KAMANA - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Adult Programs Staff Member
- Immersion Core Instructor
Job Titles:
- Secretary of the Board of Trustees
A life-long lover of nature and wild places, Ava graduated from The Immersion at Wilderness Awareness School in 2019. In her role as Board Secretary, she brings more than three decades of experience helping museums, zoos, aquariums, and nature centers fulfill their conservation missions through public engagement. During most of her career, Ava worked for the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where she developed and evaluated programs and exhibitions, as well public policy campaigns. Her academic training includes an undergraduate degree in biology, a graduate certificate in science journalism, and a master's degree in education.
Having recently entered her seventh decade of life, Ava is committed to rewilding herself and her fellow humans and is training to become a wilderness rites-of-passage guide. Her vision is to create transformative experiences in nature that allow people to discover and nurture their true gifts. By joining the Board, Ava seeks to support WAS as a national leader in outdoor education while strengthening the school's connections with its students, its alumni, and the world at large. She currently resides in Bellingham, Washington, on the ancestral lands of the Coast Salish people.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Immersion Admissions Coordinator
- the Immersion Admissions Coordinator
Brooke grew up exploring the woodlands, valley farms, and salty shores of the Pacific Northwest where she first became aware of the mysterious sentience she feels in wild spaces. She spent years working in marine conservation adoring the orcas and spiny lumpsuckers of the Salish Sea, until her attention shifted to life on land. She attended Alderleaf Wilderness College where she earned a Level III Track & Sign Certification, a Permaculture Design Certificate, became a Wilderness First Responder, and coordinated the yearlong Advanced Wilderness Skills Program. Brooke recently attended the Nature Connected Coaching program at Earth Based Institute, and apprenticed at The Immersion at Wilderness Awareness School where she learned to listen harder.
Most of all she loves wandering the wilds with people who marvel at the same things she does - animal tracks, native plants, bird calls - and sharing curiosity about all we find.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Outreach Coordinator
- Treasurer
- Treasurer of the Board of Trustees
Carter McBride brings over 40 years of banking, biopharmaceutical, higher education, and experiential-learning experience to WAS. Carter is a member of the North Cascades Institute (NCI) - Board of Trustees, Sierra Club - State of Washington - ExCom - Board Member, and Wilderness Awareness School - Board of Trustees. Carter previously was an Outdoor Afro-National - Board Member and National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) - Advisory Council. He is also a graduate of The Immersion at Wilderness Awareness School, NOLS Instructor Course, and a Boy Scouts of America - Wood Badge Recipient.
Carter's goal is to assist in moving WAS forward while utilizing his extensive professional background in marketing, training, and experiential learning that supports both the vision and mission of WAS. Carter enthusiastically embraces this opportunity to explore how we can create a better natural world for all.
Carter graduated with a BS from the University of Central Oklahoma and an MBA from the same. Carter is an avid outdoors person, which includes primitive & traditional bushcrafts skills while simultaneously embracing modern equipment and technologies. Carter is so fortunate to live on both sides of The North Cascades Mountain Range in Seattle and Twisp, WA.
Chuck Newquist has been involved with Wilderness Awareness School since the mid 1990s, as a parent, student, volunteer and board member. His son Erik graduated from our Community School program in 2001, and Chuck was deeply inspired by seeing Erik appreciate and benefit from his Wilderness Awareness School experience. Chuck works as an engineer at Boeing, as a member of their Technical Fellowship program.
Chuck has a PhD in Ceramic Engineering from the University of Washington and has been an adjunct professor for Central Washington University. He is currently developing Sunbreak Solar, a small business dedicated to making renewable energy a part of everyday life.
As a boy, Chuck spent summers exploring the forests around Mount Baker, where his father worked the summer months for the Forest Service. Chuck believes that all children and adults need time in nature, and supports the Wilderness Awareness School mission of fostering connections with the natural world.
Job Titles:
- Coyotes, Community School, Wild Within 1
- Youth Program Instructor
Since moving to Western Washington as a teenager, Conor has fallen in love with the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest. Conor is a graduate of Huxley College of the Environment with degrees in Environmental Science and Environmental Education, and has worked with Wilderness Awareness School's summer youth programs since 2015.
