Two years as a graduate assistant with Shaver’s Creek redefined my career and guided me down a path that my doctoral supervisor didn’t imagine possible. The Center’s senior staff’s support changed my worldview and made me a better educator.
Years at Shaver’s Creek: 2005–2007
Positions Held: Graduate Assistant
Current Company/Organization: AutumnSpring Counseling
After 20+ years in higher education as a professor and program coordinator, I allowed a new part of me to grow and returned to school to become a licensed professional counselor. With that career change, I now own AutumnSpring Counseling and support clients with grief, career, and clinical mental health concerns. A keen focus on sustainability, a land ethic, and the systemic human interdependence with our Earth are all surprisingly useful concepts to develop a mindful connection between our selves and our environment. Outside of work, I’m active with Scouting America on the local and national levels of leadership, and enjoy that my children Finn and Amelia strengthen their bond with nature and the outdoors with some of their closest Scouting friends each week. My spouse, Rebecca, a former Shaver’s Creek volunteer, now leads Scouts into the outdoors and teaches them the same skills she delivered as a program assistant in the woods around the Sugar Shack.