The Boys Camp Team
Valerie Tripp
Editorial Director
Silver Spring, Maryland
- • Author of 30+ award-winning plays and books of historical fiction for American Girl (tens of millions of copies sold)
- • Author of 100+ poems, songs, skills book pages, and fiction and nonfiction stories for The Superkids Reading Program, published by the nonprofit Rowland Reading Foundation
- • Script consultant and advisor for films based on her American Girl stories, including “Kit Kittredge, An American Girl”
- • 1973 graduate with honors from the first co-educated class at Yale and 1981 recipient of M.Ed. from Harvard
- • Winner, March of Dimes Mother of the Year in recognition of her support for public schools, Girl Scouts, and the Make A Wish Foundation
- • Frequent speaker at schools, museums, and libraries, including the Library of Congress, The Smithsonian, The New York Historical Society, The Brooklyn Museum, Colonial Williamsburg, and Old Sturbridge Village
- • Mother of a daughter who continues to promote literacy and learning
Ann Hendrix-Jenkins
Director of Partnership Development
- • Specialist in communication for social change
- • Expert in community-based approaches to education and health
- • Writer/creator of educational games/books for young people addressing global health issues
- • Founder and manager of ad hoc effort to stop stereotype-based gender-segmented toy marketing to children, which received national news coverage
- • Received coverage from Wall Street Journal, NY Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and feedback and promises from Toys R Us and Fox News
- • Developed and directed licensed, fully-enrolled experiential education program for elementary school children
- • High school teacher and Peace Corps volunteer in Botswana, Africa
- • BA in English Literature and MA in International Development
- • Husband Steve Hendrix is a journalist with the Washington Post
- • Mother of two daughters and one son
- • Grandmother of seven different kinds of pets over the last few years (perhaps says yes too easily when it comes to pet requests?)
Peggy Thomas
Business Director
Wilmington, Delaware
- • 20 years of business ownership and expertise
- • BS in Elementary Education, Loyola University, New Orleans
- • Taught third grade to low-income children in New Orleans, tutored a wide range of people and home-schooled children for three years
- • Mother of a daughter and a son
Sarah Smith
Marketing Manager
New York, NY
- • MBA from NYU Stern, specializing in Marketing and Social Enterprise
- • Previously a lifestyle magazine editor, editing and writing articles on travel, food, style, and books
- • Once a busy tutor assisting grade school students
- • Georgetown University graduate with a major in American Studies and a minor in Spanish
- • Lives in Brooklyn with her husband, two kids (Lily and Jack) and two rescue dogs