Summer Writing Camp

Find Your Way Forward

Join us for Summer Writing Camp

2025 Summer Camp Dates | June 15-20, 2025

Calling all storytellers, poets, and memoirists: this summer, the IWU Division of Modern Language and Literature will be offering a Summer Writing Camp segment of the Wildcat Summer Academy. In writing workshops with IWU faculty, students will create original works of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, and more. 

Campers will spend the week exploring their own voices as they put pen to paper, then receive feedback, encouragement, and guidance from IWU faculty and student leaders. During the day, campers will workshop their writing with IWU faculty members and student leaders. During the evenings, all students from the Wildcat Summer Academy will unite for games and activities which will conclude with nightly corporate worship.

Register for Camp

Total Registration Cost: $500

  • Base Cost: $450
  • Registration Fee (non-refundable): $50

Cost includes resident hall lodging, three meals a day, snacks, and all major aspects of the camp. Our dining hall has many options for those with food allergies. However, we encourage you to bring appropriate snacks since not all snack options will meet all dietary needs.

Note: The $50 non-refundable registration fee is due at the time of registration. No student will be considered registered until they have submitted this fee. Balance of tuition and fees are due by May 31, 2025. Any registrations after June 1, 2025 will incur an additional $50 late registration fee.

Meet the Camp Director

Amy Smelser, MA

Professor Amy Smelser attended Indiana Wesleyan University where she served as the campus newspaper’s editor for three years. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in English and writing, she became a freelance writer and editor while raising her four oldest children. In 2010, she completed a Master of Arts in Christian Leadership Studies from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary.

Prof. Amy’s teaching career began in 2013 at Taylor University where she taught journalism classes as an adjunct. She joined the Indiana Wesleyan University faculty in spring 2016, moving to full time in fall 2016. Prof. Amy earned a second master’s degree in journalism from Regent University in 2018.  In addition to teaching multimedia and communication classes, she advises two student news websites and co-advises Amplify Media.

Prof. Amy currently serves on the boards of the Grant County Rescue Mission and the Hoosier Shakespeare Festival. Professionally, she works with the Woman’s Press Club of Indiana and oversaw the state scholastic journalism contest for two years. She also assists Oak Hill High School’s drama department as its technical director. Prof. Amy has spoken at two conferences for professional communicators, written for three local newspapers and two internationally circulated magazines, worked with several ministries in leadership positions, and is pursuing her Ph.D. in communication from Regent University. Amy and her husband have five children, a son-in-law, two grandchildren, an energetic lab named Sirius, and two spoiled barn cats named Esther and Martin.


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