EARTH NATIVE WILDERNESS SCHOOL - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Forest Preschool Instructor
Alyssa worked in the landscaping industry for nearly three years which helped her develop solid native Texas plant identification skills, as well as strong leadership and management skills. She also spent a year of service with the 4-H Capital AmeriCorps program as a Natural Resources & Garden Science instructor at Title I elementary schools in the Austin area helping students learn how to plant, grow, maintain, and harvest their own food, as well as how to fish, camp, and compost.
Her favorite thing about the outdoors is the silence and tranquility and the ability to pause the stresses of life and embrace the simplicity and complexity of the planet that we share with so many other species. Alyssa is so happy that she has been able to continue following her passions through her career, spending time outdoors and inspiring and stewarding others' connection with nature.
Alyssa was a city kid who moved to the country when she was young and immediately fell in love with the open spaces and the animals that came with it. These interests led her to pursue a degree in Wildlife Biology at Texas State University where she learned about animal behavior, plant identification, and animal tracking. While at Texas State she had the opportunity to intern at the San Antonio Zoo where she got the chance to work closely with animals and learn more about their characteristics and behavior. Later, while working as a youth recreational instructor, Alyssa realized she had a passion for teaching and sharing nature experiences with children and began pursuing a career in environmental education.
Anne Vincent had the privilege of being born into a family that knew and loved wild places. Growing up in Southeast Texas, she was very much at home in the tannin darkened waters of big thicket. Cypress, pine, blue heron, gators, and sugar sand bars on the Neches unfolded some of their mysteries and taught her a love of nature that would ultimately influence her path in life.
Job Titles:
- Forest Preschool Director
Britt Luttrell is a native of Austin, Texas. Growing up he spent many an afternoon catching bugs or in some treehouse he had built with his nose in a journal. His father worked for the Texas Agriculture Department and used to take him on ranch visitations where he experienced MASSIVE purple grapes on the trellis and corn fields with more ravens in them than corn. These trips, and others, bound Britt to the natural world in a truly significant way.
Britt loves witnessing the wonders of nature, whether it be giant trees growing on the edges of sheer cliffs or the impossibly perfect adaptations of tiny insects. He loves challenging his body, finding nooks and crannies no person has ever been to before. The stories of an ecosystem captivate him… Are these ants coming or going? Who was here last night? Britt feels so proud to have retained his childhood sense of wonder about the world. He values green belts as much as huge forests and he believes every kid should have a safe place to connect to the Earth and its wildness.
Before joining the Earth Native teaching staff, Britt spent eight years practicing, learning, and teaching young people at Nature's Way Preschool at the Austin Nature and Science Center. He was fortunate enough to study with some leading figures in play-based education, including Tom Hobson (Teacher Tom), International Play Iceland, and others. Britt has held the microphone on discussion panels for the Children in Nature Collaborative of Austin (CINCA) and led countless meetups in the greater community. Between preschool classes, summer camp groups, volunteer days, hiring and training new staff, and international trainings, Britt has shown his city the benefits of playing outside.
With nearly a decade of outdoor education experience, Britt knows that the best place for children to learn is in the woods, forests, and wild places. He is eternally joyful that he has the opportunity to continue to give children some of their first great adventures in nature at Earth Native.
Callie was born and raised in the east Texas Piney Woods. Her love of nature blossomed at an early age listening to the woods come alive in the morning with bird songs and squirrel chirps from her grandparents' back porch. Callie's childhood was divided between time spent in the woods with her brothers creating hideouts that felt like a whole different world, and the basketball court.
Callie's early childhood experiences outdoors inspired her to study Geography at the University of Texas where she majored in geography on the landscape ecology tract and minored in geography.
