Art of Mentoring

Lead Instructor Biography

Laura Gunion is the Coordinator of Wilderness Awareness School's Youth School program, as well as a Coordinator and a lead instructor at Community School. She began her work for Wilderness Awareness School after completing the Anake Outdoor School (formerly the Wilderness Awareness Residential Program), and came to that course with a wealth of experience working with people in the outdoors--as an instructor at Teton Science School, Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, and the Four Corners School of Outdoor Education, among other courses. Laura received her B.A. in Child Studies from Tufts University in 1995, completed the National Outdoor Leadership School’s Semester in the Rockies in 1996, and finished a year-long Professional Residency in Environmental Education through Utah State University and Teton Science School in 2001.

Sol Marie Doran is a Coordinator & Lead Instructor at Wednesday and Friday Roots and Wings (ages 4-6) and Lead Instructor at Thursday Coyotes (ages 10-12). In the summer, she also teaches at various teen and adult programs, including the Art of Mentoring. She has been working with children since 1997 and has been mentoring with the Wilderness Awareness School methodology since 2002. She came to Wilderness Awareness School in 2004 from southern California, where she worked with Wilderness Youth Project, ran an early childhood outdoor program, and earned a B.S. in Ecology. She is finishing her last Kamana field pack (naturalist studies), is a 2-time Tracking Intensive graduate, has trained in herbalism at Ravencroft, and has studied since 2008 with Kim Scanlon on various arts, including modern cultural development, leadership, emotions (especially cultural griefwork), pleasure in life, and beauty. .

Mike Prince: Mike is a core instructor with Community School, and Facility Manager for Wilderness Awareness School. Mike graduated from the Anake Outdoor School (formerly the Wilderness Awareness Residential Program) in 2004, and followed that with a second year as a Apprentice Instructor with Community School. Mike's previous experience as an educator includes teaching High School, directing a Boy Scout Camp, and working for the YMCA.

Nate Summers: Nate coordinates the Anake Leadership Program, and serves as a Core Instructor for the Anake Outdoor School. He has been mentoring adults and youth in the outdoors since 1995. Nate's journey with ancient living skills started as a teenager at the Ancient Lifeways Institute in Southern Illinois. This exposure to stone age living at a young age sparked a life-long interest in anthropology, hunter-gatherer lifestyles, and indigenous cultures. In the past, Nate has served as both Youth Programs Director and Adult Programs Director for Wilderness Awareness School, and has worked with such organizations as King County Parks and Recreation, Seattle Parks Department, and Outdoor Connections/WildLore. He is the founder of Pathfinder Outdoor School, an internal martial arts enthusiast, a practitioner of Chinese Medicine, and a dad.

Marcus Reynerson serves as a core instructor at the Anake Outdoor School. He has lived close to the natural world throughout his life and some of his earliest memories include hunting and fishing in the muggy marshes and pine forests of south Louisiana. Thanks to a childhood of outdoor recreation, Marcus got an early start working in the environmental education field. After leading youth on backpacking trips during college, he earned a degree in Environmental Studies from Miami University in Oxford, OH. Marcus went on to serve as a conservation programs director for Philmont Scout Ranch in Northern New Mexico and then as a lead naturalist at an outdoor education center in Southern California. He was drawn to Washington from Louisville, Kentucky, to attend the Anake Outdoor School (formerly the Wilderness Awareness Residential Program) in 2005 and followed up with a second year as an Apprentice Instructor with the Residential Program.S

Emily Gibson is a Youth Programs Instructor, Summer Camp Director, and Adult Programs Coordinator at Wilderness Awareness School. Emily studied Wildlife Science at the University of Washington and was a research assistant for several years studying the effects of urbanization on songbird populations in the Puget Sound region. After graduating from the Anake Outdoor School (formerlly the Residential Program) in 2005, Emily participated in the Instructor Training Apprenticeship and was an Apprentice Instructor with the Residential Program. She has also continued her study of wildlife tracking through the Tracking Apprenticeship and Tracking Intensive.