Bonjour, mes amis! Today, we’re focused on rock star Emily Sherry, who will be leading the charge along Maine’s beautiful coast, through the great north woods, and up into the verdant fields of French Quebec on our Coast to Quebec trip. But the fun doesn’t stop there! Because then we are profiling two outstanding returners, Izzy Janzen and John Swords, who will be leading our Northwest Explorer trip!
EMILY SHERRY
A native of Durham, New Hampshire, Emily Sherry grew up on the shores of beautiful Great Bay. More recently, Emily graduated from Hamilton College in the spring of 2014. Emily has an incredible drive and an adventurous spirit that has led her to work with numerous different organizations, and volunteer opportunities throughout her time at Hamilton. Emily has spent her past four summers working at Hamilton’s Career Center and as a biology tutor for the Higher Education Opportunity Program, a program that works to make a college education more accessible for students who present an alternate academic profile. Emily is also very adventurous, and decided to expand her horizons by spending a semester her sophomore year taking classes in New York City, and then her Junior spring semester in Dunedin, New Zealand. Back at Hamilton, Emily played rugby for all four years (Hamilton won in their league this year!), and she was very involved in Hamilton’s Outing Club. She went hiking, snowshoeing, and canoeing with the club, and was an Adirondack Adventure Leader, Hamilton’s pre-orientation program for incoming freshmen. Emily also was a volunteer at the community farm at Hamilton, and spent part of her Senior year living in the Co-op, cooking dinner and baking for the other students once a week. Needless to say, Emily’s is going to be a fabulous friend and mentor to her students on our Coast to Quebec trip this summer!
JOHN SWORDS
Hailing from Sudbury, Massachusetts, John Swords is a rising Senior at Bowdoin College and an Apogee veteran. Last summer, John led two outstanding groups of Apogee students over hill and dale on our Maine’s Downeast Explorer and he can’t wait to trade coasts for this summer’s Northwest Explorer trips! At home, John is one of five kids in a close-knit family of enthusiastic outdoorsmen and women. True to his heritage, John loves spending time outdoors – and he is a very active leader for Bowdoin’s Outing Club. With the Outing Club, John has completed both the club’s rigorous semester-long leader training course as well as the advanced leader seminar required to become a whitewater raft guide. He also plays basketball for Bowdoin’s Division III Varsity team (at 7’ tall, John is the bane of the other teams in the NESCAC!). When he isn’t on the court or hitting the books, John spends his weekends with the Outing Club, tromping around the state of Maine, hiking, surfing, and rafting. If it hasn’t come across yet, John definitely has a sense of adventure! He recently took a trip traveling from San Francisco to Moab, Utah, canoeing down the Green River in Emory County, Utah, and exploring the Paria Canyon in Arizona. John is also service-oriented, and enjoyed his multiple service trips to New Orleans and the island nation of Dominica, where he helped to rebuild houses damaged by hurricanes, and to construct a community center. John’s love of traveling, outdoor adventure, and young people will serve him well as an Apogee leader again this summer!
IZZY JANZEN
From Philly and proud, Isabel (Izzy) Janzen is a 2014 graduate of Hamilton College, where she studied World Politics. Izzy used her World Politics knowledge last spring when she traveled far from the hills of Clinton, New York, to Cameroon. Her study abroad program in the heart of Africa fed her interests in the many facets of foreign aid. As part of this adventure, Izzy spent a month living and working on a women’s community ginger farm. Back at Hamilton, Izzy co-captained the women’s rugby team, and played intramural basketball. In addition leading with Apogee last summer, Izzy has spent several summers working with kids of all ages in a variety of settings. She worked as a camp counselor at a day camp in her home state of Pennsylvania, and two summers ago, she worked as a writing tutor for the Higher Education Opportunities Program, a Hamilton program for incoming freshmen who need extra academic support before entering college. Izzy is outdoorsy by nature, a trait sparked by countless camping trips she took with her dad growing up, and she brought her love of the outdoors to Hamilton, where she led outdoor adventure orientation trips for incoming freshmen as a part of Hamilton’s Adirondack Adventure program. Fresh off of her adventures on Apogee’s Maine’s Downeast Explorer last summer, Izzy can’t wait to explore the mountains on the west coast with her groups on Northwest Explorer.