Meet the Summer 2022 Camp Staff

Hi! My name is Laiba Abbas. I am a rising senior at Stephen T. Mather High School, Class of 2023. I was born in Pakistan and my first language is Urdu. My academic interests are Science, History and Math. I’m involved in the Environmental Club and the Crochet Club at Mather High School. Next year, I plan on joining the National Honor Society and the Badminton Team. I really enjoy nature and learning about it. I have worked with my Environmental Club members to raise awareness on recycling plastic and how important it is for us to take care of nature. I am really excited to learn about insects and pollinator behavior through the Wildcat Science Camp. I am also looking forward to working with my fellow counselors and campers.

Hi my name is Liya Waite-Ordonez. I was born in Chicago, but raised in Columbus, Georgia. I recently moved back a year ago and so far, I like it. I’m a rising sophomore at Stephen T. Mather High School. My interests in school involve history, science, and algebra. My personal hobbies include crochet, reading novels/fanfiction, hair, and fashion. I’m very excited to be joining the Northwestern Wildcat Science Camp team as a counselor. I’m looking forward to all the research and experiments we will be doing with the campers this summer. Besides all the science, I will be looking forward to  having fun and getting to know the campers.

Hello! My name is Karla Acuna. I am currently a senior at Stephen T. Mather High School in Chicago. A little more about my background is that I am hisspanic and speak both English and Spanish fluently. I came to Chicago with my family from Guatemala at the age of 11 years old and I have been living here around 7 years. My academic interests are mathematics, art, and business. I will be committing to college to pursue a  degree in business management.

Along with my academic interests, I'm involved in the Mather Varsity Soccer team. Next year I will also be on the Track and Field team. I hope to join more clubs next year at Mather High School since it is my last year in high school. I would like to be in the Art Club, E-Sports Club, and National Honor Society. I am really excited and happy to be a Wildcat Science Camp counselor once again and work with new campers and people. I look forward to creating fun activities and, of course, memories. Being a camp counselor at Northwestern was such a fun experience and a really good environment working with amazing people.




Hello! My name is Isabella Killian, and I am a counselor for the 2022 Wildcat Science Camp. I am a current junior at Northwestern University, majoring in Biological Sciences with a concentration in Health and Human Disease, as well as minoring in Sociological Research. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, and have lived in Illinois my whole life.

 Outside of school, I play clarinet in the Northwestern University Marching Band (go cats)! I am also a current Managing Editor for The Flipside, Northwestern’s satire newspaper, and am a member of the Northwestern Quizbowl Team.

 I’m really excited to start working with all of the other campers! The experiments that the staff has been working on are super fun, and I know the campers will love them too. I’m also excited to be able to introduce our campers to Northwestern’s beautiful campus and the facilities available to them through the campus’s science departments, most notably their lab spaces. I hope that this program helps our campers develop a love for biology and Northwestern!

Hi! My name is Dan Meyer, and I am delighted to be working on the Wildcat Science Camp! I am finishing my fourth year at Science in Society, where I manage the partnership we have with Mather and Lake View High Schools. Prior to joining Northwestern, I’ve spent most of my professional career in teacher education, focusing on scientific inquiry.

I received my Ph.D. from Cornell University, which is where I developed my interest in applying ideas from Science & Technology Studies to K-12 education. My central passion is figuring out creative ways to engage school students in activities that reflect the authentic practice of science. I’m excited about the opportunity to work with students in the Northwestern labs and use the Evanston campus as a field site.

I moved to Chicago about 15 years ago, and love Chicago, but will always be a New Yorker at heart.