Dave is passionate about spending time with young people in wild places. Before coming to Kroka in 2020, he accumulated more than 150 weeks in the field as a Senior Staff Course Leader for the National Outdoor Leadership School, teaching Rock Climbing, Canyoneering, Backpacking, and Backcountry Skiing. He has taught 100 courses for the Wilderness Medicine Institute, and has coordinated semester long wilderness programs for both NOLS and St. Lawrence University. Dave was the Executive Director of Pok-O-MacCready Camps from 2022 until 2024, and is a past President of the NOLS Instructor Association.

Liz grew up exploring the woods and waters behind her house in the D.C. suburbs, rehabilitating injured animals, and donating all of her allowance to conservation groups. In college she dove into outdoor education and began leading trips and managing gear for VCU’s outdoor program. After college, Liz worked for the Student Conservation Association as an Americorps volunteer in the Adirondacks then as a trail crew leader. She led a variety of wilderness and service trips in California, Washington, Alaska and all around the East coast. Liz worked at North Country School for over a decade as a farm intern, science and English teacher, houseparent, coach, trip leader, 9th grade team leader, secondary school placement coordinator, and reading specialist. She earned her MA in Applied Educational Psychology as a Reading Specialist from Columbia University, and received her teaching certifications for English and as Reading Specialist. Liz has managed a high altitude farm and goat cheese cooperative in Telluride, Colorado, ridden her bike 1500 miles across the West, and was a field researcher for a loon conservation program in the ADKs. She lives in Westminster West, Vermont with her husband and two kids where she tends to her two very wily goats and her beloved 3-legged dog.

Emma holds the one-of-a-kind claim of being the eleven-thousand-one-hundred-and-eleventh person to be named “Emma Smith”. A two-time Kroka semester alumni and recent graduate in psychology and outdoor leadership from Warren Wilson College, Emma returns from the Blue Ridge Mountains to her home state of New Hampshire to share her expedition expertise and love for community living.

A New England native, Ezra grew up in an intentional community in Amherst, Massachusetts. Highlights from his childhood include a semester abroad in the Basque country in northern Spain, making maple syrup, and building forts in the woods. Ezra attended Kroka’s Ecuador Semester as a high-school student and studied sustainable food systems at Sterling College in Craftsbury Common, VT. He completed an MA in Regenerative Economics at Schumacher College (UK) in 2021. Since 2016 Ezra has worn many hats at Kroka including expedition leader, summer program registrar, basecamp manager, and Managing Director.

Before coming to Kroka, Jae worked as a Waldorf farming teacher and farm camp manager in the Hudson Valley of New York. She enjoys volunteering as an adaptive ski instructor in the winter and bike touring in the warmer months. Jae is excited to combine her skills in spoon carving, motivating children to muck livestock stalls, and storytelling at Kroka this summer!

Prior to landing in Marlow and coming to work at Kroka, Mary lived all over the US, including seven years in Alaska, where she enjoyed the wonders of the Northern Lights and the occasional back yard moose sighting. Mary brings a long history of management and HR experience in the retail sector to her current position as Kroka's Buisness Manager. Outside of Kroka, she is the owner/operator of Marlow Breeders, and keeps busy nurturing several litters of adorable puppies each year.

Nathan has enjoyed a variety of roles at Kroka during the past 18 years, including Summer Director, Capital Campaign Coordinator, Cartographer, and Managing Director. Prior to coming to Kroka, he had served as a communications officer in the US Navy, taught English for a year in Nicaragua, and worked as a 4th grade classroom teacher in rural New Hampshire. He loves his work at Krokam which spans technical IT systems (fixing the internet), community development (dance band leader), morning chores (firewood stacking and pancake making), outreach (fundraising and newsletter design) and the teamwork of so many talented people of extraordinary character who make up our unique educational community.

A father, a rambling rock climber and a builder, Davicho originates from Colombia, but has lived and raised his beautiful daughter, Violeta, in Ecuador for the last decade. At the age of twelve, he earned enough money selling hot dogs on the street to buy his first pair of climbing shoes. He has gone on to become a professional mountaineering guide as a member of the IFMGA International Federation of Mountain guides Association. In Ecuador, he works as a high-altitude mountaineering guide for Nahual Expediciones. Around Kroka, Davicho can be found collecting poison ivy, while exploring new heights and terrain.

Grant has been both a Semester Student and Apprentice, and returns now to lead programs in his own right. He grew up in Southern Maine with his four siblings building forts and crafting in his backyard. As a young homeschooler he began studying with Chris and Ashirah Knapp at Koviashuvik Local Living School, where he apprenticed and worked, furthering his wilderness and crafting skills.He enjoyed three years of summer trips at Kroka as a camper before becoming an apprentice and completing the Winter Semester. He has a strong belief that everything he uses should be beautiful as well as functional and strives to apply this philosophy to all of his pursuits. Grant enjoys canoeing down quiet rivers, carving wood, tanning hides, blacksmithing, and singing songs. He can often be found wandering the wild woods, a handmade knife on his belt and an axe in hand, throwing a song to the wind. A masterful craftsman, he infuses every project with a reverence and wonder which are felt by all around him.

