After hearing so many good things about the HMI community, I joined HMI in January 2023 as the wilderness apprentice. I’m excited to apply what I’ve learned in my apprenticeship to the summer term staff role! My love for the outdoors took off in college where I worked for Whitman’s outdoor program. My time at Whitman sparked interest in guiding, and I spent my last two years of college guiding backpacking trips for teens through Apogee Adventures, based out of Brunswick, ME. My time at Apogee culminated in a once in a lifetime trip through the Swiss, French, and Italian Alps. Whether I’m spending my time outside or cozied up on a couch, I always have books with me. In fact, on my last trip with HMI, I took three books with me into the backcountry. Some may call it stupid, but I never once regretted it. On that trip I read “The House of Spirits” by Isabel Allende and I can now safely say it has made it to my list of favorites.