In the early 2000's, Callie discovered permaculture and began studying the practice through the Austin Permaculture Guild, eventually receiving her Permaculture Design Certificate. To this day she remains fascinated by the natural rhythm that Permaculture provides not only to agriculture but to permaculture communities themselves. Callie is continuously striving to live connected with the land in her off-grid home in Caldwell County. Her dream is to one day live in a Permaculture Paradise.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Founder
Dave Scott can trace his deep love for nature and the outdoors back to his earliest childhood memories in Austin Texas catching crayfish and minnows in the little creek behind the house he grew up in, hunting and fishing with his father and grandfather in Corpus Christi Texas, and riding horses with his brother in the southern Colorado Rockies. After a childhood filled with lots of outdoor exploration and adventure, Dave joined a Search and Rescue team in Southern Colorado where his passion for self-reliance and wilderness survival was kindled further through his experience helping others survive critical wilderness emergencies.
He then went on to serve 6 years in the US Army Military Police Corps. After exiting the military, Dave immediately began pursuing his passion for the outdoors full time, studying, and later teaching, wilderness survival, wildlife tracking, youth and adult mentoring, naturalist studies, and sustainable living skills at wilderness schools across the country.
In 2011, after moving back to his hometown of Austin, TX from the Pacific Northwest, Dave's vision of opening a Wilderness Skills School became reality when he founded Earth Native Wilderness School with plenty of help from his wonderful wife Mikki. It has been one of his greatest life experiences to watch the school grow, along with the wonderful community that it has sparked.
In addition to Wilderness Skills, Dave has an intense passion for wildlife tracking, a skill he has continuously pursued since childhood. Dave has earned Track and Sign Specialist Certificates in two different regions of the United States and is currently serving as a Track and Sign Evaluator with CyberTracker North America.
Dave is the co-author of Bird Feathers: A Guide to North American Species. A book he wrote with his good friend and fellow wildlife tracker Casey McFarland.
As an educator, Dave's passion is to help his students establish strong lifelong bonds with nature and the outdoors through knowledge of wildlife behavior and track and sign identification, increased sensory awareness, wilderness survival skills, self-reliance, and the knowledge of place. Dave's greatest love is spending time outdoors with his wife and kids.
David Croft is a native of the Texas Hill Country and grew up as a "free-range child" with outdoor experience in all parts of Texas. He has interests and experience in Primitive Technologies, SCUBA diving, caving, sailing, flying and wildland studies of all kinds.
Emily grew up in small town Iowa. Enjoying the freedom small town life allowed to explore the local creek with her friends for hours on end without adult supervision, creating magical worlds and meeting fantastical creatures. She can connect her love for the outdoors all the way back to her Grandpa McGrady, who was a naturalist and knew all of the plants by name. She grew up telling him stories while sitting on his lap and hearing about his backpacking adventures. She was also lucky enough to spend regular time at a cabin built by her Great-Grandfather in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Here she thrived among the dirt, pine trees, and lakes filled with the melted mountain runoff each summer. This drew her to the forest.
When it became time for college she attended Whitworth University in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. While pursuing some extra classes for a minor in Biology, she discovered her favorite class was Botany. This again drew her back to the forest.
Fast forward several years and a move to Texas, Emily became a foster parent in Houston and eventually a preschool teacher and later the Education Director at a nonprofit preschool in Austin. Becoming a mother, she ultimately discovered the best place to be with her 3 young boys was outside. Involvement in Free Forest School in Austin, solidified her belief that a deep connection with nature was a core aspect of childhood.
Finally, she discovered Earth Native Wilderness School. All 3 of her boys have attended classes and summer camps here. In 2020, she decided the most important thing to do was sign up for the Earth Native Survival Skills Intensive course for adults. Drawing her again back into the forest. Following the completion of a 5-day survival trip in East Texas she decided she must take Earth Native's 8-month Track and Sign Intensive course. After completion of the course Emily was certified Level II in Wildlife Track and Sign through CyberTracker North America. After completing both of these courses she was inspired to join the teaching team at Earth Native and is continuously excited for the future, as she believes Earth Native school is the perfect union between her love for Mother Nature and teaching future generations in the forest that she so loves.
