Student Alumni

Growing up in western Sonoma County, CA, Anna Kennedy spent much of her childhood exploring the outdoors. But it wasn’t until her sixth grade class visited NatureBridge’s Golden Gate campus and her group embarked on their challenge hike in the Marin Headlands that Anna “had this moment of realizing I enjoy hiking!” That experience, coupled with a memorable night walk on the beach, set Anna on a path of discovery, study, and fieldwork that ultimately brought her back to NatureBridge Golden Gate in Fall 2023—as a seventh grade teacher with students of her own.

"Full circle." That’s the phrase that kept running through my mind as I drove into the Marin Headlands, eagerly anticipating the smiles I expected to see from the students I was tasked with meeting at NatureBridge’s Golden Gate campus. I had signed up as a driver to bring a group of fifth graders back to school after three days and two nights learning and playing together on the coast. The trip was a rite of passage, a cornerstone experience for their grade. As I came upon the group doing their final wrap-up and graduation ceremony on wooden benches overlooking the Pacific Ocean, there was one smile in particular I was looking for. “Mama! I love NatureBridge!” I heard as I was tackled by my ten-year-old in a huge hug. Growing up in a family that loves camping and regularly takes hikes in the East Bay Hills, this wasn’t a total surprise, but as a former NatureBridge staff member for nearly 10 years and a past participant myself, I couldn’t help but take a breath of relief.

“I didn’t remember that I remembered this much until I got here and then I was like, wait, I know I did this!” For current Environmental Science Educator Amelia Otto Cutting, leading student groups at NatureBridge Yosemite is a dream come true—as well as a bit of déjà vu. Although she’d been visiting Yosemite National Park with her family for her “whole life,” Amelia's first visit to NatureBridge came via Girl Scouts, which organized a summer camp that included five days at Yosemite Institute (now known as NatureBridge Yosemite) in 2009. Eleven-year-old Amelia explored the Spider Caves, climbed Lembert Dome, marveled at the Tuolumne Grove and hiked up to the Crane Flat fire lookout (“They even let us in the helicopter!” she recalls with excitement). Amelia’s favorite part of returning to Yosemite as an educator—after having experienced NatureBridge programming as a student—is “taking kids out into the field…and sharing my love of nature with them.”

"It’s pretty impressive to say that I’ve been obsessed with a place since I was 13—thanks to the NatureBridge program!” For alum Anya Gupta, that place is Yosemite National Park. Starting with her eighth grade trip to NatureBridge Yosemite in 2014—a trip that Anya declares “changed my life”—Anya has been pursuing paths that would allow her to return to Yosemite to explore, discover and serve. Even when she is physically distant from the park (as she is right now while completing dual bachelor’s degrees in Earth Climate Science and Environmental Science at Duke University), Anya keeps Yosemite close to her heart.

We were fortunate to reconnect recently with NatureBridge Golden Gate (formerly The Headlands Institute) alum Ryan Hunt at our Olympic campus. During his visit to Olympic, Ryan and his fellow team members met with NatureBridge CEO and President Phil Kilbridge, Olympic Campus Director Jen Kidder, National Park Service staff and members of our Olympic staff. They toured the campus and learned how NatureBridge has evolved since Ryan’s time as a student at The Headlands Institute in 1991. Ryan shared about his NatureBridge program where he learned about marine life and ecosystems in Golden Gate National Recreation Area, an experience he termed “seminal” to who he is today. Currently, Ryan serves as a senior staff member on the US Senate Appropriations Committee where he recommends to the Senate how funds should be spent, particularly in relation to the preservation of outdoor spaces.

Whitney Mowll’s experience with NatureBridge (then Yosemite Institute) always returns to the question “Why,” but not in the way you might expect. An innocuous moment conducting water monitoring tests caused Whitney to wonder why she only thought of science as a singular experience revolving around lab coats and test tubes, and why does any of this type of science matter in our daily lives? This led her on a lifetime’s work in and around environmental education and stewardship. Now, as the Executive Coordinator for the National Park Service Friends Alliance and Instructor at the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming, “Why” is the question that continues to inspire her work both personally and professionally.

At NatureBridge, our goal is to inspire every student to become an environmental steward—and there are as many different expressions of that commitment as there are NatureBridge alumni. For some students, their NatureBridge experience even inspires their career trajectory and crystallizes their sense of identity as champions of our wildlife and wild spaces. One such student alum is Julie Byerly.

We last spoke with 2018 NatureBridge Student of the Year Marisa Granados six months prior to the onset of COVID-19 in the U.S. At the time, a day in the life of Marisa sounded as wildly busy as it did impressive: she was the resident assistant of a dorm, honors student, weekend snowboarder, NOLS Wilderness First Responder, blog writer, an involved fellow with Our Climate Voices and she even logged hours in pursuit of her private pilot license.

In the subsequent years, Marisa has drawn closer to obtaining her degree in Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, and has faced the same challenges that many students have due to the pandemic — isolation, a virtual learning environment, increased academic pressure.

Her experience and insights about self-care and trying to conduct science fieldwork in a virtual setting only serve to highlight why she won Student of the Year in the first place.

This story is part of our series, Students to Stewards, focused on the incredible trajectories of former NatureBridge students. Specifically, the impact of their program experience on where they are today. Ethan Elkind’s trajectory from a NatureBridge student in the 1990s to a leader in climate change research today is not typical, but it is illustrative — a significant, transformative NatureBridge experience played a role in Ethan’s life that went beyond spurring appreciation of nature. Read our interview with Ethan where we talked about how NatureBridge informed his worldview, the biggest victories he sees in climate policy and why he’s thankful for one particularly infamous meteor.