The Apogee office is a little brighter these days. No – it’s not just daylight savings that’s giving us an extra bit of sunshine, it’s our newest full-time Assistant Director, Kelly McGinty. While Kelly is new to the full-time team, she’s no stranger to the Apogee family, and we look forward to introducing her to those of you who haven’t yet met her!
Kelly grew up in the green hills of Woodstock, Vermont, and is a 2013 graduate of Cornell University. At Cornell she studied in the College of Industrial and Labor Relations, but her passion has always been in outdoor adventure. In college Kelly led rock-climbing, canoeing and backpacking trips (including a Spring Break trip to Arizona’s high desert). Additionally, Kelly served as an instructor on Cornell’s high and low ropes course, and led two six-day multi-element outdoor adventure trips for incoming freshmen. Kelly was also heavily involved in volunteering in and around Ithaca — she worked annually with the Special Olympics, taught hockey skills through the Ithaca Youth Hockey Association and served as a mentor and tutor in community elementary schools.
Kelly joined the Apogee family in 2012 after taking charge of her interview with Chad and leading him on a “tour” of one of Ithaca’s icy gorges during her late February interview. We were hooked from then on! During the summer of 2012, Kelly led our New England Mountains & Coast and our Maine’s Downeast Explorer. Her students adored her – and we didn’t scare her off, so she came back for a second year. In 2013, she and her two-year co-leader Garth Franklin explored the wild west on our Montana Service Adventure and Northwest Explorer trips.
After graduating from Cornell and wrapping up two adventure-filled summers with Apogee, Kelly accepted a job in Keene, New Hampshire, where she tackled the HR world by day and the great outdoors by night – or at least on the weekends. For the next two years, as Kelly thrived in the corporate world, she continued to be a strong presence at Apogee, coming back each year to facilitate Apogee’s Leader Training and pass on her years of trip-leading wisdom.
When Kelly decided to leave her job in Keene last spring, we had to snatch her right up. She came on board for the summer, helping us to manage the ins-and-outs of the magical – and at times hectic – summer. She returned home to Woodstock, Vermont in August, expanded her family by one with the addition of her adorable puppy, Monty (named for her home state), and prepared for her big move to the Great State of Maine.
If you can’t tell from our gushing blog, we couldn’t be more excited to have Kelly join the team. Not only is she bright and welcoming, but she has enhanced Apogee’s culture and community with her vivacious personality and thoughtful relationships. What makes Kelly’s addition even better? Having a golden puppy by her (and our!) feet each day!