The New Englanders among us can attest to how fantastic the cycle-touring options are through the Northeast, and this next batch of Leader Bios covers the awesome folks who will be exploring those Vermont backroads and Cape Cod Rail Trails all summer. Check ’em out!
Leader Name: Kendall Hermanson (she/her)
2023 Trips: Cape Cod & the Islands and Vermont to Montreal
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
School: Wake Forest University, Class of 2025
Certifications: Wilderness First Aid, CPR & Lifeguard
Favorite Outdoor Activities: Hiking, backpacking, canoeing, and skiing
Highlights of the past year: Hiking in the Central Alps while she studied abroad in Vienna last summer!
Where you can find Kendall when she is not hiking or exploring: She is passionate about sustainability and fashion, and she enjoys making her own clothing by sewing and up-cycling materials from second-hand stores or from her own wardrobe. Kendall also plays club field hockey at Wake and loves to crochet and garden!
Further proof of Kendall’s awesomeness: She has volunteered for the past year at a local elementary school to tutor and interact with native Spanish speaking-students who are learning English. Kendall also considers herself an expert on all things regarding niche 90’s rock bands, and she hosts her own radio show at her school where she interviews her guests about their favorite albums and music in general. She also leads backpacking, canoeing, and climbing trips for other students through the Outdoor Program at Wake Forest!
Leader Name: Otto Schmidt (he/him)
2023 Trips: Cape Cod & the Islands and Vermont to Montreal
Hometown: St. Paul, Minnesota
School: St. Olaf College, Class of 2025
Certifications: Wilderness First Aid, CPR & Lifeguard
Favorite Outdoor Activities: Nordic skiing, running, canoeing, biking, and backpacking
Highlights of the past year: Hiking and exploring in the Pacific Northwest with his family. Otto also got the chance to study theater in London for the whole month of January!
Where you can find Otto when he’s not running with the St. Olaf Cross Country and Track teams: He fills much of his time on campus doing physics problems or playing trumpet in the college band. Otherwise, he loves playing board games with friends, doing crossword puzzles, and watching the Minnesota Twins baseball team.
Just a few more reasons why we think Otto is amazing: Every year he spends a week paddling in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Minnesota, and last summer he led a group of friends on a week-long trip there, too. Otto spent the past semester working for a research team analyzing snow reflectivity! He is also the head lifeguard at the St. Paul aquatic center, where he trained and managed around 100 other lifeguards.
Leader Name: Alex Miller (he/him) 
2023 Trip: Vermont to Montreal
Hometown: Westport, Connecticut
School: Boston University, Class of 2025
Certifications: Wilderness First Aid, CPR & Lifeguard
Favorite Outdoor Activities: Running, skiing, ice skating, paddleboarding, and kayaking
Highlights from the past year: Skiing at Snowmass Mountain in Aspen for a week with his family and surfing over Spring Break in the Pacific in Los Angeles for the first time!
What Alex loves to do when he is not busy running around Boston: He enjoys listening to music and podcasts, and, as a computer science major, he also likes to participate in “hackathons” (coding competitions) – he even won a prize recently for best database implementation! He also volunteers at the community garden in Boston’s neighboring city of Chelsea.
Additional, awesome Alex facts: He has an identical twin, who is his best friend! He’s also a trivia expert on The Office. Alex is a Spanish minor at school, and he is planning on studying abroad in Madrid next spring. Last but certainly not least, Alex is an Apogee Alumnus, having participated in FOUR Apogee trips as a student: New England Mountains & Coast, Maine’s Downeast Explorer, Costa Rica Mountains & Coast, and even our Virtual 2020 Maine Coast College Essay. He can’t wait to connect with his students this summer and share some incredible experiences like the ones he had growing up!
Leader Name: Catie Hamilton (she/her)
2023 Trip: Vermont to Montreal
Hometown: New York, New York
School: Skidmore College, Class of 2025
Certifications: Wilderness First Aid, CPR & Lifeguard
Favorite Outdoor Activities: Catie loves to bike, swim, run, paddle board, walk her dog Ringo, and play ultimate frisbee!
Highlights of the past year: Exploring Italy with her family last summer
When she isn’t playing ultimate frisbee or going for a bike ride, you can probably find Catie: Writing news articles for Skidmore’s Marketing and Communications team, working at her local bike shop, casting molten metal (uhh, awesome), or having a picnic with friends.