Emma grew up in Sacramento, California where she gravitated to the outdoors from a young age. Bugs and creatures of any kind have always been her biggest fascination as she spent much of her childhood camping, hiking, and exploring all of the nooks and crannies of California. She had the opportunity to spend the summers in Lake Tahoe, where there was no shortage of wildlife to be inspired by and exploration to be done.
While attending California State University, Chico, Emma had the chance to study in Athens, Greece and further grew her love for the gorgeous outdoors and spent most of her time in the waters of Eastern Europe. She holds a degree in Exercise Physiology and has a passion for the workings of the human body and what it's capable of. This ties in wonderfully with her love for nature as it challenges her to spend lots of her time hiking, biking, running, fishing, climbing, and swimming. The more animal encounters within these activities, the better.
Emma continues to be excited for all of the outdoor adventures to be had in Texas! Before joining the Earth Native team, Emma was a lifeguard for 8 summers, programmed summer camps, and was a Special Education teacher. Emma believes inspiring children to love learning and the outdoors is the most important work to be done.
Eric is a born and raised Austinite and naturalist. As a kid, his summers were filled with trips to Enchanted Rock, Hamilton's Pool, and all the other natural wonders of central Texas. Eric was one of Earth Native's first students back in 2011. He then became an instructor at both Earth Native and the Austin Nature & Science Center. During the past few years, Eric has been working as an engineer in the renewable energy and environmental consulting fields, but he always takes time to reconnect with the natural world and teach people about plants. He is especially interested in edible and medicinal plants and has led numerous plant walks. He enjoys traveling and exploring nature with his wife, Stacy. Eric and Stacy co-founded a yaupon tea business called Local Leaf; they sustainably wild-harvest yaupon from Earth Native School's land to create a bottled yaupon maté drink as well as powdered yaupon matcha. They also co-authored Foraging Texas: Finding, Identifying, and Preparing Edible Wild Foods.
Born into a military family, Eve's earliest memories of his childhood are in Adak, AK, a tiny volcanic Island in the Bearing Sea where he witnessed the power of nature alongside bald eagles, caribou and sea otter in the awe inspiring and rugged tundra landscape. These powerful early childhood experiences helped to instill a lifelong respect for and connection to nature.
Job Titles:
- Forest Preschool Director
- Forest Preschool Instructor
Britt Luttrell is a native of Austin, Texas. Growing up he spent many an afternoon catching bugs or in some treehouse he had built with his nose in a journal. His father worked for the Texas Agriculture Department and used to take him on ranch visitations where he experienced MASSIVE purple grapes on the trellis and corn fields with more ravens in them than corn. These trips, and others, bound Britt to the natural world in a truly significant way.
Britt loves witnessing the wonders of nature, whether it be giant trees growing on the edges of sheer cliffs or the impossibly perfect adaptations of tiny insects. He loves challenging his body, finding nooks and crannies no person has ever been to before. The stories of an ecosystem captivate him… Are these ants coming or going? Who was here last night? Britt feels so proud to have retained his childhood sense of wonder about the world. He values green belts as much as huge forests and he believes every kid should have a safe place to connect to the Earth and its wildness.
Before joining the Earth Native teaching staff, Britt spent eight years practicing, learning, and teaching young people at Nature's Way Preschool at the Austin Nature and Science Center. He was fortunate enough to study with some leading figures in play-based education, including Tom Hobson (Teacher Tom), International Play Iceland, and others. Britt has held the microphone on discussion panels for the Children in Nature Collaborative of Austin (CINCA) and led countless meetups in the greater community. Between preschool classes, summer camp groups, volunteer days, hiring and training new staff, and international trainings, Britt has shown his city the benefits of playing outside.
With nearly a decade of outdoor education experience, Britt knows that the best place for children to learn is in the woods, forests, and wild places. He is eternally joyful that he has the opportunity to continue to give children some of their first great adventures in nature at Earth Native.