Conor enjoys finding himself in nature and making community connections by sharing his love of the outdoors. As a naturalist, he enjoys starting and tending fires, building shelters, stealth and movement challenges, and grounding himself in gratitude for all that the earth provides.
Job Titles:
- Instructor
- Youth Programs Staff Member
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Operations Manager
Craig hails from the Hill Country of central Texas where he played and explored as a child - getting into all kinds of adventures, both real and imagined. After discovering a passion for wilderness survival skills and tracking, he attended classes at the Tracker School and Boulder Outdoor Survival School. He spent three years as a wilderness/river guide in the Big Bend region of West Texas and developed a love of the Southwest.
In 2013, he moved to the Pacific Northwest where he attended The Immersion at Wilderness Awareness School and the next year as an apprentice in Nature Instructor Training. He loves good music, good stories, and good friends. He still gets into adventures - both real and imagined.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Program Director
Dan Corcoran has worked with Wilderness Awareness School in many different roles over the years. He attended The Immersion in 2002, then the Nature Instructor Training apprenticeship in 2003. After 7 years as a Kamana, Youth Program, and Survival Instructor, he transitioned to the administration team supporting programs and marketing. He is currently our Program Director.
Dan has continued to be our Survival Skills Specialist; he teaches a variety of wilderness survival and primitive living classes for The Immersion at Wilderness Awareness School and the public. His passions include wilderness survival, bowmaking, hunting, and raising his two sons. Dan is a Kamana graduate, has a Level 3 Track and Sign Certification, and is a former member of King County Search and Rescue.
On a farm in Idaho, Don played outside from ages 9 to 15, getting pretty good at shooting a bow and arrow from a horse and making fire by friction, just from reading and learning on his own. When The Tracker by Tom Brown Jr. came out, he was really taken by it, yet was unable to pursue that interest much until years later, after he scaled back his psychiatry practice in Mount Vernon, and moved to Redmond. Checking out Tom Brown Jr. on the internet, Don discovered that there was a much closer place than New Jersey to pursue that interest, namely our school in Duvall started by Tom's first student, Jon Young. Don found the community he wanted when he heard the Thanksgiving address at one of our Monday Night Meetings. He was deeply impressed with how the œAcorn (the facilitating team) for those meetings operated. Don says he could not figure out who was in charge at the meeting, but it worked seamlessly. From there, he continued to get more involved with Wilderness Awareness School and its programs, eventually becoming one of our beloved Elders.
Eileen was involved with Wilderness Awareness School when the school first came to Washington in 1995 and attended the first Art of Mentoring workshop. She and her family helped start our first homeschool program, Community School, and organized the Tracking Club.
The Art Of Mentoring has become her foundation in homeschooling her children, teaching in her work, her marital arts and her fiber arts. She has worked as a Respiratory Therapist and currently is a Curriculum Developer and Trainer of the electronic medical records at Seattle Childrens. Through the school she reconnected to her passionate nature by making life long friendships with many wild things, including her œwild human friends .
When not in the woods or behind a computer, she expresses her art through basket weaving in the style of Tapestry and Navajo Weaving.
Job Titles:
- Youth Programs Staff Member
- Youth Program Instructor
Hannah Libby drove out to WA from Vermont and graduated from The Immersion at Wilderness Awareness School in 2015. She is now a Lead Instructor. As a child she was enrolled at Waldorf School for several years and it had a profound impact on her perception of the world around her. Before coming out to the Pacific Northwest she finished up her BAs in Restoration Ecology & Conservation Biology with a minors in Astrobiology and Marine Science. For her final thesis she designed and implemented a Forest Stewardship program that would provide paid work study positions for students interested in pursuing passions in the natural world. Her outdoor adventures started with her mother, father, grandmother and grandfather. Her mother exposed her to the greenery and dirt of the world, while her father fostered her organic love of the ocean by sailing atop of it and diving beneath it. Her grandmother taught her about the little creatures, such as birds, snails, and bees, and how to tend them. Her grandfather was always tracking animals and building bows, which has resulted in a 20 year obsession. Deeply in love with the arts, she has been drawing, taking photos and making jewelry as long as she has known she has had hands. She recently became certified as a Natural Science Illustrator.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Bookkeeper & Book Store Manager
- Bookkeeper, Bookstore & Kamana Manager, Bird Language Specialist
Heather's deep relationship with nature began through summers as a camper then counselor at a New Hampshire YMCA camp, which helped land her first real job as an environmental educator at a residential outdoor school. More than twenty years later shes gained a bachelor of arts in Psychology, a master of science in Environmental Biology, a master of fine arts in creative writing, and a multi-page resume comprising positions at outdoor schools, parks systems and environmental nonprofits around the country. Heather attended The Immersion at Wilderness Awareness School in 2007-2008, and after a few more years wandering between the wilds of the North Cascades and the urban wilds of Portland Oregon, Heather returned to Duvall to apply her multi-faceted experience behind the scenes at WAS, where she wears multiple hats including Bookkeeper, Kamana Mentor, Bookseller, Bird Language Club Coordinator, and all-around Office Elf.
