It’s that time of year! We’re ready to unveil our spectacular lineup of trip leaders for our 2025 summer adventure camps. Read on to learn about our Alps Explorer and Pyrenees Mountains & Coast trip leaders!
Name: Sophie Blumberg (she/her)
2025 Trip: Alps Explorer
Prior Apogee experience: Iceland Mountains and Coast ‘24, New England Mountains & Coast ‘23, Maine Coast Photo ‘23
Hometown: Newton, Massachusetts
School: Skidmore College, Class of 2025
Certifications: Wilderness First Responder, Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) & CPR
Favorite Outdoor Activities: Hiking, biking, and running!
Highlights of the past year: Sophie raised a puppy for a guide dog foundation, led hiking trips with the Skidmore Outing Club, and worked as an EMT at school!
Where you can find Sophie when she is not out hiking with a puppy: Watching the sunrise! Sophie tries to watch the sunrise every morning. She also loves spending time doing yoga and crocheting.
Other reasons Sophie is the niftiest: Sophie is proficient in both Spanish and American Sign Language and has worked as a tutor, preschool teacher, and mentor through a “Best Buddies” program. In addition to serving as both the President of and a Trip Leader with Skidmore’s Outing Club, Sophie also serves as the Gear Shed Manager and a member of the Executive Board. We can’t forget to mention that Sophie is a four-time Apogee participant herself: Maine’s Downeast Explorer, California Mountains and Coast, Costa Rica Mountains and Coast, and Pyrenees Mountains and Coast! Sophie is so excited to share her Apogee experience with her students – especially doing “Apogees and Perigees” each night!
Name: Ellie Churchill (she/her)
2025 Trip: Alps Explorer
Prior Apogee experience: Pyrenees Mountains and Coast ‘23, and Vermont to Montreal ‘21
Hometown: Richmond, Vermont
School: University of Vermont, Class of 2023
Certifications: Wilderness First Responder & CPR
Favorite outdoor activities: Skiing, running, hiking, and paddling
Highlights of the past year: Ellie spent much of the last year traveling and volunteering in Central and South America before heading to the western part of the US where she worked as a ski instructor in Idaho!
Where you can find Ellie when she isn’t on the slopes: Hailing from Vermont, Ben and Jerry’s is basically in Ellie’s blood, so she’s constantly on the lookout for new flavors. Otherwise, she is probably out for a run (Ellie has captained her D1 Cross Country and Track and Field teams at UVM).
More reasons to love Ellie: Ellie loves getting to work with students, she has spent the past two years coaching high school cross country. During her time at UVM, she tutored math, taught ski lessons, flute lessons, and mentored peers on her cross country and track teams! On top of her dedication to working with youth, Ellie not only speaks fluent Spanish but is also able to differentiate between the different accents and dialects of all Spanish-speaking countries around the world. The true cherry on top is her love of cooking and her excitement to taste her way through the Alps, sampling fresh bread and cheese each and every day!
Name: Otto Schmidt (he/him)
2025 Trip: Alps Explorer
Prior Apogee experience: Cape Cod & the Islands ‘23 and Vermont to Montreal ‘23
Hometown: St. Paul, Minnesota
School: St. Olaf College, Class of 2025
Certifications: Wilderness First Aid, CPR & Lifeguard
Favorite outdoor activities: Nordic skiing, running, canoeing, biking, and backpacking
Highlights of the past year: Otto hiked in the Medicine Bow National Forest, biked the 101 in Southern California, and skied (both downhill and nordic!) in Winter Park. A true adventurer year round!
Where you can find Otto when he’s not running with the St. Olaf Cross Country and Track teams: He fills much of his time on campus doing physics problems or taking study breaks in the form of lovely long bike rides. Otherwise, he loves playing board games with friends, doing crossword puzzles, and watching the Minnesota Twins.
Just a few more reasons why we think Otto is amazing: Otto spent a semester traveling the globe, studying in Ecuador, Jordan, Namibia, Indonesia, and Vietnam. He will be arriving in the Alps as a fresh graduate from St. Olaf College and will be continuing his education at Dartmouth in the fall working towards a Masters Degree in Energy Transition. Outside of his own classes, Otto enjoys teaching physics through engaging demonstrations at a local elementary school to promote interest in science and experiments. On top of all of that amazingness, he is a self-proclaimed (Apogee-backed) cribbage aficionado – playing anywhere and everywhere. Otto can’t wait to partner back up with Kendall after they led together in 2023!