Catie is pretty great for so many reasons – here are just a few more: She once poured over fifty pounds of molten bronze! She competed in bike races on a Velodrome for seven years, so she would race on bikes with no brakes or gears. She also competed in a triathlon alongside her two brothers – including second-year Apogee leader, Henry! Catie went on three Apogee trips as a student: Coast to Quebec, Pacific Coast, and Europe Coast to Coast. She is looking forward to exploring new places this summer, and sharing incredible experiences in the saddle with her students!
Leader Name: Jocie Funderburk (she/her) 
2023 Trip: Vermont to Montreal
Hometown: Bozeman, Montana
School: Warren Wilson College, Class of 2025
Certifications: Wilderness First Aid, CPR & Lifeguard
Favorite Outdoor Activities: Mountain biking, hiking, cross country skiing, and having fun in nature!
Highlights of the past year: Jocie rafted the Salmon River in Idaho, and backpacked the Art Loeb Trail in Pisgah National Forest!
Where you can find Jocie when she’s not walking in the woods or working in her school’s campus garden: She loves crafts – especially crocheting – and is always down to try out a new one! Another of Jocie’s hobbies is baking, and she particularly enjoys making pies. She also races on the Warren Wilson mountain biking team, and has coached mountain biking and nordic skiing for the past few years! One of her life goals is to bike in every state in the U.S.
Other things about Jocie that make us say, “Woah, cool!”: She is an Outdoor Leadership major at Warren Wilson, so she is constantly developing strategies and skills for group facilitation and working with young people in the outdoors. Jocie traveled through Singapore and Indonesia this spring, studying gender and food in Southeast Asian cultures. Jocie is also a FIVE time Apogee alum (Maine Coast Junior, Cape Cod & the Islands, Montana Service Adventure, Europe Coast to Coast, and America Coast to Coast – not too shabby!), and she credits her experience as an Apogee student for her current desire to work in the outdoor recreation field when she graduates!
Leader Name: Jordan Johnson (he/him)
2023 Trips: Vermont to Montreal and Cape Cod & the Islands
Hometown: Lemoore, California
School: Humboldt State University, Class of 2020
Certifications: Wilderness First Aid, CPR & Lifeguard
Favorite Outdoor Activities: Biking, backpacking, kayaking, and skateboarding
Highlights of the past year: Jordan completed his first bike trip from Arcata, CA to San Francisco, CA on his own!
When he’s not skateboarding or managing the Arcata skate shop, you can probably find Jordan: Learning a new hobby of his: crocheting! He is also an avid follower of Formula 1 racing, which means he wakes up very early on the West Coast to watch those events.
Some other incredibly fun Jordan facts: In 2016, he helped lead his university to tie for 1st place in the Outdoor Nation Challenge – an initiative geared towards connecting college students and communities to the outdoors. Jordan has been the director of several local summer camps, and for one skate camp he got to interview visiting professional skateboarders for a publication. He has developed a personal theory that most songs can be danced to by doing the Macarena… that’s one theory that we can’t wait to test out!
Leader Name: Maura Toole (she/her) 
2023 Trip: Vermont to Montreal and Cape Cod & the Islands
Hometown: Greensboro, North Carolina
School: Emory University, Class of 2025
Certifications: Wilderness First Aid, CPR & Lifeguard
Favorite Outdoor Activities: Backpacking, kayaking, and running
Highlights of the past year: Lots of highlights for Maura, including exploring Olympic National Park with friends, watching salmon swim up the fish ladders in Seattle, camping at Springer Mountain and cheering Appalachian Trail Hikers at the start of the trail, and visiting every farmer’s market in Atlanta.
When she’s not buying the freshest produce around, you can probably find Maura: Reading in her hammock, attending concerts, planning her next outdoor adventure, and, last but not least, having a spontaneous dance party.
Need more convincing that Maura is the best? She also works for the Emory Center for Civic and Community Engagement where she helps high school and college students in Atlanta become informed, excited voters. Maura also has a cool 432-day (and counting) Wordle streak, and she’s very close to perfecting her banana bread recipe. Lastly, Maura also finds time to be an orientation leader, work as a campus tour guide, and serve on the Emory Curriculum, Assessment, and Education Policy Committee at school.