Drumroll please… It’s time for the second installment of Apogee’s Summer 2025 Leader Bios! Read on to learn more about the outstanding returning leaders who will be guiding our Iceland Mountains and Coast and Europe Coast to Coast trips!
Name: Seamus Fagan (he/him)
2025 Trip: Iceland Mountains and Coast
Prior Apogee experience: Colorado’s Rocky Mountains ‘24
Hometown: Sudbury, Massachusetts
School: Hamilton College, Class of 2023 & Rutgers Business School, Class of 2024
Certifications: Wilderness First Aid, Wilderness Swim Safety & CPR
Favorite outdoor activities: Hiking, skiing, camping, swimming, basketball, and playing hackeysack
Highlights of the past year: Seamus has spent most of the past year living in Steamboat Springs, Colorado and working as a ski instructor at Steamboat Ski Resort! He skied 128 days in a row and over 140 days total!
Where you can find Seamus when he is not on the mountain: Seamus can be found dancing to a freshly made playlist, hanging out with friends and family, reading a good book, or watching and/or playing in a sports game.
Facts that will make you say “Wow Seamus is awesome”: He’s an accomplished lacrosse goalie; Seamus has earned accolades as a First Team All-American and First Team All-Conference during his time playing varsity lacrosse in college. In addition to his playing career, Seamus also has extensive lacrosse coaching experience from his time coaching the sport to kids aged 8-18 in New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Virginia. This past year he was elected Steamboat Snowsports School’s Rookie of the year for the 2024-25 season. Off the fields and mountains, he spends a lot of time jamming out to a wide range of musical artists, most notably including Taylor Swift (she was in his top five artists last year). Seamus is very excited to be back for another season at Apogee and is looking forward to being inspired by the bright, creative, and kind students who he will meet this year!
Name: Kaelyn DeCorte (she/her)
2025 Trip: Iceland Mountains and Coast
Prior Apogee experience: Cape Cod and the Islands ‘24 and Vermont to Montreal ‘24
Hometown: Southampton, Pennsylvania
School: Wake Forest University, Class of 2026
Certifications: Wilderness First Aid, Wilderness Swim Safety & CPR
Favorite outdoor activities: Backpacking, camping, paddle boarding, and waterskiing
Highlights of the past year: It’s a tie between backpacking in the Dolomites on the Alta Via 1, and exploring the Agafay desert in Morocco!
Where you can find Kaelyn when she’s not traveling around the world: Kaelyn loves spending quality time with her friends and family. She also loves running, watching soccer, and reading.
More reasons to love Kaelyn: Growing up, Kaelyn spent time mentoring younger kids in music and teaching swimming lessons in the summers. Her study abroad program in France wasn’t the only time she’s lived abroad, either, as she lived in Australia when she was three! Kaelyn also has a big family; she’s one of five kids (including four brothers), and has 23 first cousins! At home, through babysitting jobs, Kaelyn eventually developed her own summer camp for neighborhood students, and through her many experiences working with kids she has created a repertoire of games and activities she uses in the trips she leads today. At Wake Forest, Kaelyn leads trips all over North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia for the college’s outdoor program, and she also is part of the Sustainability Group at Wake Forest.
Name: Benna McDermott (she/her)
2025 Trip: Iceland Mountains and Coast
Prior Apogee experience: New England Mountains and Coast ‘23 and Maine Coast Junior ‘23
Hometown: Hastings on Hudson, New York
School: Dartmouth College, Class of 2026
Certifications: Wilderness First Aid, Wilderness Swim Safety, and CPR
Highlights of the past year: This past year Benna traveled far and wide! She studied abroad in Buenos Aires, spent the fall working at a nonprofit in London, and ran a marathon with her younger sister (a fellow Apogee Leader)!
Where you can find Benna when she isn’t practicing her Spanish: Benna loves all games (board and card games alike), trying every flavor of ice cream she can get her hands on, and hanging out with her cat.
Favorite outdoor Activities: Skiing, running, hiking, camping
Other reasons Benna is the coolest: She took a gap year, during which she spent a semester backpacking, sea kayaking, and sleeping under the stars in Mexico. This year Benna worked with the Outdoor Leadership Experience at the Dartmouth Center for Social Impact, where she spent time each week facilitating outdoor activities with students from rural and disadvantaged communities. Also at Dartmouth, she’s a ski patroller and a leader on the Triathlon Team! We can’t forget to mention that Benna attended three trips as an Apogee student (Vermont to Montreal, Pacific Coast, and Europe Coast to Coast) and is so excited to share that experience with students – and try some new foods from Icelandic grocery stores!
