This summer, we had the pleasure of working with four Art & Writing Fellows here at Scholastic. Each of them are former Art & Writing award-winners, and they brought their skills to bear in various divisions across the company. We asked them to share a bit about themselves, their work, and their interests. Meet Rachel, Rebecca, Adrian, and Miryam!

Introduce yourself, where you’re from, and what department you’re interning in at Scholastic. 

Rachel: My name is Rachel Kosbab and I’m from Colorado Springs, CO. Here at Scholastic I’ve been working with the design team at eScholastic doing graphic design.

Rebecca: My name is Rebecca E. Hu-Van Wright. I’m from New York City (born and raised!), and I’m going into my final year of school in Portland, Oregon. I’m interning at eScholastic as a part of the editorial team for the Kids website, the STACKS.

Adrian: My name is Adrian Poole, I’m from Newark, Delaware, and I’m interning for Scholastic Art —a fantastic classroom magazine about art history, contemporary art, and hands-on studio art projects.

Miryam: I’m Miryam Coppersmith, a native New Yorker, interning in the Export Marketing department. We support the International Sales team working with schools and bookstores to bring Scholastic’s love of learning to over 170 countries around the world!

You are each Scholastic Art & Writing award recipients — can you tell us about your awards?

Rachel: I won a gold medal in painting for a watercolor of an elephant my senior year of high school.

Rebecca: I’m a writing award recipient – I have several keys, gold and silver, for short stories and poetry. Though I’m not entirely sure what some of them were for, I do remember that my first one was for a story I wrote about a creepy roadside diner that was actually purgatory. I think I was in eighth or ninth grade.

Adrian: I won a gold key for an essay in writing and a silver key for my visual arts portfolio.

Miryam: I won a few writing awards from Scholastic—for Senior Portfolio, Dramatic Script and Short Short Story. There’s actually a video of 13-year-old me reading my short story still floating around the internet. Pretty adorable, if I do say so myself.

What’s been your favorite thing about spending your summer working at Scholastic? Or in  New York City in general? 

Rachel: My favorite part about working at Scholastic has been meeting so many wonderful people from all over the place and being able to walk out the door and be in the middle of New York City and just explore!

Rebecca: Working at Scholastic has been like a dream come true – the creative energy in this place is infectious! Every day is like a new adventure. The people that I interact with on an everyday basis have definitely been the highlight of my experience here. They’re all super-passionate about what they do, and are really excited to produce content that will encourage kids to build a love for reading. It’s also been exciting to see the different ways that Scholastic is reaching out to the audience of its titles; children’s literature is so much more than just books nowadays. It’s an entire experience!

Adrian: My favorite thing about working for Scholastic is that I learn something new every day about art and publishing. My second favorite thing would be the terrific view of the city from the Greenhouse!

Miryam: My favorite thing about working at Scholastic was getting to talk to people in all different departments. When you get a book in your hands, you usually think about the work the author, editor and illustrator put into the book. You might not think about the work of the marketing team, salespeople, catalog editors, customer service representatives and everyone else who make that book a reality. Everyone here truly believes in the mission of Scholastic and that’s an inspiring community in which to work.

What’s on your mind? Share with us ANYTHING! 

Rachel: Coffee is my best friend.

Rebecca: My brother and I ducked into Joe Fresh yesterday to seek shelter from the storm (and, okay, to shop). The music they play in there is so hilarious! It’s like all these contemporary pop songs remixed so it sounds like you’re in a European dance club circa 2001. I felt like DJ Sammy and Adele were going to pop out of one of the dressing rooms at any moment, totally ready to party.

Adrian: Everybody should go out and see “Beasts of the Southern Wild” in theaters.

Miryam: Right now I’m hoping it stays nice outside! My Cyclones game got rained out on Sunday—though they were winning 8-0, so it wasn’t a big deal

Thanks, fellows!