Being a “blockhead” set me up for a lifetime of outdoor education.
Years at Shaver’s Creek: 2011–2016
Positions Held: Outdoor School, Block/SEED Semester, ORION Leader, VEGA Leader
Current Company/Organization: Virginia Commonwealth University
I currently work as a senior coordinator for outdoor leadership for the Department of Recreation and Wellbeing at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and also teach classes in the Certificate of Outdoor Leadership in the VCU School of Life Science. Shaver’s Creek solidified my love of teaching outdoors. I gained tons of skills I still use every day, from lighting WhisperLites at ORION (and learning how to not burn my hair) to teaching students how to teach (invoking Doug’s “chocolate cake” metaphor often). I think fondly of my first WFR class in the upper classroom during a polar vortex, as I now teach wilderness medicine classes across the Mid-Atlantic for Stonehearth Open Learning Opportunities (SOLO). I built a personal and professional community that I carry with me, and Shaver’s Creek is one of the bright lights of my Penn State experience.