Meet Us
Meet the Schwartzwalds
Ilise Schwartzwald has been working in camping year-round since 1974. She earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Michigan,
has taught high school in Highland Park & Deerfield District 113, and has developed a number of preschools. Ilise is a member of the American Camp Association (ACA),
and is a former ACA-IL section executive board member and Midwest Association of Independant Camps (AIC) co-president. Ilise has been a certified WSI, lifeguard, and lifeguard instructor
since 1967. She coached high school level gymnastics. Originally, Discovery Day Camp was Ilise’s dream.
David Schwartzwald was involved in camp from the beginning, while he worked in other professions. David is a graduate of Loyola University
and a Certified Public Accountant who worked in the accounting field as well as in private industry. David joined Discovery full time in 1990.
David was the co-president of the Midwest AIC. He has been treasurer of the Illinois section of the ACA and David remains an
active board member.
The Schwartzwald children all attended Discovery as campers and staff members. All remain active in camp in varying degrees. While all three
Schwartzwald children have active professional lives besides camping; Mitchell, Karen, and Emily find time to be at camp for one
or more camp days every summer. They are all involved with various off-season planning too.
Karen Schwartzwald graduated with a degree in Communciation Sciences & Disorders from Northwestern University
in 2002. She finished her master’s degree in speech and language pathology from Purdue University in 2004.
Karen interned at the Chicago Rehabilitation Institute before accepting a job for the Northern Suburban
Special Education District(NSSED). Karen worked as a speech pathologist for NSSED for three years, but we have been lucky enough to have her working
at camp for at least part of every summer since she entered high school. Currently, Karen is working at camp full time. Karen has been an assistant group leader,
group leader, Aquatics’ Director, Substitute Director, Program Director, and Unit Director.
Karen knows camp backwards and forwards and can carry out any job at camp!
Karen’s background in speech and special education as well as her experience at Discovery
makes her an invaluable addition to the DDC staff.
Emily Schwartzwald graduated with a degree in engineering from the University of Illinois in May 2005.
Before completing college Emily worked many summers at Discovery. The positions she held include assistant leader,
explorer leader, group leader, and Aquatic's Director. After graduating Emily accepted a position in the executive
training program with Federal Mogul Corporation. Her first rotation was in St. Johns MI., where she worked as a
quality engineer. Next, Emily was assignmemt in Puebla Mexico, where she continiued in quality control engineering.
Currenly, she is assigned to the Skokie plant and resides in Chicago. Emily managed to spend a couple of days at camp in 2006 and 2007 as well
as giving suggestions about program, staff, shirt design, and organization on a regular basis.
Mitchell graduated with a degree in Management Information Systems from Purdue University in 1999. Currently,
Mitchell is a practice manager for BEA Systems. He married Laura Septon in 2002 and the two live in the Wicker Park
with their son Joseph (born in april of 2006). Laura is a CPA who works part time. Mitchell worked at
camp as an assistant group leader, substitute group leader, Aquatics’ Director, and Operational Director. Currently,
Mitchell lends his expertise to the Discovery website as well as many other computer and facility management
concerns.
Joseph Schwartzwald loves visiting camp. He particularly like swimming in our pool, playing in the preschool room, and climbing on the playground.
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