Adventure Camps are organized, led, and run by a seasoned team, experienced in hosting outdoor camps for children and youth. Our team is made up of longtime camp alumni, Waldorf teachers/alumni, and individuals, all dedicated to the work of creating safe and fun camps together. The team works collaboratively throughout the year to organize and fine-tune these camps to provide children with the best possible experiences and to foster a space in which community is built. As a staff, we volunteer our time to ensure that the camp experience we were offered, is provided for generations to come.
2024
Kasper F. Marona
He/Him
Director
A graduate of The American University's School of Public Affairs, in Washington DC, and Chicago Waldorf before that, Kasper Marona has been an active participant of The Adventure Camps and conferences since 2012 and children’s camps before that. Throughout his time with us, Kasper has enjoyed many roles, from helping organize food for the camps and cooking to gear selection and maintenance, finances, and now serves as the Director of Adventure Camps and oversees the search and development of a future center and home for these camp activities.
Kasper loves the communities that are centered around these Camps that grow and evolve with each new year, always picking up where they left off the previous summer. Beyond the camps, he enjoys still and aerial photography and keeping up with politics. Kasper speaks Polish and English fluently and has visited almost every state in the lower 48. If you ever have any outdoor gear questions, Kasper is the one to reach out to.
Ann Burfeind
She/Her
Advisor to Adventure Camps
Camp Greenwood Lake - Co-Director 2023, 2022, 2021, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014
Canoe Camp - Director
2013-2018
Working to create safe and fun summer camp experiences for children and teens and helping create the community around making camp happen in a cooperative way is what encourages Ann to be involved in Adventure Camps.
A current and former Adventurer, Ann biked across the country by herself, lived for two years in the Andes mountains in the Peace Corps, and taught a Waldorf class from grades 1-8. Ann was ordained as a priest in the Christian Community in 2012. She first served the communities in Chicago, then Vancouver, British Columbia, and most recently, Seattle, until March 2024. Ann now lives in Bellingham and works with social initiatives to serve the underserved in our communities
Emma Heirman
She/Her
Coastal Camp - Co-Director 2024, 2023
Camp Greenwood Lake - Co-Director
2022, 2019, 2018
Rev. Emma Heirman has served as a priest in The Christian Community since 2016. Raised in the Washington, DC area with a Waldorf education, and summer after summer of Christian Community Summer Camp, she found a life path that strives to support human becoming in freedom and love. She aims to nurture the health and development of children through the strong rhythmic life of camp in nature, as well as through the forming of unique communities and human connection that are born anew or renewed each summer. It is fun, hard work - the best kind!
Matthias Giles
He/Him Coastal Camp - Co-Director 2024, 2023, 2022
Camp Greenwood Lake - Co-Director
2019, 2018
Rev. Matthias Giles has been a priest of The Christian Community since 2019. Having grown up in Ohio amish country, he enjoys getting back to his rural roots by spending time in nature and living with its natural rhythms as we do at camp. He strives to work out of and foster a deep-rooted sense of meaning and hope for the human community through working with the helping forces of the spiritual world. He is eager to return to Cape Henlopen and Coastal Camp for another summer week of fun, work, and growth.
Ruth Plumb
she/her
Coastal Camp - Staff 2024 Canoe Camp - Staff 2024, 2023
Ruth has been part of the Adventure Camp community for many years. She first attended the camps as a camper herself, every summer since before 5th grade, and found that it was the highlight of her year. Then in high school, she took on roles of leadership at the camps, working as a counselor for many years and as kitchen staff. She also participated in youth activities such as the canoe camp and youth conferences throughout the year.
Ruth grew up in Chicago and attended the Waldorf school from Kindergarten through 8th grade. In the coming fall, she will be a senior at New York City’s Cooper Union, working towards a degree in visual arts. Ruth works in a wide variety of mediums such as painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, and poetry, and is interested in exploring themes pertaining to bodies, wild environments, and magical realism.
Jakob Halbauer
He/Him Canoe Camp - Staff
2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2018
Jakob has been part of the Adventure Camps team for the past four years and grew up attending the children’s camps every summer. As someone who is passionate about the human-nature connection, he is constantly working to shape a more meaningful and caring interaction between ourselves and the land that sustains us.
After completing his degree in organic agriculture, Jakob began working as an assistant in a Waldorf school garden and later as a farm and restoration technician with a company that plants trees on farms throughout the Midwest. His dream is to one day be part of a farming community that hosts camps for children and teenagers to experience the positive impact our work can have on the world around us.
As a Canoe Camp team member, Jakob looks forward to being part of the vibrant and beautiful Adventure Camp community and to the starry nights and songs of the Namekagon River.
Isabel Dancey
she/her
Canoe Camp - Staff 2024
Coastal Camp Staff / Kitchen 2024, 2023
Isabel hails from Kimberton, Pennsylvania, and currently resides in Philmont, New York. Throughout her journey, she has cultivated cherished friendships while pursuing a diverse range of occupations, including farming, stone masonry, and working at the delightful Zinnia's Dinette (a must-visit if you're in the area!).
Isabel's educational foundation was laid at a Waldorf school, where she spent her formative years from grade 1 to 12. However, when summertime rolled around, she eagerly embarked on an annual journey to Camp Greenwood Lake in the Midwest. This beloved camp held a special place in Isabel's heart, as both her grandparents were beloved directors and founders of the camp. Instead of staying close to home on the East Coast, Isabel and her brother joyfully journeyed to Chicago to reconnect with loved ones, knowing that the true adventure awaited them at the camp nestled beyond the Wisconsin Dells.
