NPWP: About US
(Click here to go to NPWP home) (Click on our names to e-mail us)
Committee Members
Rosi Finlayson
Some of the best stories come from real life situations and may sound unbelievable. Since most people don’t like to face the realities of human behavior we allow our stories to be called fiction and tell them anyway.


Beth Winschuh
English and Journalism teacher at East Stroudsburg High School South
Newspaper Adviser
Always write in ink and never tear a page.
Kathy Kilker
Elementary School Teacher
Paula Schmeltz
Site Leaders
Emily Cantilina
Program Coordinator
High School Teacher of English and Theatre on Leave as a FT Mommy
Teacher Consultant Leader, 2005 NPWP Cohort
Certified Canoeing Instructor
I write the way I paint a mural: I plan, pick up the brush, and let the art refine the plan-- transform it, evolve it, destroy it. Writing is this symphony of premeditation and spontaneity.
Kathleen Dekmar
Teacher Consultant Leader, 2005 NPWP Cohort
Middle School Reading and Writing teacher, Pleasant Valley Intermediate School, Kresgeville, PA
M.A.T. Margrove College
Every piece of writing is a work of self-reflection, expression and perception. Teaching writing is not only my passion, but my responsibility to teach children to find their voice and place in today's and tomorrow's society.
Karen Jackson Petersen
Tech Liaison and Information Dissemination
Teacher Consultant Leader, 2005 NPWP Cohort
High School English Teacher, Pocono Mountain East High School
Literary Magazine Advisor
Jennifer Marmo
English Teacher at East Stroudsburg High School North
· Co-Director
· Full Professor of Multicultural American Literature
· Ph.D. from University of California, Riverside
· Seven Generations American Indian Festival Coordinator
Academic writing is like wrestling an alligator. Come join me.
· Co-Director
· High School Teacher of English and Spanish at East Stroudsburg H.S. South
· Adjunct Professor, Foreign Language Department, East Stroudsburg University
· M.Ed. East Stroudsburg University
· Straight-Jacket Candidate
Writing for me is like breathing—both are necessary, daily, and sometimes labored.
What is the NPWP?
The Northeastern Pennsylvania Writing Project (NPWP) at ESU is a branch of the National Writing Project. The NPWP is committed to exploring issues of diversity as they relate to teachers as well as students and the ways in which writing and the teaching of writing can facilitate personal and academic growth for teachers and students.
Each summer, the NPWP hosts a four-week, intensive summer invitational, for teachers interested in exploring ways in which writing, teaching writing, and engaging diversity can facilitate success for ALL teachers and students.

· Director
· Assistant Professor of Secondary English, East Stroudsburg University
· Ph.D. University of Missouri, Columbia
· Assistant Co-Director of Missouri Writing Project (1996—2002)
I grew up in Pennsylvania but spent the last 13 years in Missouri. Writing for me always feels like a process of starting over but starting each time from a different place.

