Dana Rivkin

Summer Camp Coordinator

Dana’s passions are fueled by a desire to build connections to ourselves, to others, and to nature. Her love for the outdoors was ignited through her childhood summers spent at camp in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Minnesota. Her love for connecting with people guided her to a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations at American University in Washington, DC. Blending her varied studies and experiences together led her to working in the conservation field as a Trail Crew Guide for high school students as well as a Desert Restorationist. Since 2007 Dana has been working as an outdoor educator, adventure guide and yoga teacher for various organizations around the globe. She joined Mt. Adams Institute as the Summer Program Coordinator in May of 2019. Dana’s free time is filled with yoga, surfing, dance, and cooking food from her garden.

Andrea Ruchty-Montgomery

Camp: Botany Science and Crafts

Andrea works as a botanist with the U.S Forest Service. She spends her time examining the flora and fauna of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. She shares her wealth of information, love, and excitement for lichen with students and adults alike. Through her career as a botanist, she takes a deeper look at the myriad of micro communities that often go unseen beneath or feet. Andrea lives and works on the edge of the Gifford Pinchot in Trout Lake, Washington.

Brittany Anna Mariposa

Camps: Little Trackers, Wilderness Skills.

Brittany is passionate in guiding future generations into respect and love for the environment, to move forward with loving kindness, and be woven in community.  Brittany has worked in the field as an Outdoor Educator since 2011. Locally, she has been involved with Columbia Gorge Ecology Institute, Cascade Mountain School, Mid Valley Elementary School, Whitson Elementary School, Peace Village, and Little Oak Montessori. Her professional passions are balanced with deep fulfillment in teaching & practicing Yoga, speaking Spanish, internationally traveling, backpacking, drinking tea, dancing, singing, and receiving wisdom under starlight, around a campfire, or in a glorious body of water.

Jack Perrin

Camp: MacGyver Camp

Jack Perrin, Instructor & Director, Gorge Maker Space: is a licensed high school physics teacher with over 20 years’ teaching experience in alternative education. Jack serves as director of Gorge MakerSpace. A builder and tinkerer all his life, Jack founded a school for sustainable living in Colorado where he taught natural building. He and his family moved back on the grid, and back to his native NW to make STEM education in the Gorge a blast.

Jenny Twohig

Camps: Powers of Herbs, Plants and Food, Botanical Crafters, and Botany Science and Crafts.

Jenny Twohig has been exploring the Cascades for the better part of a decade, learning about the ecology, medicine, and beauty of these incredible spaces. Attending Arctos School of Botanical and Herbal Studies helped to reinforce her love and practice of plant medicine. Be it crafting a medicinal tonic or dyeing fabric, you can usually find her in the hills of White Salmon, tending the land and gardens. Jenny has an M.S. in Leadership for Sustainability Education from Portland State University, and a B.S. from Keene State College.

Juliana Gay

Camps: Friends of the Forest, Friends of the Environment.

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, Juliana always loved nature and being outside. It wasn’t until she was a young adult that she discovered her love for hiking and backpacking, which has given her a new kind of confidence and appreciation in her everyday life. Her two big passions in life are exploring the outdoors and connecting with kids, and now she wants to help kids build that same confidence that comes from getting outside, learning and overcoming challenges!

Juliana studied child, youth, and family studies at Portland State University, where she received her bachelor’s degree. Through her studies and her own experiences, she has learned about the many wonderful benefits that come from connecting kids to the outdoors spaces we are so lucky to have here in the PNW.

Tina Rivkin

Camp: Art in Nature

Tina Rivkin’s passion for art, nature exploration and teaching has been growing throughout her entire life. She studied various art mediums through her youth and young adult years. Raising two children, she always encouraged creativity in their school projects and in life in general. Working as a Tour Guide for the Walker Art Center for 25 years, Tina led art exhibition tours and  taught activities in the art lab which corresponded to the museum galleries and outdoor sculpture garden. She worked with adults, preschool through college age students, students with special needs and adults with memory loss. For 4 years Tina worked as Education Director and Teacher for Highpoint Center for Printmaking helping put together an education program for students ages 6-18. During that time she taught basic printmaking classes and coordinated an academic calendar project that incorporated printmaking with language arts in the school classroom. Seven years ago Tina became a certified Orton-Gillingham instructor. This teaching method is a multi-sensory, phonetic based reading program designed to guide emerging readers with different needs. She now works as a private reading/writing/spelling tutor for students in grades 1 through 6.