Havah started going to Kroka when she was 13 and loved every second of it. After graduating from the 2018 Winter Semester she went on to get a degree in outdoor education at Sterling College. Havah is excited to be back in this hardworking and loving community. Havah's Kroka specialities include singing, bike packing, and sniffing out seldom seen swimming holes. She is excited to be working her first Kroka Semester section in the fall of 2025.

Born in Indiana and a longtime resident of Peterborough, New Hampshire, Jennifer makes sure that the hundreds of Kroka students and staff have food in their bellies and food on their plates. From ordering and inventorying the expedition pantry, to preparing on-campus meals every day, to pulling out all stops for formal dinners, festive feasts, and weekly burrito night, Jennifer will somehow always remember to make something special for a staff member’s birthday.

Jo grew up skiing in the woods of Maine, paddling the lakes and rivers of Northern Ontario, and living under the trees on a retired salt-marsh farm on the coast. She has spent the past fourteen summers in a canoe, typically guiding sixteen-year-olds on summer-long whitewater canoe trips through the Canadian bush to Hudson Bay, and recently with Kroka in the lakes of Maine. After studying ancient languages, linguistics, and poetry at Amherst College, Jo returned to the forest as a wilderness therapy guide with True North Wilderness Programs, skiing nooks and crannies in the snowy mountains when not on shift and beginning a life of year-round outdoor living. Jo has a great love for the transformative powers of extended travel through wild spaces, and is often found skiing the trails around campus, singing in circle, and writing.

Keane recently graduated from the University of Vermont where she studied Education and spent his last year teaching in a middle school. He first came to Kroka as a summer student many years ago. Keane loves skiing, backpacking, canoeing, and spending time with family. As a returning wilderness leader this summer, he is excited to share his passion for alternative education and to help his students build resiliency and identity in nature.

Marcea (BA, Marlboro College) is a native Vermonter. Growing up immersed in nature, she developed an understanding of the beauty, forms, and cycles of the living Earth. While traveling, she developed her expression through crafts, music, and art. Marcea moved to Ecuador in 2006. She lives with her partner Thomas Dammer and their three children Naya, Nina and Timo in their hand built wood and adobe house at Palugo Farm. She has worked at Kroka since 2005, teaching students the beauty of nature through leaves, flowers, and roots, both as a teacher during the summer and for the Ecuador Semester. In addition to teaching Marcea started a medicinal herb company called Yuyos Medicinales.

Marga comes to us all the way from Cuenca, Ecuador to share with us her amazing talents on the cliff face and in the kitchen. She is one of the top climbers in South America, and is always looking to share her knowledge.

Mia has lived all around the Northeast working as an outdoor educator and ceramics artist. She arrived at Kroka this spring as a seasonal staff member and wilderness leader. Mia loves the ocean, running through the mountains, and reading literature about the natural world with her students.

Orlando Geovani “Geova” Guatemal hails from the Indigenous community of San Clemente in the highlands of Ecuador. Both hardworking and easygoing, Geova’s mastery in mountain biking is surpassed only by his mastery of making beautiful stone and wood carvings. A lifelong student of the air, earth, water, and fire that composes our world, Geova helps us learn how los naturales can be our wisest teachers.

Roberto’s seasonal migration habits resemble that of Piranga olivacea– the scarlet tanager dividing his time between the Kroka village and his family in the Indigenous community of San Clemente, Ecuador. Many-time winner of the all-staff Kroka Adventure Race, Roberto’s strength, stamina, wits, and expedition expertise stand out even among our most seasoned leaders.

Hailing from central Vermont, Russell has spent the past few years doing as much backpacking and as little high school as possible. A graduate of the Full Circle Winter Semester, and a Kroka summer student since he was nine years old, Russell is stoked to join the staff team as an apprentice. He looks forward to bringing his photography and musical skills to Koka and he can't wait to get back out in the wilderness!

Hailing from Colorado’s Front Range, Sam is a tall-ship sailor, mountain biker, backcountry skier, and homemade sauerkraut savant. As a semester teacher for Kroka’s Full Circle Winter Semester, Sam’s expeditionary wheelhouse includes telemark skiing, whitewater canoeing, and road biking. When not at Kroka, Sam can be found working on a masters in outdoor education and social work at New Hampshire College.

Thomas was born and raised on horseback at Palugo Farm. Through wrestling his brothers, roping horses, climbing trees, hunting, shooting bows, and racing wooden boats, he developed an understanding of community and a love for nature. He has an independent personality and a great talent for different sports; he is a passionate paddler, climber, biker, and an overall adventurer. He has done much traveling and has dedicated a great deal of his life to being outdoors, guiding, and working with young people in nature. The practice of permaculture encompasses much of his interests, with bio-construction as part of it. Thomas has been teaching at Kroka since 2004.

When Vivek is not at Kroka, he works as an outdoor educator in Hong Kong, teaches ice-climbing, and competes with a team in adventure races. He is returning to Kroka as a wilderness leader. A skilled instructor in climbing, backpacking, bike packing, and expedition education, Vivek is excited to share his love for simple living and feeling at home in the wilderness.