Heather's passions include reading and writing creative nonfiction, watching and listening to birds, swimming in rivers and lakes, getting nature tattoos, and making order out of chaos. She is the author of two nature memoirs: Going Feral: Field Notes on Wonder and Wanderlust, and Wolf Tree: an Ecopsychological Memoir in Essays.
Job Titles:
- Roots & Wings, Monthly Program Coordinator
- Youth Programs Instructor
Jason began his connection to nature skills with his father, Mike. At a very young age he was taught to camp, fish, build fires, and most importantly, to respect all facets of the natural world. Well into his late teens he was an active member of the Scouts BSA program, where he earned the rank of Eagle Scout at 15 years old. Jason brings 20 years of mentoring experience in the field of music, and has very much enjoyed melding those techniques with the art of mentoring children towards what he calls the "Music of Nature".
Jason is a graduate of The Immersion, and believes in the positive influence that playful nurturing in wilderness education can provide both the child and their immediate/extended family. He believes that the skills one learns in these programs translate into any life experience one may encounter. Outside of being a Nature Mentor, Jason is a drummer, singer, piano player, and songwriter. He spends time watching and listening to birds, writing stories, connecting with family, and thinking of ways to bring out the best in all people whom he encounters.
Jenn Wolfe has trained with Jon Young and Wilderness Awareness School since 1994 in the Arts of Animal Tracking, Mentoring and Naturalist Training Skills. She also completed a 9-month Animal Tracking Apprenticeship program in California, with Jon Young and Mark Elbroch. Jenn has been Lead Instructor for many years on Adult Expeditions, tracking animals in the wilds of Idaho's backcountry as well as working with adults locally through Tracking Club, tracking intensives and other adult programs in the Puget Sound Area.
As a "free range child" living in many different rural environments, Jenn had unlimited access to the woods and fields of her various backyards. Her Dad led her and her five siblings on many adventures into the wilds, while her Mom grounded her to the earth, through gardens and family. As an adult, Jenn became a public school teacher with a BA in Education and a BFA in Art. Finding Wilderness Awareness School brought her "Home" with a much deeper experience of the natural world. Along with her love for tracking and the natural world, Jenn also loves to create works of art and play with her grandchildren.
Job Titles:
- Youth Programs Staff Member
- Youth Program Instructor
Over the last ten years Jesse Phillips has co-designed and directed a summer day camp for at-risk youth; completed an environmental writing degree with honors; run a small farm business; tutored at colleges; and played and learned with kids aged 4-60 in classrooms, gyms, gardens, on farms, and in forests.
Jesse came to Duvall in 2013 to complete a year at The Immersion and a second year apprenticeship in Nature Instructor Training. He is passionate about creating well-crafted programs that empower people from all walks of life to come alive and claim their powerful, positive selves. He loves to sing, climb trees, wander the landscape, listen to birds, study plants, and play the ukulele. He also delights in sports and games of all kinds.
Job Titles:
- President
- President of the Board of Trustees
- Chief Executive Officer at Laird Norton Wealth Management
Kristen Bauer, Chief Executive Officer at Laird Norton Wealth Management, has more than two decades of experience in private wealth management, financial services, and business management. She is passionate about working closely with multiple generations within successful families to help them naviage challenges, change, and generational transitions. Before joining LNWM, Kristen was a senior leader at Tiedemann Advisors serving as Managing Director for the Pacific Northwest. She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Personal Financial Specialist (PFS).