Name: Kendall Hermanson (she/her)
2025 Trip: Alps Explorer
Prior Apogee experience: Europe Coast to Coast ‘24, Cape Cod & the Islands ‘23, Vermont to Montreal ‘23
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
School: Wake Forest University, Class of 2025
Certifications: Wilderness First Aid & CPR
Favorite outdoor activities: Hiking, backpacking, biking, caving, whitewater kayaking, and hacky sack!
Highlights of the past year: Kendall traveled around Slovenia with friends and backpacked on the Pacific Crest Trail! Kendall also mastered the art of cartwheeling and yo-yoing (her favorite move is ‘walking the dog’).
Where you can find Kendall when she is not hiking or exploring: Kendall enjoys making her own clothing by sewing and up-cycling materials from second-hand stores or from her own wardrobe – each year she plans a sustainable fashion show with a club she helps run at school! Kendall also enjoys playing club field hockey at Wake, crocheting, listening to music, taking her dogs on long walks, and playing piano.
Further proof of Kendall’s awesomeness: She will be hitting the trails this summer as a recent graduate of Wake Forest University where she studied Spanish and Biology. She has volunteered for the past three years at a local elementary school to tutor and interact with native Spanish speaking-students who are learning English. Kendall hosts her own radio show at her school where she interviews her guests about their favorite albums and music in general (her favorite genre is 90s alternative, with indie folk music as a close second). She also leads backpacking, canoeing, and climbing trips for other students through the Outdoor Program at Wake Forest! Kendall is so excited to be reunited with her 2023 co-leader, Otto, and is especially excited to hike in the Alps and eat a croissant (or two) while looking out at Mont Blanc.
Name: Nellie Simmonds (she/her) 
2025 Trip: Pyrenees Mountains and Coast
Hometown: Northfield, Massachusetts
School: Vassar College, Class of 2023
Certifications: Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Wilderness Swim Safety & CPR
Prior Apogee experience: Europe Coast to Coast ‘23, Alaska Mountains & Coast ‘22, Pacific Coast ‘21
Favorite outdoor activities: Skiing, running, hiking, biking, and dancing.
Highlights of the past year: Nellie spent loads of time outside this past year: rock climbing at the New River Gorge in West Virginia, hiking part of the Camino del Norte in Spain, and hiking in Olympic National Park in Washington State.
Where you can find Nellie when she isn’t on the trail: Nellie has the dancing bug and loves it. She also loves making art collages with just about anything she can find (newspapers, magazines, pressed flowers, fabrics, grass – you get the gist…). She’s also a big podcast listener – especially anything science-oriented – and loves curling up with a good book.
Facts that will make you say, “Wow, Nellie is awesome”: After spending a semester of her junior year in Uganda, Nellie’s research paper about women working in the Ugandan salt mines was published! She is also conversational in Swahili and captained both Vassar’s Cross Country and Track and Field teams. On top of those very impressive accomplishments, Nellie has won not one, but two hula hooping competitions and holds a personal record of 103 miles for longest bike ride! Go, Nellie, go! She is getting excited for her fourth summer with Apogee, spending all day outside and eating paella in Spain.
Name: Sarah Shepard (she/her)
2025 Trip: Pyrenees Mountains and Coast
Prior Apogee experience: Europe Coast to Coast ‘23, Pacific Coast ‘22
Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota
School: Colorado College, Class of 2025
Certifications: Wilderness First Responder, Wilderness Swim Safety & CPR
Favorite outdoor activities: Biking, skiing, and backpacking
Highlights of last year: Sarah spent last summer and the fall semester of this year teaching environmental education to K-12 graders in Colorado. Outside of the classroom, backpacking in Wyoming’s Rawah Wilderness was one of her apogees.
Where you can find Sarah when she’s not hiking around Colorado: Learning a new tune on the guitar, playing club soccer, on the pickle ball court, or hosting a game night with friends.
Super fun facts about Sarah that will make you smile: Sarah recently taught at an elementary school in Granda, Spain and is very passionate about soccer and spent several years of coaching at all levels. Prior to starting at Colorado College, Sarah spent a semester with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) on a trip out of their Wyoming campus. While there, she went on a five-day group solo and two-day independent solo! Beyond her teaching and athletic talents, Sarah can recite all of the U.S Presidents in chronological order and holds a personal record of 15 seconds for the NYT mini crossword. Now, Sarah is counting down the days until she gets to meet her students and eat a whole bunch of great food in the Pyrenees this summer!