Name: Jordan Johnson (he/him)
2025 Trip: Europe Coast to Coast
Prior Apogee experience: Pacific Coast ‘24, Vermont to Montreal ‘23, Cape Cod and the Islands ‘23
Hometown: Arcata, California
School: Cal Poly Humboldt, Class of 2020
Certifications: Wilderness First Aid, Wilderness Swim Safety & CPR
Favorite Outdoor Activities: Kayaking, biking, and skateboarding
Highlights of the past year: A huge highlight for Jordan last year was leading Apogee’s Pacific Coast trip! He loved biking along the west coast, specifically being able to take his student groups through Arcata CA, his hometown for the last ten years.
Where you can find Jordan when he’s not outside enjoying the California sunshine: Jordan enjoys cooking and baking, and he is currently learning Dutch! He has also been working with the City of Arcata’s Recreation Division on a youth program focused on developing community and empowering youth through skateboarding and outdoor skill development.
Other reasons we think Jordan is the bee’s knees: Jordan has been the director of several local summer camps, and in previous summers he has gotten to interview visiting professional skateboarders for various publications. He has also recently discovered that he can make butter on his bike with the help of some bumpy roads and heavy whipping cream in a mason jar strapped securely to the bike. This new trick can come in handy for many of the homemade treats that he enjoys baking up! He is beyond excited to be biking across Europe this summer, a huge bucket list item that he is thrilled to share with his students!
Name: Jocie Funderburk (she/her)
2025 Trip: Europe Coast to Coast
Prior Apogee experience: Pacific Coast ‘24, Vermont to Montreal ‘23
Hometown: Bozeman, Montana
School: Warren Wilson College, Class of 2025
Certifications: Wilderness First Responder, Wilderness Swim Safety & CPR
Favorite outdoor activities: Biking, hiking, cross country skiing and pretty much anything else outside
Highlights of the past year: Some of the awesome things that Jocie got up to last year were competing at Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals, making 50 smoked turkeys for a community Thanksgiving meal to help fundraise after Hurricane Helene, and taking a blacksmithing class where she learned how to make ferrous jewelry!
Where you can find Jocie when she’s not riding her bike: She loves to garden! Jocie works as the Market Manager of her college’s campus garden, and she spent last semester volunteering at a local community garden. She also loves crafting (especially crocheting) and cooking (especially pies).
Further proof of Jocie’s awesomeness: She absolutely loves working with kids – before working at Apogee she led all-female mountain biking camps, and she coaches Nordic skiing in the winters. In Fall 2023 and 2024, she competed in the Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals Championships, where she unofficially won the most style points thanks to her fabulous outfit of a tutu and sparkles that she rode during her race! She has also been to 13 countries, most recently Ireland, Indonesia, and Singapore! Last, but certainly not least, Jocie is a five-time Apogee alumna student, having completed biking trips in Maine, Cape Cod, Montana, and both Europe Coast to Coast and America Coast to Coast! Joice is excited to head to Europe this summer, tasting new foods along the way, and working with her co-leader Jordan again!
Name: Finnegan Keilty (he/him)
2025 Trip: Europe Coast to Coast Support Leader
Prior Apogee experience: Alps Explorer ‘23, California Mountains and Coast ‘22, Costa Rica Mountains and Coast ‘21, Costa Rica Language and Community ‘21
Hometown: Las Vegas, Nevada
School: Carleton College, Class of 2022
Certifications: Wilderness First Aid, Wilderness Swim Safety & CPR
Highlights of the past year: This year, Finnegan hiked Cerro Chirripo, the highest mountain in Costa Rica!
Favorite Outdoor Activities: Mountain biking, kayaking, volleyball, and surfing
Where you can find Finnegan when he is not adventuring: Finnegan can be found making tasty food in the kitchen for meals with friends, or reading books about city design. He is also a “die hard Lord of the Rings fan” – so please direct any and all LOTR trivia questions to Finnegan.
Super fun facts about Finnegan that will make you smile: Finnegan spent a year living in Madrid, Spain teaching English to elementary-aged students at a primary school which he really loved! Before he joined Apogee, Finnegan worked as a biking and kayaking guide in Minnesota. He is also the proud owner of two bikes, both of which he built himself during his journey of learning all he can about the wonders of bike mechanics. He is also an avid potter and worked in Carleton’s studio all four years of his undergraduate career! Finnegan is starting a graduate program in the fall to obtain a Master’s Degree in Public Policy, but in the meantime, he is pumped to return to Apogee to support our amazing bikers as they travel across Europe!