Kristen has been passionate about children, communities and connecting to the environment since her early 20s when she first took a Tom Brown course in New Jersey. Since then, she has been involved in several different initiatives focused on preserving nature and deepening our connection to it. First, as a summer instructor at a nature-based camp in Indiana where her children now attend and most recently as the Vice Chair of the board for The Nature Conservancy. She originally came in contact with Wilderness Awareness School when it first came to Seattle in the mid 90s and was a student of several courses led by Jon Young. She is excited about bringing all her skills and experience to help further the mission and vision of WAS.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Marketing & Communications Director
Leah grew up in Minnesota and began her career in marketing when she moved to Los Angeles in 2007 to work for a startup tech company. Since then she has lived in Portland, Oregon, and Western Colorado where she has filled marketing roles in the construction industry, advertising world, and in various startups.
For the last eight years, Leah has practiced folk herbalism and wildcrafting around the Mountain West. She has a deep love for plant study, ethical foraging, and hand-crafted wild medicine.
Joining the Wilderness Awareness School as the Marketing and Communications Director, Leah has been able to merge her career in marketing with her passion for herbalism. She enjoys road trips, gardening, reading, traditional crafts, and being cozy in her log cabin with her husband and dog Smalls.
Lydia is a thoughtful and dedicated mentor who builds strong relationships and cultivates an environment full of fun and laughter. She loves to build fires, climb trees, craft, bake, and go long-distance hiking!
She came to Wilderness Awareness School last year from the UK to do the Youth Nature Instructor Training. Back in England she co-ran and taught at a small Forest School called Seeking Wild. Before finding her way to nature based education she taught yoga to children, refugees & asylum seekers, University students, and in studios.
Job Titles:
- Youth Programs Staff Member
- Youth Program Instructor
Growing up in an off-the-grid cabin, Manon has been immersed in nature from a young age. She began connecting with it more intentionally in her teens, as a student in Wilderness Awareness School's Community School. Since then, she has studied botany and environmental education at The Evergreen State College, graduated from The Immersion and the second-year Nature Instructor Training apprenticeship, and worked for numerous nature-connection organizations. Manon is intensely passionate about blending into the landscape, and wild plants. She also really likes friction fire, and witnessing humans as they investigate the wild places inside of themselves, as well as outside. Sometimes Manon sheds her nature mentor skin and transforms into a yoga teacher, runner, and CrossFit athlete. Movement reminds her that her own body is the most constantly accessible wild animal she can interact with.
Job Titles:
- Adult Programs Staff Member
- Immersion Program Manager
- the Immersion Program Manager
Thanks to a childhood of time spent outdoors, Marcus got an early start working in the environmental education field and has worked in wilderness education, outdoor leadership, and conservation for numerous organizations and communities for nearly two decades. He earned a degree in Environmental Studies from Miami University in Oxford, OH in 2002, and went on to serve as conservation programs director for Philmont Scout Ranch in Northern New Mexico. He was drawn to Washington State from Kentucky, to attend The Immersion at Wilderness Awareness School in 2005. A year later, he served as a Nature Instructor Training apprentice before becoming an instructor in the fall of 2007.
In addition to working at Wilderness Awareness School for the last 14 years, Marcus is a naturalist, advocate, filmmaker, and photographer engaged in telling stories that bring to light and life, the complexity of humans living in the 21st century. He also works as an evaluator with the North American division of Cybertracker Conservation, Tracker Certification North America and teaches for numerous organizations in North America, Europe, and Africa.
Marlee grew up in the plains of central Oklahoma, wandering through wild spaces, exploring creeks, chasing armadillos, and climbing trees on her grandmother's homestead. In 2019, she moved to Washington to attend The Immersion. Through the program, she discovered the magic of building a soulful relationship with the natural world while in community. She continued following this thread by instructing WAS summer camps, completing the Wild Plant Intensive, and participating in the Nature Instructor Training where she worked with Foxes and Community School. In 2021, she also began leading rite of passage backpacking trips for young women.
