Kroka Expeditions: Wilderness Adventure and Education Programs for children, teens and adults

MISHA GOLFMAN, M.Ed. co-founded Kroka Expeditions in 1996. He graduated from the Soviet National Outdoor Leadership School and earned degrees from Leningrad Politechnical and Pedagogical Universities, Plymouth State College and M.Ed. from Antioch, NE Graduate School. As a child he spent every summer expeditioning on long Russian waterways with his mother, while foraging and fishing. Misha participated and led many expeditions including several in the Russian and Canadian Arctic. He founded several initiatives, including the Russian American Outdoor Educators Exchange, Adventures in Russia and Piermont Outdoor Program. Misha was a guide for Mahoosuc Guide Service for 15 years and Outward Bound for 3 years. He also was a public school and college teacher for 10 years.

LEAH LAMDIN grew up in Pelham, MA where she developed her love for the outdoors at a young age. She participated in outdoor adventure trips with the Hulbert Outdoor Center and Chewonki Foundation as a teenager, and later followed her passion to complete a NOLS semester in New Zealand in 2007. She taught at the Morse Hill Outdoor Education Center in Shutesbury, MA for seven summers, and is now excited to have joined the Kroka community. Leah received her Bachelor’s degree in Global Studies from Warren Wilson College in Asheville, NC, after which she lived in Louisville, KY for a year before moving to NH. Leah especially enjoys being by water, swimming, hiking, and enjoying beautiful meals.

EMILY TURNER was born and raised in the town of Starksboro, VT. She first came to Kroka at the age of 11 and has been a devoted Kroka-ite ever since. She completed the 2004 Vermont Semester and was the first ever Kroka Apprentice. She then took time to study at Fosen Folk School in Norway, where she lived for three years shoveling manure, sailing boats, and strapping her skis to her bicycle so she was always prepared. Her time abroad continued for another three years spent living outside of London studying theater, and exploring Europe as a traveling milk maid. In 2011 Emily rejoined the full-time Kroka community as the School Programs Coordinator.

RAINA has spent most of her life in Vermont and New Hampshire. Her first experience at Kroka was at the age of 13. She has since participated in many Kroka programs including the New Hampshire / Ecuador Semester. She has studied jewelry and metal smithing, as well as other forms of art. Raina recently completed the 2012 New Hampshire / Ecuador Semester as a teachers assistant. She enjoys sharing her love of nature, crafts, and outdoor adventure with children of all ages.

LISL, M.Ed. was born and raised in a small village in the Austrian Alps in the family of a forest ranger and teacher. She climbed, backcountry skied and hiked extensively in the Alps. Lisl has been a teacher all of her adult life, having taught elementary as well as high school grades. After moving to the United States in 1985 she studied at the Rudolf Steiner College in California. For 13 years she taught at the Kimberton Waldorf School in Pennsylvania, where she carried the Movement and Outdoor Education Department. Lisl devoted many years at Kimberton to develop an age appropriate outdoor curriculum. The Kimberton Waldorf High School now successfully offers at least one weeklong trip in connection to a Main block for each grade. Her son Stefan is an alumnus of VSP ’04 and both of her children have taught at Kroka.

NATHAN LYCZAK is Kroka’s managing director and chief cartographer. He is responsible for financial management and organizational systems development as well as providing administrative support and training for all of the staff. He brings to Kroka 15 years experience in non-profit management, and youth development and holds a masters degree in Education from Harvard University. While not at Kroka, Nathan lives in Keene with his two children Meg and Rye, and spends his time enjoying music, dancing, gardening, and having people over for dinner.

LYNNE, M.Ed. graduated from UMass, Amherst and Leslie College with degrees in Education and Creative Arts. Prior to founding Kroka, Lynne taught as a Special Education Teacher, Public School Classroom teacher and Waldorf Nursery Kindergarten teacher. Lynne also worked as a ski guide at Mahoosuc Guide Service. Lynne brings to Kroka a wealth of teaching and life experience combined with a deep understanding of child development and an unsurpassed compassion for all beings. Besides running Kroka and raising a family Lynne manages Kroka’s “Happy Hens” Chicken Farm.

LINDA FUERDERER is our amazing Office Manager/Administrator and she always steps up to do many other tasks. Until the sale in 2007, she worked along side her family in the family business, Jack’s True Value Hardware in Keene, New Hampshire. While working in the family business, she received a Bachelor’s Degree at Keene State College. Here she deepened her passion for archaeology. Linda has participated on many digs and regularly volunteers with the New Hampshire SCRAP program (State Conservation and Rescue Archaeology Program). She is a resident of Marlow and sits on the conservation commission as well as ARLAC (Ashuelot River Local Advisory Commission).

