This next group of Leader Bios includes folks who will be covering a lot of ground this summer, from Iceland to the Pacific Northwest to Alaska! Read on to meet the leaders of our Iceland Mountains & Coast, Northwest Explorer, and Alaska Mountains & Coast trips!
Leader Name: Hannah Straughn (she/her)
2023 Trip: Iceland Mountains and Coast
Previous Apogee Experience: New England Support ‘21, Maine Coast Photo ‘21, Vermont to Lake Champlain ‘21, Alps Explorer ‘22
Hometown: Birmingham, AL
School: Washington and Lee University, Class of 2023
Certifications: Wilderness First Aid & CPR
Favorite Outdoor Activities: Biking, hiking, polar plunging, and water sports
Highlights of the past year: Leading two amazing Apogee groups backpacking through the Alps! She and her fellow Alps Explorer leaders spent their off days on the beautiful beaches of Annecy, France.
Where you can find Hannah when she’s not exploring the outdoors: Hannah is probably chasing sunsets where she attends college in Lexington, Virginia, or finding new secret swimming spots!
Further proof of Hannah’s awesomeness: Hannah has a passion for community service; she’s volunteered in New Orleans and Cape Town, South Africa, and in high school, she was awarded (from a pool of over 40,000 applicants!) a scholarship for her skills on and off the basketball court as a dedicated community service member. At W&L, Hannah started a new Outing Club program called Ladies Climbing Night, to encourage more women to feel comfortable participating in the sport. She is also convinced that she has concocted the best camping dessert out there – a delicious fruit crumble.
Leader Name: Kit Taylor (she/her)
2023 Trip: Iceland Mountains and Coast
Prior Apogee Experience: New England Support Staff ‘22, Maine Coast Photo ‘22, Cape Cod & the Islands ‘22
Hometown: Rochester, New York
School: Hamilton College, Class of 2022
Certifications: Wilderness First Aid & CPR
Favorite Outdoor Activities: Swimming and running!
Highlights of the past year: Kit attended the Buffalo Bills game versus the Miami Dolphins, where she shook former Bills quarterback Jim Kelly’s hand!
Where you can find Kit when she’s not outside: Kit loves to knit! (Don’t believe us? Last year she knit 20 scarves and 7 pairs of socks!) She also loves reading, listening to podcasts, journaling, and watching horror movies.
Additional super awesome facts about Kit: She grew up on a horse farm! Kit has spent the past year teaching 3rd graders in upstate New York! She has also eaten a sausage, egg, and cheese bagel at least twice a week for the past year – talk about dedication. Before her time with Apogee, Kit worked as a camp counselor and outdoor cooking specialist at a summer camp and also as a Resident Advisor at Hamilton. Kit is most looking forward to returning for another Apogee summer because she loved facilitating her previous groups’ tight-knit friendships last year, and she can’t wait to explore Iceland with her 2023 students!
Leader Name: Will Pittman (he/him)
2023 Trip: Iceland Mountains and Coast
Prior Apogee Experience: New England Support Staff ‘22, Maine Coast Photo ‘22, Cape Cod and the Islands ‘22
Hometown: Jacksonville, Florida
School: Washington and Lee University, Class of 2024
Certifications: Wilderness First Aid and CPR
Highlights of the past year: Will’s past 12 months were highlighted by hiking Mount Katahdin in Maine with a friend and cycling around Cape Cod with his Apogee group last summer!
Favorite Outdoor Activities: Climbing, paddling, walking, hiking, hammocking, and playing disc golf
Where you can find Will when he is not hiking or adventuring: Reading and thinking (very deep, Will), playing basketball or tennis, or playing piano or (more recently) the flute! Will is always searching for new games and activities to learn!
Will is one in a million! Don’t believe us? Well…: He plays multiple instruments, including the melodica, the flute, piano, and harmonica! Will also recently got a chance to swim with penguins down in the Galapagos Islands. In college, he volunteers with the local daycare center’s after school program, and loves organizing games and tutoring. Will is excited to try Icelandic cuisine this summer with his group!
Leader Name: Ellie Bridgers (she/her)
2023 Trip: Northwest Explorer
Prior Apogee Experience: Maine Coast College Essay ‘22
Hometown: Bar Harbor, Maine
School: Dickinson College, Class of 2023
Certifications: Wilderness First Responder, Lifeguard & CPR
Favorite Outdoor Activities: Nordic skiing, road biking, and swimming in any body of water at any time of year (she loves cold-water swimming!)
Highlight of the past year: Taking a hip hop and modern dance class for the first time and completing a year-long project in Philosophy of Feminist Ethics!
Where you can find this world traveler when she’s not debating philosophy: Working at the Dickinson College Farm, practicing qi-gong, or perfecting her gluten-free pumpkin bread recipe
Some other reasons why we think Ellie is simply the bee’s knees: In addition to being a certified yoga instructor and coordinating volunteer shifts at the college farm, Ellie is also a Writing Tutor at Dickinson, and she spends much of her time facilitating groups in activities she is passionate about. Ellie has also spent time researching stingrays in the Bahamas! Perhaps the most interesting fact about Ellie is that she grew up just 5 minutes outside of Acadia National Park on the Maine Coast… yet she has never once tried lobster!