Marlee is full of wonder. Some things she wonders about often are how plants communicate with humans (and vice versa), how to empower youth to live their most vibrant lives, and what wisdom can be gleaned from the dream world. Marlee feels most alive when she is sharing stories and songs around a fire, dancing, practicing yoga, writing poetry, crafting, and spending time with plants, animals, and other wild humans.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Instructor at Wilderness Awareness School
- Land & Facilities Manager
Mike Prince is a veteran instructor at Wilderness Awareness School and serves as Land & Facilities Manager and Lead Ranger. Prince's previous roles have been as Operations & Finance Director, Summer Program Director, Immersion Core Instructor, Lead Instructor of Community School & Wild Within, and Land Manager for Linne Doran. As a Delaware native, Prince spent many years exploring the wilds of the Chesapeake Bay region and the Mid-Atlantic coast. He earned a BA from the University of Rochester in upstate NY and taught High School for 5 years. He also was a director of a Boy Scout Camp and a YMCA Camp & Conference Center. In 2004 Prince followed the coyote west to join The Immersion and deepen his nature connection and follow his passion for the art of mentoring teens and adults. He has been teaching and leading at WAS ever since.
Prince is a gay man and dreams of creating queer (LBTQ+) teen programs. He continues to walk the path of becoming more himself and tending the center fire. Prince loves tracking wolves, swimming, snorkeling, eating tasty soul food, the way of the scout, his barrel sauna, Seahawks football, stock investing, bird alarms, fire, and wildness.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Program Coordinator
Natalie is passionate about exploring art, science, and nature as equally important paths to knowing ourselves and our world, and blending these elements to inspire curiosity and wonder in others.
Born in Washington, Natalie spent her elementary years in Florida, bushwhacking through swamps, pretending in forts, and watching meteor showers. However, she wouldn't have considered herself "outdoorsy" at the time. She spent much of her young life singing and dancing in the theatre and grew up with a deep appreciation for science and writing. When her family put down roots in the Snoqualmie Valley at the base of Mount Si, a place that Natalie now considers her heart's home, it was these passions that took center stage.
After earning her BFA in Musical Theatre at Central Washington University, Natalie joined the Education team at Seattle's Museum of Flight, where she spent 7 years specializing in traveling outreach programs, planetarium shows, museum theatre, and cultural astronomy. She also joined the Seattle fringe theatre community, where she continues to craft pieces that combine her passions and help upcoming artists realize their weirdest, wildest dreams. A couple of highlights of her career have been sharing the Great American Eclipse of 2017 with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, and writing an interactive children's folk musical about the Mars rovers for Annex Theatre.
Feeling a deep connection between teaching astronomy and her experiences falling back in love with the natural world in her backyard as an adult, Natalie joined WAS in 2021 as an apprentice in the Nature Instructor Training program. After a lovely year with Village, Wild Within, and Monthlies students and staff, she officially joined our team as Summer and Adult Program Coordinator in 2022. She is happiest when sharing a hike and deep conversation with a good friend, and spends her free time exploring the mountains, writing, watercolor painting, making music, or pouring herself into a new crafting adventure. She feels particularly connected to rabbits, deer, Western Red Cedar, the Cascade mountains, the Snoqualmie River, and of course, the sun, moon, stars, and planets.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Adult & Summer Program Manager
Nicole was born in the wild frontier of Juneau, Alaska and was raised among the Elders of the Tlingit and Haida clans. As a child, she was taught Indigenous creation stories and how to build relationships with the natural world. At the age of 12 she moved to the Big Island of Hawaii and grew up learning about the deep roots of mythology, land rights, and rites of passage woven into the culture of the Hawaiian people.
In 2004, she moved to Los Angeles to study Film and spent 10 years exploring the art of storytelling through film, photography and writing. During this time, she became interested in her own ancestral lineage and found herself in Norway hiking the Fjords, and learning of her own Sámi heritage.
After living in Berlin, Germany for 6 years teaching workshops on storytelling in nature and working with non-profit organizations, she returned to Hawaii to work as a Program Coordinator for a wilderness therapy program.
She brings both nature connection and years of program management to the role of Program Coordinator at WAS. Nicole enjoys poetry, Norse mythology, rites of passage journeys, rainy days, ritual theater, altar-building, and moon bathing.
Pam Hawes serendipitously found our school when Jon Young gave his first Monday Night class in 1995. Having always loved being outside, she found the words that Jon spoke resounding in her heart and soul. Since then, Pam has completed most of the classes that Wilderness Awareness School offers, including finishing the Kamana Naturalist Training Program in 2006 and participating in the first several years of Tracking Intensives. These studies have opened up a whole new world for her, and she definitely sees the environment with different eyes, ears and senses.
