Hayley, Gioia, Ellen, Cynthiann and Ari on top of Ruby Mountain, near Atlin, BC.
To start things off, here are some brief RRCS student biographies:
Ari Blatt: Hailing from Corvallis, Oregon, Ari currently attends Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington. Living very near to both the Puget Sound and the northern portion of the Cascade Mountain Range allows her to utilize both of these outdoor environments for recreation and learning purposes. She is majoring in Environmental Science through Western’s Huxley College of the Environment, one of the oldest such programs in the nation. In her free time, she especially enjoys skiing at Mt Baker Resort and in the backcountry, beach bumming and sea kayaking off Chuckanut Drive, and hiking and camping all over this beautiful area. She is very excited to be spending her summer in such a remote and wild place, learning about the location and all of its inhabitants through first-hand experience.
Gioia Cabri: A native Vermonter, Gioia grew up in a small town where the woods were her playground. From collecting specimens of rocks and feathers as a child, she has moved up in the world to majoring in wildlife biology and minoring in anthropology at the University of Vermont. During the summers she connects to her grubby roots by working on an organic farm. This summer brought a refreshing change of pace as she ventured off into the Great Northwest to study with Round River in the Taku. She is excited to become an experienced bushwhacker and to learn how to fish.
Cynthiann Heckelsmiller: Now in her fourth year at Weber State University, Cynthiann splits her time between Ogden, Utah, and her hometown near Seattle, Washington. She loves exploring the trails in both of these extremely different places in search of interesting plants and wildlife. She is majoring in botany and minoring in chemistry. Cynthiann plans to go on to study ethnobotany, and hopes that she can contribute to the preservation of indigenous knowledge and wild habitats. She is exuberantly excited to be here in Atlin, and to share the experience with you.
Ellen Iida: Growing up in a small town in Japan, Ellen is spending her first ever year living in the USA at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine, with a self-directed and interdisciplinary major in Human Ecology. She loves to explore and botanize in and around Acadia National Park, make stuff through spinning, knitting and carving and is recently learning to love the ocean also through sailing in the Atlantic. She hopes to further pursue her interest and love of wild places, native cultures, plants, organic farming and creating natural crafts and music, and to learn and take home everything she can from this majestic landscape of Northern British Columbia.
Hayley Jennifer Weyers: Originally from Appleton, Wisconsin, Hayley currently resides in Ashland in the northwoods of Wisconsin. She is a third-year student at Northland College, an environmental liberal arts school. There she majors in humanities and nature studies and minors in environmental studies. Hayley enjoys snowshoeing in the wintertime, foraging in the warmer months, and always taking time to sit and gaze upon Lake Superior to take in all that Gitchi Gumie has to offer. Hayley is committed to understanding the world around us through many lenses; the intent being to unite them to create positive change. She is enthusiastic about this unique opportunity through Round River here in British Columbia—may it provide new perspectives and greater understanding about humans and their place in the natural world.