OEC Staff

Hometown: Champlain, NY
Favorite Place: Poko swim docks at sunset
Favorite Food: Pizza or Sushi
Favorite Mountain or Trail: Laugavegur Trail, Iceland

Favorite Books: Name of the Wind, A Song of Ice and Fire, Theodore Rex, The Alchemist.

Hobbies: Hiking, camping, travel, trail running, reading, basketball.

Specialty Area: Team building & Wilderness Adventure

Previous Education, Employment, and Adventures:

• Studied Adolescent Education at SUNY Oswego
• First attended Poko as an 11 year old student. He loved it so much he came back for 6 seasons as a camper, followed by numerous seasons as Summer Camp staff. After finishing school at Oswego and living for a year in New Zealand, Jon worked his first season as an Outdoor Educator in the Spring of 2014.
• Former Overseas Educator for Carpe Diem Education
• Traveled to 12 Countries outside the USA, some of them more than once.

Favorite Quote: “Then there is the most dangerous risk of all–the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later.” -Randy Komisar

Other Interesting Information: Born in 1989 but he has never had a 28th birthday. Let him know if you think you can solve this riddle.

Hometown: Honeoye Falls, NY
Favorite Place: Dawson City, Yukon Territory
Favorite Food: Anything Thai or Indian
Favorite Mountain: Chugach Mountains, Alaska
Favorite Books: Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse
Hobbies: Exploring the woods and mountains, wood carving, writing, reading and canoeing.
Specialty Area: Rock Climbing and Survival

Previous Education, Employment, and Adventures:

• Backpacking and sea kayaking in Alaska
• Wilderness canoeing in the Yukon
• Many Adirondack adventures
• I went to school for Politics and Philosophy but I discovered that I prefer spending time in the mountains. I have worked building trails, caretaking on lakes and mountain tops, helping manage invasive species in the ADKs and have worked in plenty of kitchens.

Favorite Quote: “Between every two pine trees there is a door leading to a new way of life.” – John Muir
Other Interesting Information: When I was younger, I thought I could fly…and found out I couldn’t — Ask me to tell you the story!

Hometown: Burrillville, RI
Favorite Place: New Hampshire, in the heart of the Whites
Favorite Food: Any type of fried seafood
Favorite Mountain: Crawford Notch, NH
Favorite Books: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Hobbies: Hiking, running, guitar, reading, and skiing

Previous Education, Employment, and Adventures:

• Adventure Leadership Student at Lyndon State College
• 10 day Kayak trip in Penobscot Bay, Maine
• Many backpacking trips in the White and Green Mountains

Favorite Quote: “We’re all beautiful golden sunflowers inside”-Allen Ginsburg

Other Interesting Information: I have a twin sister named Kaidy

Hometown: Montreal, QC, Canada
Favorite Place: La Fontaine Parc in Montreal
Favorite Food: Paella
Favorite Mountain: Avery Peak, Maine
Favorite Books: Carrie by Stephen King; A Long Way to A              Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers; The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak.
Hobbies: Ukulele, Crochet, Reading, Snowboarding, and jogging.

Previous Education, Employment, and Adventures:

• Currently working on a B.Ed. from Concordia University; DEC in Social Science in Math from John Abbott College.Camp Counsellor, Nature director at Camp Tamakwa, Literacy Camp Counsellor in Nunavik, NGO intern/admin assistant. Maine portion of Appalachian Trail, Canoe trips in Algonquin Park, La Cloche Silhouette Trail in Killarney Park

Favorite Quote: “If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere” – Van Gogh
Other Interesting Information: I speak French and love cats

Hometown: Endicott, New York
Favorite Place: Camp Huntington on Raquette Lake
Favorite Food: Chocolate Chip Cookies
Favorite Body of Water: Green River as it runs through Desolation Canyon in Eastern Utah
Favorite Books: Mortal Instruments Series (I feel a special connection to the heroine as a red head who shares the same name)

Hobbies: Cooking / Baking, Hiking, Canoeing, Playing games (all sorts)
Specialty Area: Canoeing

Previous Education, Employment, and Adventures:

• Bachelor of Science in Therapeutic Recreation from SUNY Cortland
• Theraputic Recreation Intern at Camp High Hopes (Sioux City, IA)
• NOLS Spring Semester in the Rockies – Winter camping, canoneering, rock climbing, whitewater canoeing
• Outdoor Educator/wilderness canoe guide for Wilderness Inquiry (Minneapolis, MN)
• Canoemobile – 3 month east coast tour that involves taking youth in big cities (NYC, Boston, Philly, Atlanta) canoeing on their local waterways

Favorite Quote: “There is no such beauty as where you belong” – Stephen Paulus ‘The Road Home’

Hometown:  Chicago, IL
Favorite Place:  Memorial Union Terrace, Madison WI
Favorite Food:  Giordano’s Pizza
Favorite Mountain: Lake Mendota, Madison WI
Favorite Books: Ender’s Game, Harry Potter series
Hobbies:  Hiking, Reading, Card/Board games, Chillin out, Maxin, Relaxin all cool, shootin some bball outside of the school.
Specialty Area: Team Building

Previous Education, Employment, and Adventures:

• BS in Elementary Education from UW-Madison
• Facilitated teambuilding workshops, including high and low ropes courses, with the Adventure Learning Programs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Studying abroad for a summer in Norway and travelling the Nordic countries, including hiking and white-water rafting.

Quotation: “Fiction, because it is not about somebody who actually lived in the real world, always has the possibility of being about oneself.” Orson Scott-Card, Ender’s Game

Hometown: Huntington Beach, CA
Favorite Place: I love being in any type of mountains, but if I had to specifically choose a place, it would have to be Yosemite (especially backpacking, where you can get away from the crowds)!
Favorite Food: Thai food, Indian food, any form of potato.
Favorite Mountain, trail or body of water & its location: Like I said above, Yosemite.  I’m also very fond of the Gaviota wind caves and Elwood Mesa, both near Santa Barbara, CA
Favorite Book(s): The Omnivore’s Dilemma, A Thousand Splendid SUns, and Harry Potter Series, the Eragon series, and definitely more than that I’,m blanking on!
Hobbies: Hiking, backpacking, reading, team sports, video and board games, embroidery, being outside in any capacity, and wanting to get more into climbing and other fun arts’n’crafts!
Specialty Area: Survival

Previous Education, Jobs, and Adventures:

• B.A. Environmental Studies at UC Santa Barbara
• Catalina Island Marine Institute Summer Camp Instructor, Avalon CA
• Outdoor Science Educator at High Trails Outdoor Science School , Angelus Oaks, CA
• Volunteer Docent at NatureTrack, Santa Barbara, CA
• Study abroad with Wildland Studies in Ecuador, through the Andes, the Amazon, and the Galapagos
• Recent adventures include backpacking the Trans-Catalina Trail over 4 days, backpacking in Yosemite for 4 days, camping and exploring in Death Valley, Joshua Tree, and Deep Creek Hot Springs

Quote: “Everything you do is a vote for how you want the world to be”

Other Interesting Info: I’ve lived in SoCal my whole entire life, and living in a place with seasons and weather is a big, new, exciting challenge!