MICHAEL coordinates the semester program in Ecuador. He completed four years of Industrial Engineering at the University of Quito and two years of Adventure Guiding School in Canada. He is a certified CAA Avalanche Technician, WFR, BC Canada rafting guide, and part of the BC Search and Rescue Team. Michael is an excellent mountain biker and a well-known climbing and mountaineering guide in Ecuador. Michael was one of the co leaders of the first Kroka Ecuador Semester in 07 and it is his eighth year as a teacher at Kroka. Born in the Andes, Michael and his brothers Thomas and Mathias grew up on horseback, helping their parents on the family farm. During their childhood their father, Francisco transformed a traditional hacienda into a progressive and profitable farm that has since supported a village of indigenous peoples. They co-founded Nahual – Kroka’s partner school in Ecuador.

MATHIAS was born and raised at Palugo, a small permaculture farm in the core of the Andes mountains, where he learn to love nature and the outdoors. As an adult, he went to Canada and completed several outdoor education and guiding programs, achieving several certification as a WFR, Rafting guide, CAA avalanche Technician and in Search and Rescue. Mathias loves the mountain and became a very passionate climber and mountaineer and works at home as a mountain guide. He joined Kroka many years ago, working as a lead teacher in summer programs and Ecuador NH Semester and he is back for his eighth year this summer. He and his brothers cofounded Nahual Expediciones which is now Kroka's partner school in Ecuador.

THOMAS was born and raised in Palugo, Ecuador. He grew up on the family farm and has always had a strong conection with animals and nature. Since an early age he developed great ability and understanding of animals, he has been taming horses since he was a teenager, learning perseverance and dedication. Thomas has an independent personality and has a great talent for different sports, he is a passionate climber and paddler. After finishing high school he ventured to Canada to learn English and work on a horse farm, before heading back to Ecuador,he hitch-hiked accros the country. He graduated from university as an agronomist and has dedicated lots of his life to be outdoors, guiding and working with young people and nature. Construction is another of Thomas's passions, he just finished hand building his beautifull all wood and adobe house. We are happy to have him back for his eight year this summer , he and Marcea will be teaching the New Hampshire-Ecuador 2011 Semester.

We are so pleased to have Zack Buckley joining our semester school teaching staff. Zack is a 2011 graduate of Sterling College where he studied natural history and wilderness leadership. Everyone who meets him quickly can tell that he is a wise and enthusiastic experienced outdoorsman, with a unique gentle competence and a multitude of backcountry wilderness expedition and wild craft skills. Zack grew up near the ocean on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and recently has been farming and homesteading with his family in northern Maine. Welcome to Kroka, Zack!

MARCELA, was born in Colombia and raised in Ecuador. From a young age, Marcela has always been a lover of the natural and creative world around her. These interests have led her to work as a natural history guide in different reserves around Ecuador, including the Amazon and Galápagos Islands. She has a B.A. from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand where she started her work with children and theatre. In 2006 she assisted her first group of Kroka students in Ecuador along with other Nahual staff. From then on she has been both a Nahual and Kroka teacher. She taught the NH-Ecuador Semester in 2008 and led seasonal trips for Kroka. In Ecuador she is part of Palugo farm, a sustainable farm dedicated to outdoor education and organic farming. She is a certified WAFA and has a certificate in Waldorf Education with the Fursewale Ass., the Anthroposophical Association in Ecuador.

Jamie Coulter has worked at Kroka since the year 2000. He also has Waldorf class teacher certification from Antioch University, is a capoeira angola teacher (Afro-Brazilian dance/fight/game), and a yoga teacher trained at the Himalayan Institute for Yoga Science and Philosophy. He has worked on small organic farms in Vermont, on wheat farms in Oklahoma, and did inspection work for the Northeast Organic Farming Association. He has worked with 'at risk' youth in residential settings, school settings and outdoors. He has been a restaurant manager, waiter, and cook in Greenwich Village, NYC, and went to cooking school. As a teenager he went to Interlochen Arts Academy, a fine and performing arts high school and has performed in many plays. Originally from Minneapolis, he and his wife Tonya have three children and live in Harlemville, NY

LAUREL ISELIN first came to Kroka for her 8th grade class trip. She has since participated in many advanced expeditions, including those in Canada and Ecuador. For her senior class project Laurel studied about traditional lodge building with Cree Natives in Canada and then guided Kroka students in the process of building our Cree lodge alongside Grandfather Ray Reitze. Laurel attended Waldorf School through grade twelve. She completed a year of study at Fosen Folk School in Norway and spent another year traveling by bicycle in South America. Laurel completed a foundation year in painting at Harlemville Free Columbia School in New York where she built yet another Cree lodge, and is now living in Acworth, NH. She is an incredible fiddle player who also enjoys circus arts and horses.