Raised in Southwest Houston, Kimberly always wanted to trade the fast-paced city life for a life filled with wild animals and tall trees. Being the eldest of five, Kimberly always found comfort and peace laying underneath trees, watching the clouds go by.
Growing up in a big city, it was hard to find green spaces to connect with as a child. Luckily, Kimberly was able to connect to nature through stories her family would tell her about growing up in a small town in Guatemala. Listening to stories about hiding in the trees, running through streams, and sleeping in hammocks underneath the stars always amazed her and she desperately yearned for a childhood like that. It was her family's stories that inspired Kimberly to care and learn more about the outdoors.
As she grew older, Kimberly spent a lot of holidays hiking and swimming at Brazos Bend State Park and Guadalupe River State Park. During these outings, she always felt a sense of belonging and never wanted to leave these dreamy state parks. These places felt magical and unreal to her and captivated her imagination unlike the city.
It wasn't until she was a student at Texas State University that Kimberly's love for teaching others about wildlife and conservation exploded. Being able to learn about wildlife in Guatemala and Ireland in her college years made her realize how powerful first-hand experiences are and wanted to help others have those experiences.
Alyssa worked in the landscaping industry for nearly three years which helped her develop solid native Texas plant identification skills, as well as strong leadership and management skills. She also spent a year of service with the 4-H Capital AmeriCorps program as a Natural Resources & Garden Science instructor at Title I elementary schools in the Austin area helping students learn how to plant, grow, maintain, and harvest their own food, as well as how to fish, camp, and compost.
Her favorite thing about the outdoors is the silence and tranquility and the ability to pause the stresses of life and embrace the simplicity and complexity of the planet that we share with so many other species. Alyssa is so happy that she has been able to continue following her passions through her career, spending time outdoors and inspiring and stewarding others' connection with nature.
Hannah Loveland was born and raised on the crystal clear headwaters of the Guadalupe, deep in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. From an early age her dad taught her how to ID wildlife, forage, catch snakes, and read the stars. She spent many summer evenings swimming in the river with her brother and sister, and flipping over rocks to find critters. These intimate encounters with the natural world led to a deep love for the ecosystem we are all a part of.
Jack was born in Indianapolis and raised in south central Indiana. Every summer of his childhood was spent in southeastern Kentucky in the backwoods surrounding Dale Hollow Lake. It was there that his fascination with the forest began. As an adult, Jack moved to Washington State to attend the Alderleaf Wilderness Certification Program, it was in this program that his deep love for the outdoors resurfaced and sparked a desire to pursue outdoor education full time. After spending 3 years studying and apprenticing at Alderleaf Wilderness College, where Jack honed his skills in birdwatching, wildlife track and sign identification, wildlife trailing, plant identification, bow making, knife forging, and bushcraft and survival skills, he joined the Earth Native Instructor team as a Youth Programs Instructor.
Jack currently holds certifications in Wildlife Track and Sign Identification, Wildlife Trailing, Permaculture Design, and Wilderness First Responder. He spends his free time camping and hiking, going out into the woods to decipher the track and sign puzzles that animals leave behind and to watch birds.
Jon spent his childhood in Washington and Missouri, exploring the forest that surrounded his home, going on outdoor adventures with his family and friends, and learning to play several musical instruments.
Job Titles:
- Forest Preschool Instructor
Growing up in a big city, it was hard to find green spaces to connect with as a child. Luckily, Kimberly was able to connect to nature through stories her family would tell her about growing up in a small town in Guatemala. Listening to stories about hiding in the trees, running through streams, and sleeping in hammocks underneath the stars always amazed her and she desperately yearned for a childhood like that. It was her family's stories that inspired Kimberly to care and learn more about the outdoors.