Leader Name: Molly O’Connor (she/her) 
2023 Trip: Northwest Explorer
Prior Apogee Experience: Alaska Mountains & Coast ‘22
Hometown: Bethesda, Maryland
School: University of Wisconsin – Madison, Class of 2024
Certifications: Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician (WEMT) & CPR
Favorite Outdoor Activities: Backpacking, trail running, and climbing!
Highlights of the past year: Molly road-tripped to Utah this year over her spring break, and she was able to visit three National Parks!
Where you can find Molly when she isn’t on the trail: She loves playing guitar, cards, and all board games. However, you might also find her with a bow and arrow in hand, since she shot archery throughout her childhood.
A few more super cool fast facts about Molly: She spent half of a year living and backpacking throughout Patagonia with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS)! She also teaches golf lessons for first graders and has recently been learning to white-water kayak. In addition to leading with Apogee last summer, Molly also attended four Apogee trips as a student: California Mountains & Coast, Caribbean Service, Alps Explorer, and Scottish Highlands! She is thrilled to be returning for another Apogee summer, and is really looking forward to helping create life-long connections with her students.
Leader Name: Scout Beaupré (she/her)
2023 Trip: Alaska Mountains and Coast
Prior Apogee Experience: Maine Coast Junior ‘22, New England Mountains & Coast ‘22
Hometown: Burlington, Vermont
School: University of Vermont, Class of 2023
Certifications: Wilderness First Responder & CPR
Highlights of the past year: Scout went on a backpacking trip in Colorado, and she and her soccer team competed in the national college club tournament in Texas this year!
Favorite Outdoor Activities: Hiking, hammocking, biking, backcountry skiing, and trail running
Where you can find Scout when she is not hiking or skiing the Vermont wilderness: She loves to read, paint, cook, and woodwork! She also plays soccer and basketball at UVM.
Other reasons Scout is the absolute coolest: She has thru-hiked the Vermont Long Trail with a childhood friend, and she coached two soccer teams while living in Cochabamba, Bolivia one summer. Before her time with Apogee, Scout worked as a camp counselor in New Hampshire for six years. On top of all that, Scout was in a circus when she was a kid, which she participated in for NINE years!
Leader Name: Alex Koester (he/him)
2023 Trips: Alaska Mountains and Coast
Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota
School: Vassar College, Class of 2023
Certifications: Wilderness First Aid & CPR
Favorite Outdoor Activities: Canoeing, hiking, and climbing
Highlights of the past year: Last winter, Alex hiked the Camino de Santiago in Spain and went hut-to-hut backpacking in the Austrian Alps!
Where you can find this world traveler when he’s not off adventuring: Either playing Ultimate frisbee or drumming in one of many different types of bands – jazz, punk, indie; you name it, he drums it!
A few more incredibly fun facts about Alex: He took a gap year before starting college, during which he independently traveled across Central and South America, hiking and volunteering in different locations along the way. He also has dual US and German citizenship, and was able to hone his German language skills last spring/summer when he studied and lived abroad in Berlin! Finally, Alex has two summers of guiding canoe trips for teenagers and family groups in the Minnesota Boundary Waters under his belt.
Leader Name: Jondall Norris (he/him)
2023 Trip: Alaska Mountains and Coast
Hometown: Portland, Maine
School: Bowdoin College, Class of 2025
Certifications: Wilderness First Responder & CPR
Favorite Outdoor Activities: Hiking, sailing, and cross country skiing
Highlights of the past year: Jondall had a busy year, in which he learned how to roll a kayak, saw the inside of a church organ, used a scanning electron microscope, saw his favorite band perform live, and hiked the famed Pemi Loop and Presidential Traverse in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.
Where you can find Jondall when he’s not outside or reading: Settling down to crack a good crossword puzzle, making scones, or serving as the Teaching Assistant for the Intro to Oceanography course at Bowdoin.
Some other awesome things about Jondall: He’s a certified sailing and downhill skiing instructor, and he has instructed students in those activities in Maine and Colorado over the past few years. Last summer, he led teenagers on outdoor expeditions, kayaking adventures, leadership and team building initiatives, and ropes course and climbing wall challenges. Jondall is excited to walk on a glacier this summer with his groups – a true bucket list adventure!
Leader Name: Isabelle Jandreau (she/her)
2023 Trip: Alaska Mountains and Coast
Hometown: Madawaska, Maine
School: University of Maine, Class of 2023
Certifications: Wilderness First Aid & CPR
Favorite Outdoor Activities: Mountain biking, running, hiking, and cross country skiing
Highlights of the past year: Isabelle was able to spend a lot of time outside whitewater kayaking, and just like her co-leader Jondall, one of the highlights of her year was learning how to roll a kayak!
Where you can find Isabelle when she’s not adventuring in Maine: Sitting on porches, making banana bread, spending time with friends, or writing stories and doodling in her journal.
Further evidence that proves Isabelle is incredible: She grew up in a small town on the US/Canada border and when she was younger, she loved to ride her bike across the bridge into Canada to use the Canadian mountain biking trails! For the past few summers, Isabelle has interned with the Outdoor Sport Institute in Millinocket, ME, organizing and leading biking and paddling programs for kids and adults, and developing their gear library.