Meet Your Trip Leaders!
Meet Ashlyn!
Ashlyn is from West Hartford, Connecticut where she grew up playing soccer and lacrosse and later ran cross country in high school. Some of her favorite childhood memories are attending summer camp, where she later worked as a counselor and is what initially sparked her love of the outdoors!Ashlyn attended Fairfield University where she majored in Psychology and minored in Health Studies. During her time in college, Ashlyn conducted research, completed an internship working with individuals with severe mental illness, and was a Tour Ambassador and Senior Fellow for the Office of Admissions. She graduated in the class of 2022 Summa Cum Laude, was the recipient of the Psychology Department Award, and was inducted into 3 honors societies.
After graduation, Ashlyn decided to take the opportunity to travel and spent a summer in Cape Town, South Africa with an internship in an adolescent inpatient mental health clinic. Afterwards, Ashlyn went on to live and work in Costa Rica as a TEFL-certified ESL teacher for 8 months, which included exploring other parts of Central America as well. Ashlyn has just returned from a 6 month backpacking trip in South America where she spent many days hiking, exploring the outdoors, experiencing new cultures and meeting people from all over the world! When she is not on the move, Ashlyn loves to go for long runs, hike, cook and try new coffee shops.
Ashlyn is so excited to share her love for travel and the outdoors with students this summer. She has seen so much personal development in herself through exploring new places and hopes to inspire the same growth and passion in others!
Meet August!
August is a returning leader on his third year of trip leading, and was a student for many years prior to this! He grew up on a small farm outside of Brookings, South Dakota. August’s experience growing up on the farm gave him his first understanding of, and appreciation for the natural world, the changing of the seasons, and stewardship of the outdoors. This love has spread to every part of his life and created a sense of integration of nature into his daily life.August’s favorite outdoor activities are backpacking and rafting. He began both in 2019 on his first WA trip as a student in the beautiful Jackson Hole Area. He’s also led in California, Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, and Utah for Wilderness Adventures. August is super excited to see some new areas he hasn’t been in yet, and absolutely stoked to meet some great new folks! Do something wild!
Meet Rosie!
Rosie was born in Chicago, Illinois, and her family moved around quite a bit before settling down in the Bay Area of California. Rosie has been a part of the WA community for the previous three summers as a student and is looking forward to now being a part of the staff team! She believes in the impact Wilderness Adventures trips have on students and is a big advocate for all students interested in the outdoors to participate!
Rosie currently attends the University of California, Santa Cruz where she is majoring in Literature with an emphasis on Creative Writing. She loves going to school in the forest and feels very blessed to also have the beach just a ten-minute bike ride away- the best of both worlds! When she is not attending class or adventuring outside, Rosie loves to read, write, draw, roller skate, and make music. After she graduates, Rosie hopes to spend a couple of years working on restoration projects in the National Parks and also spend some time exploring photojournalism. Rosie’s goals for this coming summer with WA are to grow her skill set, grow her community, and help her students foster positive relationships with nature. She hopes to teach her students how to tie knots, make yummy meals, and overall have a blast all while experiencing the marvels of the natural world around them!