As she grew older, Kimberly spent a lot of holidays hiking and swimming at Brazos Bend State Park and Guadalupe River State Park. During these outings, she always felt a sense of belonging and never wanted to leave these dreamy state parks. These places felt magical and unreal to her and captivated her imagination unlike the city.
It wasn't until she was a student at Texas State University that Kimberly's love for teaching others about wildlife and conservation exploded. Being able to learn about wildlife in Guatemala and Ireland in her college years made her realize how powerful first-hand experiences are and wanted to help others have those experiences.
During the school year, she was a Glass-Bottom Boat driver and would drive visitors around Spring Lake to show off the beautiful freshwater springs. During this time, she was also a freshwater aquarist and helped maintain the health of the Texas Blind Salamander and San Marcos Salamander. In the summer, she was able to chat with people from all over the world as an environmental interpreter at the Downtown Aquarium - Houston. Kimberly was also able to SCUBA dive for the aquarium to help maintain the appearance of the tanks and health of her fish friends.
After earning her degree in Wildlife Biology with a minor in Geography from Texas State University, Kimberly joined the Earth Native Instructing team in order to pursue her dream of working outdoors full-time helping others develop a love of nature to match her own.
Job Titles:
- Instructor
- Youth Instructor
Lauren has always been fascinated by the powerful relationship between nature and people. Born in San Antonio, Texas to a military family, she spent much of her childhood abroad. The need to frequently relocate created a love for exploring, and taught her to find a sense of place in nature. Quiet moments impressed on her the importance of people's connection to their surroundings and the healing power of time in the dirt.
In college, she studied anthropology and environmental science thinking about the effects of people on the health of ecosystems, and vice versa. She volunteered with many San Antonio organizations, like Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, the San Antonio Zoo, and Texas Master Naturalists, tapping into the wealth of knowledge found in community. After graduating, she completed an AmeriCorps service term with the Conservation Corps in Saint Paul, Minnesota. As a member of the Youth Outdoors program, she led seasonal crews of high-school students in natural resource management and community conservation projects.
As an Earth Native Instructor, Lauren is always eager to impart curiosity, enthusiasm, and respect for the natural world. She enjoys teaching bushcraft skills, wilderness medicine, and natural awareness. Her personal experience as a mother and public school teacher has only reinforced her advocacy for allowing kids to be wild and learn from nature.
Job Titles:
- Wildlife Tracking Instructor
Marcia's love of animals was immediate and undeniable. Born and raised in the San Juan Islands of Washington state, her first passion was for orcas. She spent hours sitting on boat decks carefully scanning the horizon for the subtle exhale clouds that indicated the orcas' presence. This is where Marcia honed the patient observation skills she'd need for identifying and interpreting wildlife tracks and sign.
Michel spent most of his youth exploring the wooded areas of central Texas where he was born and raised. After earning a degree in film from the University of Texas, Michel went on to crew, direct, and produce numerous successful films that have been screened and distributed all over the world.
Mikki was born and raised in Denver, Colorado and then followed a desire to explore more of the country starting with her education at James Madison University in Virginia, where she earned her BBA. Summers spent working in Vail and Aspen, and semester in London, furthered her love of exploring new places and eventually led her to a position in the Meeting Planning and Hotel industries, a job that took her to amazing locations all over the world where she got to experience stunning sights and unique new cultures.
Eventually her journeys led her to Austin, TX where she met her husband.
After 15+ year working in the Meeting Planning and Hotel industries, Mikki put her logistics and coordination skills to good use joining her husband, Dave Scott, in the founding of Earth Native Wilderness School.
Mikki's role at Earth Native includes marketing, website design and updating, social media, program creation, financials, and keeping her husband on track (i.e. the glue that holds everything together). Mikki lives in Cedar Creek, TX with her husband, Dave, their two wonderful kids, Lauren & Connor and their pup, Bailey.
