Meet our Instructors and Staff

at the National Building Museum Summer Camp

This is a list of some of our upcoming Summer Camp staff members. Please check this page in the future for a complete list of Summer 2013 camp instructors and staff.

Sally Otis (Camp Director) is the Family Programs Manager at the National Building Museum. She graduated with a BA in Graphic Design and a MAT in Museum Education. She has experience teaching history, art and science and has led a class on mural making and building terrariums. Sally's favorite weekend activity is working in the garden with her family or going for a run with her dog.

Jennifer Beach (Group Leader) is currently the Family Programs Assistant and is looking forward to getting involved as a Group Leader this summer. She will receive her MA this May in history of decorative arts with The Smithsonian Associates. Jennifer has worked in interior design, with a furniture manufacturer, and as an educator with several public schools and a Montessori school. In her free time she designs and builds wooden chairs.

Megan Fogarty (Group Leader) currently works for the National Building Museum as a Museum Teacher. She graduated from the University of Arizona in 2010 with an MFA in photography. Her artwork investigates spatial relationships. She's excited to help the campers explore the built environment. Although she lives in the DC area, she is an unabashed St. Louis Cardinals fan.

Caitlin Miller (Group Leader) taught at Tudor Place Summer History Weeks last year and has spent the 2012-13 school year teaching students about city planning, the architecture of houses, and history as a Museum Teacher at the National Building Museum. She just finished her master's degree in Public History and enjoys gardening and making her own paper for letter-writing.

Matthew Cumbie (Teaching Specialist, Building Artists) is a professional dance artist, collaborator, and a Resident Artist and the Education Coordinator for Dance Exchange. He is interested in how we think of and utilize space, interpersonally and architecturally, and how that shapes meaning, and has worked in studios, festivals, museums, and outdoors across the country. Originally from Houston, TX, he earned his MFA in dance at Texas Woman’s University. When not with Dance Exchange, he enjoys improvising with his dog Lucas in parks, on beaches, and in wide, open spaces. 

Cassie Meador (Teaching Specialist, Building Artists) is a choreographer, performer, educator, and the Artistic Director of Dance Exchange. Her work is imbued with a passion for her surroundings, a belief in the human capacity for change, and a conviction that art can be a potent form of research and communication. Born in Charleston, SC, and raised in August, GA, Cassie received her BFA in dance from The Ohio State University. She enjoys spending as much time as she can outdoors and hiking, and this last year hiked over 500 miles to trace the energy source powering her home.  

Gretchen Proctor (Teaching Specialist, Worldly Builders) returns to the NBM for the third year in a row, but the first time teaching Worldly Builders. She studied Fine Arts and Education at Ohio University and has a master’s degree in Curriculum Instruction and Assessment. When not teaching at the museum, she teaches art to K-6 grade in Falls Church, Virginia and fitness classes to adults at her local gym. This year after camp, she and her husband will spend a few weeks traveling around Europe looking at many of the different types of architecture that we are learning about at camp.

Katie Donohue (Teaching Specialist, Young Designers) holds a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts with a concentration in Graphic Design, and a Masters Degree in Art Education. She currently works as an elementary art teacher for Arlington Public Schools. During college, Katie studied in London for a semester. It was here that she developed a love for art and architecture! This is her second summer working at National Building Museum!