 1998. I have been a Giant Campus virtual programs instructor for the last academic year. I hold a B.S. in Technology Education with Certification in Career and Technical Development, Technology 6-12 and Art K-12. With a background in Technology and Art, my professional interests gravitate towards instruction on graphics and design, although a significant amount of my education is in specialist training for software programs, A+ and Cisco Networking.

Outside of the classroom, I have a very big interest in sports. These interests, combined with my passion for teaching, led me to coach sports at the high school and middle school levels. Although I do not compete as much as I used to, I still keep active with family and friends with golf, snowboarding and wake boarding.

Gary Brown
My name is Garry Brown. I have had the honor of teaching computing, engineering and technology for the last eleven years. I have Master of Science degrees in Technology Education and Vocational Industrial Education and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technology. I have taught in three different states during my teaching career and hope to teach in other states in the future. I have been with Giant Campus summer programs for five years as a camp director, and my primary goal was to help campers learn the same skills that I teach in the virtual program. Game design is a great opportunity for you to learn how to make simple to complex games or game simulation for any context.
Ever since I was a kid, I've loved to build things and take things apart to see how they work (reverse engineering), and I continue this hobby even today with my students in the engineering and technology education program at Stephenson High School. I advise a Technology Student Association Club in which we provide students with after-school activities and competitive events in robotics, problem solving and game design. Our robotics team is preparing for the First Robotics FTC event this spring semester.

Jane Clements
My name is Jane Clements, and I graduated from Portland State University with a B.S in Mathematics and General Science with a focus in Computer Science. I have my Master's in teaching from Pacific University and a middle/high school advanced mathematics certification (grades 6-12) for Oregon. I have been teaching high school math in Oregon since 2004. I have enjoyed six wonderful summers working for Giant Campus’ Cybercamps! Three of those summers, I was a camp counselor for programming (C++), robotics, digital arts and game design. The last three summers, I have been a camp director.

Nine months of the year, I teach high school mathematics. In my free time, I am working on a Web site for an upcoming Oregon math conference. The other three months of the year, I am a camp director. I will stay in the Portland area for its greenness, awesome closeness to the beach and mountains AND the rain! I was born in Michigan and still have family in the Midwest and East Coast.