Though there were several students signed up and ready to go, officials recently announced the cancellation of the planned two-week Great Valley Writing Camp, scheduled July 14 through July 25 in Escalon.

Local coordinator Sally Hale said it was a joint decision between director Dr. Brett Ashmun, at CSU, and herself.

“After discussing several options, we came to the conclusion we needed to cancel this year’s program,” Hale announced on July 6.

Dr. Ashmun is in the Department of Education and as part of his role, he is the director for the Great Valley Writing Project at CSU Stanislaus, the sponsoring organization for the summer writing camp.

The Times conducted a ‘Q&A’ with Hale regarding the cancellation of the camp and the outlook for the future.

Q: What was the final deciding factor in canceling this year’s camp?

A: Bang for buck. We had only three teachers beyond our five-person leadership team. That is neither enough teachers to run a quality program for students nor a number to justify the expense of the program to our donors.

Q: How many students did you have signed up for it so far?

A: We had 24 TK-fifth grade students registered and invited five high school students (to be) on our publishing team.

Q: With CSU credits available for doing the teaching, what do you feel could be the reason not enough teachers could be found? Perhaps needing a true summer break with so many demands on them during the traditional school year?

A: That is definitely a big part of it. The summer is shorter for teachers with an early start in August and many of the teachers we are targeting, newer to the profession, are also working summer school programs or attending other professional development programs.

Q: Is there any way some of the camp strategies could be presented in workshops for kids during the school year?

A: That is an option that Cassie Gregory, who has also given her heart to this program over the years, and I have considered and will continue to explore. I recently noticed that my hometown (Escalon) library sponsors writing groups for various ages of students. I intend to contact them for more information on how that is organized; it could be one option for the children’s end of this program.

Q: How many years has this been offered in Escalon?

A: We’ve been here since 2017 other than the three COVID years. We’ve been housed at Dent (Elementary School) all but one of the six years and that was last year (hosted at Van Allen Elementary) when construction was winding up on Dent’s campus.

Q: What did you enjoy most about being a part of the camp?

A: The children’s joy in learning to express themselves and watching their own voices expressed in different genres. There is also a magic in being able to go into classrooms and see teachers use the methods and philosophies that we have read about in our class then implemented in the camps. The ultimate goal is to give teachers more confidence in their teaching of writing, arguably the most important and most difficult subject to teach well.

Q: Do you think it could return for the summer of 2026?

A: The teacher class and camp will definitely return and I hope we can house it in or near Escalon so it continues to serve my community. The funding is directed to all of South San Joaquin County and our program originally began in Ripon but we’ve also held programs in Lathrop, Manteca, River Islands, and through some of the county schools over almost two decades now.