Niki Ramirez was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. After graduating from Oklahoma City University with a BFA in Dance Performance, she flourished in her first career as a professional dancer. She was on contract with dance companies that took her to amazing locations around the world. When she wasn't training or performing, you could find her exploring nature and the wonderful eco systems around her.
After her 18+ years working in the entertainment industry, Niki moved on to a career in marketing, communications, and general operations management for small businesses. Niki enjoys supporting the day to day operations for Earth Native Wilderness School and loves offering superb customer service to our wonderful clients.
Niki lives in Bastrop, Texas with her fiance. You can catch her hiking, practicing yoga, and cookin' up nourishing meals in the kitchen with her partner.
Job Titles:
- Weekly and Monthly Programs Supervisor
Rachel was gifted a multifaceted childhood that reverberated with romps in gulf coast waters, swimming in secret swimming holes on her great grandfather's farm and concrete jungle adventures in Houston's 5th Ward, her birthplace. She was lucky enough to have a nuclear tribe with massive appreciation for the natural world and almost all her memories of family trips were immersed in the striking beauty of nature.
After graduating with a degree in Marine Biology from Texas A&M University Corpus Christi and getting a "real job", Rachel very quickly realized that a regular laboratory nine to five under fluorescent lights was most definitely not for her. So, she did what every conflicted young adult does and joined the United States Peace Corps. Even though nature had always been a place of comfort and solace for her, her service as a Coastal Resources Management Volunteer in the Philippines was what truly helped her come to the life changing realization that humans will only protect what they love and only love what they understand. It was in this space that her career in environmental education began, and since then has shown no signs of slowing.
Following her Peace Corps service, she took a solo sojourn through southeast Asia before settling back in Houston. While living in the big city she split her energy between teaching Yoga for Harris County Senior Citizens Programs and as a Horticulture Program Assistant for post-adjudicated youth within the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department. A series of unfortunate events in 2017 caused yet another reevaluation of purpose and place and she soon found herself in the national parks of northern Virginia and California teaching overnight environmental science education with Nature Bridge. At Nature Bridge she revisited life lessons and the importance of equity, inclusion, social/emotional learning and how vital they are to our relationship with our fellow humans and the natural world.
Rachel is stoked to be a part of the Earth Native team! When she isn't refurbishing her great-grandfather's farm she's most likely on some body of water riding a board with a fin attached to it, scheming on her next dive trip, or nose deep in a good book and she's even been known to do all three at once.
Trent grew up running barefoot through the creeks of Conroe and Porter Texas, picking blackberries and carving walking staves. His love for the outdoors started in those muddy waters and continues to grow every year.
He went to school and obtained his associates of arts with the idea of becoming a philosophy professor but soon realized that the best way he could be a teacher is if his classrooms were the woods, rivers, and hills. Prior to joining Earth Native's teaching team, Trent worked for three years in an environmental leadership program, where he was the lead field instructor. He is CPR, First Aid certified, a certified rope and rock-climbing instructor, and has been involved in bushcraft and wilderness skills learning for many years.
Wes is a Houston native and grew up hunting, fishing, and building forts in the piney forests of east Texas. His childhood backyard connected to tens of thousands of acres of wilderness in the San Jacinto River floodplain. Nearly all of Wes's free time as a child all was spent outdoors where he built a lifelong bond with the natural world. Following this passion, Wesley left Texas for college in Florida, where he studied biology, geology, and archaeology.
Prior to joining Earth Native's teaching team, Wes worked for a decade as a field archaeologist in the Everglades and across other areas of Florida, a position that felt like a "dream job" to a nature lover such as himself. Spending so much time studying how natural ecosystems connect to human life has given Wesley a deep understanding of human pre-history in North America, native plant communities and their relationships to soil types and topography, mapping and navigation in wilderness areas, and a chance to hone his wildlife tracking skill. Over the years, Wes's love for the natural world has shaped his life in so many positive ways and one of his biggest passions is sharing his knowledge and experiences with the next generation of young naturalists.