Seeing the damage to our human family when it is separated from its natural home, Pam would love all children to be exposed to these universal teachings. She is keen to support the school in whatever ways she can.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Operations & Finance Director
Pamela is inspired by the joyful exuberance of the chickadee and is over the moon to be part of the WAS family where she can serve others who bring the spirit and love of nature to life. As the Operations & Finance Director, Pamela is a servant leader who thrives at the intersection of building genuine relationships and organizational excellence.
Although her roots and life story began on the islands of Guam, Hawaii, and Okinawa, Pamela has called the Pacific Northwest her home for almost 30 years. She has a BA in Accounting from Seattle University and MPA from the University of Washington. She is also a CPA with over 25 years of experience in accounting, finance and business operations in Healthcare, Financial Services, and Media & Telecommunications.
Pamela is most alive striking a strong yoga pose, taking long walks with her dog Piper, and exploring the local trails with her husband Jason and son Caleb. Her mindfulness practice includes daily meditation, sipping tea, inspirational reading, and art journaling. She is grateful for the privilege of working in service and stewardship of nature's abundance.
Job Titles:
- Adult Programs Staff Member
- Immersion Core Instructor
Growing up on the Olympic Peninsula to a family steeped in adventure, Phoebe found a sense of home amidst thimbleberries, salmon bones, wild rivers, and the smell of seaweed. She grew up sailing, camping, fishing, kayaking, and exploring, but it wasn't until she first witnessed a hand drill fire at age 14 that her curiosity about nature connection was piqued.
Phoebe attended the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) at age 16 and got her first Wilderness First Responder certification at age 17, which she's held ever since. After spending two years finishing high school in Southern Africa, she went on to work as a backpacking guide for multiple organizations in Washington, Montana, and Alaska with humans of all ages. She graduated from the University of Washington with an honors degree in Environmental Studies and after several years of wandering (including working for a tech giant, becoming a life coach, traveling overseas, and living in Los Angeles) she reunited with a deep sense of belonging in the Pacific Northwest and attended The Immersion at Wilderness Awareness School.
It was at WAS that Phoebe discovered her love of crafting, archery, plants, wildlife tracking, friction fire, and being covered in mud. She graduated from The Immersion in 2021 and from the Adult Nature Instructor Training Program in 2022.
Poetry, song, community, and rites of passage have been common threads that Phoebe continues to follow into the wild unknowns of being a human. She also loves horses with unbridled passion, has a cat named Colonel Oliver Longfox Marten, tends between 2-50 rabbits at any given time, and is a huge plant nerd.
Job Titles:
- Adult Programs Staff Member
- Immersion Core Instructor
- the Immersion Core Instructor
Richie was born and raised in Yelm, WA. Spending his summers camping in Weyerhauser with family and friends he developed a deep love for the forest. Working with youth at Camp Cispus during high school and college he realized his passion for working with kids. He has since dedicated his life to reconnecting with nature, community and self. He is deeply committed to helping both kids and adults to find their passions by sharing his with them.
Since coming to the school in 2007 he has completed The Immersion, Nature Instructor Training, Tracking Intensive, and a number of other adult programs. He has worked at Roots and Wings, Coyotes, Community School, and Wild Within. He is now excited to bring his gifts and passions to the adults as an Immersion core instructor. Things that keep Richie active are going out trailing animals, practicing archery, learning about bird language, making his own sour dough bread, deer bone broth, kombucha, yogurt, kefir, and other kitchen projects, making moccasins, spending time with friends, family, and his beautiful wife Natalie and their daughter Ruby.
Job Titles:
- Village, Coyotes, Assistant Land Manager
- Youth Programs Instructor
Rose joined the WAS Youth Program team after completing The Immersion in 2021. She grew up in the woods near Duvall climbing trees, jumping into the Snoqualmie river, and eating everything off the land she could get her hands on. She spent summers in eastern WA wandering pine forests and high desert rocky canyons, finding belonging and reverence in all that the land and beings that inhabit it provide.