MARCEA is a native Vermonter. Growing up immersed in nature, she developed an understanding of the beauty, forms and cycles of nature. Marcea has pursued to perfection the expressions of nature’s messages through crafts, music, art, and the study of medicinal plants. For Marcea, both Ecuador and Saxtons River, Vermont are home. This is her seventh year working at Kroka both as a summer and New Hampshire-Ecuador Semester teacher.

HANS MAYER is an alumni of the Semester Program and has been part of the Kroka family for many years. Hans is from Starksboro, Vermont. He spent his youth immersed in the natural world -- tracking, hunting, fishing, wilderness camping and organic farming -- and has a great reverence for nature and love of outdoor pursuits. Hans spent the 2011-2012 school year studying in New Zealand and now lives nearby in Acworth, NH.

DAN FILSTEIN is originally from New York City where he spent his formative years attempting to understand the world. Throughout his childhood he attended Camp Thoreau-In-Vermont; there he cultivated a passion for adventure sports and an appreciation for intentional community living. Dan graduated from the University of Vermont with a B.A. in History and has spent three summers working at the Farm & Wilderness Camps in Plymouth VT, a season at the Keewaydin Environmental Ed. Center in Salisbury, VT, and recently, he apprenticed at Koviashuvik Local Living School in Temple, ME. In addition to working with kids, Dan has interests and experience in farming, activism, earth-living skills, biking, cooking, travel... He is very excited to be joining the Kroka community where he hopes to balance cosmopolitanism and an appreciation of life in the moment.

Mr. Everett Lindholm Fiske grew up on a small farm, surrounded by blueberry barrens and the jagged, granite strewn coast of Maine. He developed a love for woodworking, knitting, weaving, blacksmithing, and the raw beauty of the surrounding world and ocean at a young age. Feeling confined by the standard education he began in high school, Everett was motivated to become a student on Kroka's 2012 Vermont Semester and later an apprentice at the Koviashuvik Local Living School where he further developed his connection to the spirit of the land. Everett loves to tan hides, work with wood, sew, and paddle the tidal inlets of Maine's coast. In August he will be attending the Fosen Folk High School in Norway.

JEN McMONIGLE grew up playing in the mountains and creeks of Colorado, but it wasn't until many years later that she really began to appreciate nature and the outdoor environment. After graduating from Pepperdine University with a BA in Psychology and Spanish, Jen adopted a seasonal lifestyle, working and adventuring all over the US and abroad. A few seasons with conservation corps helped her to realize that she is happiest and most alive when playing and working in the outdoors. Since then, Jen has spent her time sharing this love of the earth with teens and kids as an expedition leader, trail crew leader, environmental educator, and ski instructor (to name a few). Activities that keep Jen smiling include climbing (rocks, trees, walls...), slacklining, concocting delicious kitchen experiments, canoeing, dancing, arts and crafts-y-ness, and playing ukulele. She is a Wilderness First Responder and certified Lifeguard.

ELIOT WITTEN grew up in an intentional co-housing community in Western Massachusetts. He grew up going to Night Eagle Wilderness Adventures, and has moved through the ranks at Kroka, from summer to semester student, and then apprentice to summer staff member. Eliot spent this past winter apprenticing at Mahoosuc Guide Service in Newry, ME. He especially enjoys fishing, camping, singing and canoing.

TRINA hails from Keene, New Hampshire, where her education at the Monadnock Waldorf School and the Putney School awoke in her a deep passion for many mediums of art. After experiencing the New Hampshire-Ecuador Semester as a student in 2009, Trina decided to come back to teach at Kroka in the summers. Trina’s love of exploration and adventure has led her on many journeys, most recently to Ireland, where she spent four months traveling the coast by bicycle. Trina now attend the Rode Island School of Design.

Phoebe Carter grew up in NH, NY and Iowa exploring the woods and mountains with her family, but she spent her high school years singing, dancing and acting at Tara, the Waldorf Performing Arts high school in Colorado. She came to Kroka for the Ecuador semester in 2012 and has become part of the Kroka family. She is assistant teaching some winter trips and will be back this summer. In the interim, she and another alum, Ayere McAlice will be back in Ecuador for some self-guided adventures. She is enrolled at Kenyon College in rural Ohio for the fall.

Year-Round Staff

Seasonal Staff