Becky Mares is grad of both NOLS and AmeriCorps. She used her AmeriCorps award to fund her Brooks Range Backpacking course in 2013 and took a Wilderness First Aid course the following year.

Casey is a NOLS instructor and worked for a while as the sales manager for NOLS Custom Education.

Isabella is a 22-year-old NOLS alumni from Maine. She has a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Studio Art and is currently enrolled in law school in Vermont, working towards her dream of becoming an environmental lawyer. When not reading you can find her skiing, climbing, hiking, sewing, painting, and drinking copious amounts of coffee. You…

Max Myers is a First Year Student at Middlebury College in Vermont. He lives with his parents, older brother, twin sister and dog Rocky in Larchmont, NY. His favorite things to do are canoeing and kayaking, reading and writing, playing hockey, and spending time with his dogs.

Eli is a 37-year-old NOLS alumni who finished the WMR semester during COVID. Currently, Eli works for the nation’s largest EMS company as an EMT and loves rock climbing, kayaking, spending time with family, and running outside.

Isidora (Isi) and Nadine are both NOLS field instructors based in Patagonia’s Aysén Region. Born and raised in Viña del Mar, Chile, Isi first came to NOLS as a Patagonia Year student in 2013, with the goal of entering the Instructor in Training Program (IIT). She took her Instructor Course in 2015, and has split…

Navarana “Nav” Smith is a wandering field instructor and biologist who stores her dehydrator, skis, and extra charts in Smithers, B.C.

Carolyn Highland is a teacher and writer living in Truckee, California. When not taking her fourth grade students at Tahoe Expedition Academy (www.tahoeexpeditionacademy.org/) into the field, she can be found skiing, trail running, climbing, mountain biking, backpacking, jumping into alpine lakes, and then writing about it. Carolyn is a graduate of the 2012 NOLS Semester…

Caroline is a writer, student, and NOLS alum based in the Chicago area. After growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Caroline now attends Northwestern University where she leads backpacking trips for incoming students. She enjoys drinking tea, tap dancing, and blasting Lizzo through her headphones like it’s her little secret.

Shelby is currently taking a gap year-and-a-half. After completing her Fall Semester in Patagonia, she caught the NOLS bug and became the 2016 Fall PR and Marketing intern at our world headquarters in Lander, Wyoming (she’s a Wilderness First Aid grad, too!).

Alison, who also goes by Sonnae, studies at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. In addition to visual art she also loves theatre and music, biking into the sunset, and pondering the meaning of life. Her favorite outdoor activities are backpacking, canoeing, and croquet.

Natalie is a whitewater kayaking, rafting, canoeing, and backpacking instructor for NOLS. She grew up in a small community in Canada’s north and calls the Yukon home. She is passionate about plant identification, empowering introverts, and has recently (moderately successfully) taken up grouse hunting.

Olivia is a sophomore at Tufts University, where she’s exploring how the intersection of storytelling and design thinking can bring about positive change. Can be found interviewing people about their Nalgenes (@nalgenes_of_tufts) … or their socks (@sock_sightings). Blames NOLS for her reliance on dates & almond butter. Trying to write more and do more, and…

Sho is a second year MBA student at Columbia Business School and lives in Brooklyn, NY. While his professional focus is on analytics and product management, he is also passionate about music and plays guitar and synth in Drop Electric, a post-rock band from Washington, D.C.

Rachel was born and raised in Boston, MA. Her early love of the outdoors was inspired by digging in the garden and scrambling over rocks in the White Mountains. Once she discovered larger landscapes out West, her appetite for adventure and storytelling deepened. Rachel currently splits her time between teaching elementary school art in New…

Liz Blair grew up in mid-coast Maine where she developed an appreciation for the outdoors. She attended school at Northeastern University in Boston, MA where she studied Supply Chain Management Sustainable Business Practices. Since then she’s lived many lives, and now currently resides in southwest Colorado after having completed a 6-month solo cross-country road trip.…

Hadley is a NOLS instructor.

Caroline took a gap year after high school with NOLS Patagonia and is now a student at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. During the school year she studies dead languages, and during her summers she introduces kids to the wilderness by guiding canoe adventures in northern Minnesota and Canada. She likes sleeping outdoors…

Aparna is a NOLS instructor and has been the PR and Marketing Intern, PR specialist, and the Diversity & Inclusion manager at NOLS. She is a founding partner of The Avarna Group (theavarnagroup.com).

As a NOLS instructor turned PhD candidate in earth and climate sciences, I have spent the last few years skiing radars around hard-to-reach places to help answer questions about glaciers, ice flow, and climate change. My experiences with NOLS have been foundational in equipping me with a unique skill set: to live and work comfortably…

Robin is the Education Director at NOLS Wilderness Medicine. She has been working as a NOLS wilderness medicine and expedition instructor since 2008.

Hailing from the swamplands of south Louisiana, Jordan now calls beautiful Lander, Wyoming, home. When she’s not planning out NOLS’ social media content, she’s perusing her own phone and embracing life where there’s actually snow (and a lot of it). You might find her dance hiking in Sinks Canyon, dance hiking at Johnny Behind the…

Brooke is a runner and writer who enjoys finding adventure in the everyday. True to her island roots, she loves sunshine, that salty ocean smell, and the sound of waves against the shore.

Mara is a field instructor with NOLS and has worked with Central Wyoming College’s Alpine Science Institute to help conduct research across the western U.S. and East Africa. She loves brushing her teeth and doing science in the mountains. Follow her on Instagram @mara_gans.