Rose is obsessed with cold plunges, hide tanning, bone crafting, and creative projects that weave together grief, trauma, and love through elements of the natural world.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Program & Events Coordinator
- Youth & Adult Program Coordinator, Events Manager, and Bushcraft Specialist
Samuel Bowman joined the WAS staff in 2012 after completing The Immersion and Nature Instructor Training. He grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of South Western Virginia on his families' dairy farm. From solo wanderings on the farm's 600 acres to working on the farm with the family, Sam discovered a connection and respect for the land and all that are supported by it.
He spent many summers participating in, leading and directing summer camps. From his home church camp in Virginia to a disability camp in Iowa. Along the way learning and having a blast camping, rock climbing, canoeing, horseback riding, white water rafting, and whatever else campers were interested in doing.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Youth Program Instructor
- Youth Program Manager
Shivani spent her youngest years playing with her sister by the creek and in the woods behind their home. Her fondest and most vivid childhood memories include the changing colors of the seasons, crisp fresh air on her skin, the sound of flowing water, and the feeling of the warm sun after a long winter. After childhood, her parents relocated to a concrete jungle. When she finally moved to the rural Snoqualmie Valley after completing a Masters degree in Public Health, she was overloaded with nature nostalgia, quickly seeing and feeling that nature connection is one of the most accessible and powerful tools for building healthy communities. She is now committing herself to spreading nature connection to as many people as possible, teaching skills and routines as quickly as she can learn them. You can sometimes find Shivani tending to plants, hanging out with kids, exploring riverbeds, having a fire with her friends, or playing Ukulele. If you follow the sound of laughter, you might also find Shivani - she loves to laugh!
Job Titles:
- Youth Programs Instructor
Siana grew up in a beautiful indigenous forest on the outskirts of Nairobi, in Kenya. She spent much of her childhood exploring the natural world with her family, going on epic camping trips, gardening with her mum and riding bikes with her brother. Growing up with a deep reverence for the planet, she always felt a deep desire to protect the more than human inhabitants who share the planet with us.
After teaching English in Spain for a year, Siana came to Duvall to participate as a student in The Immersion in 2016. She has since spent 2 years with the Adult Nature Instructor Training in the Immersion, and 1 year with Wild Within 2 in the Youth Nature Instructor Training.
Siana loves her curiosity and how she connects with the natural world through it. She loves biking-especially overnight trips, reading novels, sneaking, crafting, and learning more about Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Registrar
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Tony is retired from Ernst & Young where he was a member of the Management Committee and Firm Vice-Chairman. At Ernst & Young, at different times over the course of his career, he was responsible nation-wide for the Firms Audit Practice, its Planning function, and its Research and Development Group; he managed its Northern California and Seattle Offices; and he was the Coordinating Partner for all services provided to multiple clients of the Firm, including Apple Computers, Genentech, Intel, and Sun Microsystems.
Tony is a long standing, engaged Partner with Social Venture Partners " Seattle (SVP), having served six years on its Board of Directors, acted as Chairman of its Audit Committee, and co-lead the startup of the SVP Fast Pitch competition, now in its sixth year.
At the Washington Society of CPAs, he served six years as a member of the Board of Directors, and also served as President elect, President, and Immediate Past President of the Board. He is a past Member of Council of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
At the University of Washington, Tony served 13 years on the Advisory Board for The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, including several terms as Chairman. He served 12 years on the Advisory Board for the UW Foster School of Business and taught graduate level International Accounting at the School.
Tony is a CPA " Retired and an attorney, having earned a JD from The University of Chicago and a BA in English Literature from St. Marys College, California. He and his wife, Margaret, live in Clyde Hill and have two grown sons and four grandchildren.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Executive Director
- Executive Director of Wilderness Awareness School
Warren Moon is the current Executive Director of Wilderness Awareness School and a member of the Board of Trustees. He began working with Wilderness Awareness School in 1995 as Youth Programs Director. He has since served as an instructor and administrator for all aspects of Wilderness Awareness School's programs until becoming Executive Director in 2001. Warren has a BS in Mechanical Engineering, and worked as an environmental engineer until he discovered that nature and mentoring were his true passions. His vision is to help restore people's reverence for life so that we can be better stewards of ourselves, our communities and our planet.
Warren and his wife M'liss have two daughters Kylah and Cassidy, whose favorite day of the week is when they are in program at Wilderness Awareness School. Warren loves gardening, sports, playing guitar and enjoying the beauty of the Snoqualmie valley with his family.