Although Isabel's days as a camper have come to an end, the profound connections forged at camp continue to resonate within her. With great enthusiasm, she has joined our staff and will be spearheading the kitchen and food realm at Coastal Camp this year. Isabel is thrilled to be a part of the camp experience once again, bringing her passion for food and community to create memorable moments for all.
Carley Horan
She/Her
Co-Director - Camp Greenwood Lake 2024
Games, Group Activities, Stories
2022, 2021, 2020
Carley Horan has spent most of her summers at camp first as a camper then counselor and staff. Today, Carley leads group games and activities, which are a joyful part of our camp mornings and always bring out the camp spirit in all of us. She also oversees projects and the preparation of meals. Last summer, Carley told the camp story over the course of our Canoe trip and is looking forward to doing so again. Carley is enthusiastic about acting and improv, especially in an ensemble, and loves poetry.
Carley studies Speech Formation and Drama in Chestnut Ridge, NY, and teaches at The Green Meadow Waldorf School’s aftercare program.
More 2024 Staff Coming Soon
Claire Jerram
She/Her
Projects and Crafts Director at Camp Greenwood Lake
2022, 2023
Claire was a Waldorf class teacher most recently at the Waldorf School of Baltimore. She also completed a speech and drama training before joining the seminary of the Christian Community in 2019. She has been helping in her home congregation in College Park, MD as an intern this year, and runs day camps for young children out of her home in Baltimore.
She is looking forward to a second year of teaching crafts at Camp Greenwood Lake and being part of this creative collaborative team.
Coastal Camp 2023
Lia Dancey
Thorin Dancey
Matt Balfe
Kavin Hertle
Yuumi Matsuda
Canoe Camp 2023
Soren Preus
Milo Zinky
Camp Greenwood Lake 2023
Eleanor Buck
Victoria Capon
Jen Zimberg
She/Her
Co-Director, Singing Leader
2022, 2021, 2020, 2018, 2017, 2016
Jen has worked with children and teenagers in many settings—public after-school programs, teen centers, outdoor programs, and summer backcountry expeditions. During the school year, she works as a support teacher in the Forest Kindergarten at Green Meadow Waldorf School.
At Adventure Camps, Jen is one of the camp directors and leads singing, and wears whatever hat needs wearing. Jen is also a performing singer-songwriter and has released an EP and an album of songs. Jen loves singing, gardening, camping, and being outside at dawn and twilight.
Clara Zinky
They/Them
Food Organizer and Staff
2021, 2022
A true believer in the power of being outside to shape lives and in the power of food to ground community, Clara has been attending camp since she was a howling and homesick six years old. Camp has grown and morphed in the twenty years since, and Clara feels grateful to have seen so many iterations distinct in their challenges and joys, each drawing a community of counselors, campers, and adventurers who just can’t wait to see what’s next. A carpenter by trade living in New England with her partner and cats, and returning to camp after a deep-dive into boat-building, Clara will be helping to organize and prepare all things food-related.
Elsa Gomez
She/Her
Food Organizer and Staff
Elsa grew up camping in Kananaskis Country, in the foothills and front ranges of the Canadian Rockies. She enjoys getting to know what lives in the hearts of others. One of her greatest joys comes in supporting the daily rhythms of family life and dynamics.
While this is her first year involved with Adventure Camps, she brings her enthusiasm for nourishing her community through food and care. Elsa is a trained neuroscientist and also worked in the chemistry lab as a volunteer for children and youth at The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. She currently lives in Seattle supporting her twin sister and family through an illness/wellness journey.
Lydia Turino
She/her, they/them
Planning and Support
Lydia has been a part of the camps, in one way or another, since 8th grade. Although she only spent one year as a camper, she immediately planted herself in the community and came back for multiple years after that in various roles from kitchen staff and games counselor to attending youth conferences.
Today, Lydia shares her first-hand knowledge of the camps by helping plan for the summer adventures. Lydia adores the lifelong community she has found through camp and the endless fun it provides. Outside of camp she is a poet, artist, and student who spends as much of her free time traveling as she can.
Amrita Shore
She/Her
Highschool Backpacking - Staff 2022
Camp Greenwood Lake - Counselor 2019, 2018
A current Junior at The University of Vermont in Burlington, Amrita Shore is majoring in Community International Development and Applied Economics, a multidisciplinary major that focuses on hands-on learning to develop strategies to solve our world’s complex problems. At the age of eight, Amrita experienced her first summer with us at our children’s camp and returned every possible year of her grade school before she began attending our youth camps.
After several years of youth camps, Amrita then transitioned from a participant to staff when she became a counselor for the very camps she attended as a child. She describes the camps as a magical experience where community and even lifelong connections can be built through singing, games, storytelling, and shared experiences out in nature.
It comes as no surprise that Amrita is once again beyond excited to be part of Adventure Camps this summer and eager to share her years of camp experience with new adventurers so that they too may cherish camp memories as she does.
2022 Team Continued:
Milo Zinky
Julian Mayfield
Gillian Cross
Jeana Lee
Robert Bower
Claire Jerram
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Anna R
Anna E
Gracie F
Elsa P
Selina H
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