Leader Bio Time! Meet Teddy, Rachel, Parker, and Stella!

It’s that time of year again! Every summer, leaders old and new unite to learn and grow together. In a short two months, they’ll be bonding and building lasting relationships with each other and their students. With only seven weeks before 2018 Leader Training begins here in Brunswick, we’ll be publishing these slates of leader bios at least a couple of times a week. We hope you enjoy getting to know this summer’s outstanding crew!

Teddy Lyman – Colorado’s Rocky Mountains and Maine Coast Junior

Teddy Lyman has loved the outdoors for as long as he can remember. You can find him outside playing soccer or lacrosse, skiing, mountain biking, rock climbing, fly fishing, kayaking, or running ultra marathons (catch him if you can!). A graduate of Bowdoin College, Teddy studied Environmental Studies and Visual Arts. He has hiked all over the United States, taught English in India, studied abroad in Germany’s Black Forest, hiked the mountains of Peru, and traveled to Newfoundland, Montreal, and Barcelona while working for Quebec-Labrador Foundation, an environmental non-profit. Teddy has spent lots of time working with students of all ages. Currently an Educator at The Leadership School at Kieve, Teddy works closely with 6th – 8th graders from New England public schools on a day-to-day basis. He has also taught biology, chemistry, and physical education to 1st – 8th graders and tutored English to high-schoolers at Taktse International School in India. Back in Massachusetts, Teddy used to teach 4th – 8th graders about teamwork and trust at the Landmark School’s Ropes Course Summer Program and also volunteered at Rosie’s Place in Boston. We can’t wait for Teddy to share his stories and love of nature with his Colorado’s Rocky Mountains and Maine Coast Junior students this summer!

Rachel Zuckerman – Colorado’s Rocky Mountains and Maine Coast Junior

Veteran Apogee leader Rachel Zuckerman brings her energy and passion for working with kids to our Colorado’s Rocky Mountains and Maine Coast Junior trips this summer. Rachel hails from Scarsdale, NY – where she grew up in a house that was once used by George Washington and his army as sleeping quarters! In Scarsdale, Rachel began to hone her leadership skills as she worked with kids of many different ages. In 2014 and 2015, Rachel worked in a “Summer Reading Buddies” program where she worked with multi-lingual kids to keep up their English skills through the summer. She has also worked as an assistant in a special needs classroom and spent a summer as a yoga instructor at a day camp. As a yoga instructor, she taught classes for kids from ages three to thirteen — working with quite a large range of abilities! Rachel recently went hiking and paragliding in the Swiss Alps; she discovered her love for the outdoors as a junior in high school, creating biking and hiking itineraries for herself near her hometown. Now a rising senior at Hamilton College, Rachel is a wilderness trip leader for the Hamilton Outing Club and has an ambitious goal of hiking all 46 high peaks of the Adirondack mountains before graduating! We’re thrilled to have Rachel joining our team again this summer, and we know Rachel is eager to explore the outdoors and embrace new adventures with her students.

Parker Densmore – Maine Coast Junior and Colorado’s Rocky Mountains

Whether he’s backpacking, cycling, and water skiing in the summer, or on- and off-piste skiing in the winter, Parker Densmore is always on the move. Now a rising senior at St. Lawrence University studying Geology and minoring in Film and Representation Studies, Parker shares his love of the outdoors with his peers by leading backpacking, canoeing, and ski trips as the secretary of SLU’s Outing Club. At school, Parker also competes on the Alpine Ski Team and is a member of the Ultimate Frisbee Team. He has spent winters and summers past working as a camp counselor in Vermont, a ski coach in New York, and even a ranch hand, assistant horse guide, and assistant horse-riding instructor in Wyoming! We can’t wait to have Parker on our team, and we’re sure he and his students will have a blast exploring with him on our Maine Coast Junior and Colorado’s Rocky Mountains trips this summer!

Stella Gardner – Maine Coast Junior and Colorado’s Rocky Mountains

Stella Gardner grew up in Missoula, Montana, where she and her two twin little sisters loved to pick huckleberries, go on overnight rafting trips, catch turtles in lakes, and perform campfire skits together. Passionate about the outdoors and curious about the world, Stella is a rising senior at Colorado College who studies political science and tutors English to refugees in Colorado Springs. When she’s not pondering issues on immigration, global health, and education, Stella can be found out on the field hucking the ol’ disc (read, “playing ultimate frisbee”) or up on the slopes shredding the gnar (read, “skiing”). No stranger to the outdoors, Stella has gone backpacking in Colorado and Montana, biking through Utah, rafting in Arizona, and mountaineering on Mount Shasta. She recently spent a semester studying abroad in Valparaíso, Chile and even got to spend a whole month backpacking through Patagonia! Stella loves spending time and having fun with kids of all ages, and she used to organize neighborhood Ultimate Frisbee games for up to 30 kids weekly. She has also spent five months volunteering at an after-school program for 4-16 year-olds in a low-income neighborhood in Chile. We’re thrilled to have Stella leading our Maine Coast Junior and Colorado’s Rocky Mountains trips, and we know she can’t wait to hike in the Rockies and Acadia National Park with her Apogee  students this summer!