Tremont Summer Camp Team
We’re proud to welcome 12 seasonal staff members to Tremont for summer 2026, in addition to our talented full-time teaching staff. Click the names below to learn more about each program team member, or click here to meet the full Tremont staff.
Dr. Ezra Adams joins us as a volunteer medical advisor. While a Sevier County native, he didn’t find his way to Tremont until Naturalist Week in 2024. Like many others, he now returns at every opportunity, sometimes just to nap by the river. Ezra was a middle school teacher for many years before experiences with Outward Bound and a wilderness first responder course launched a mid-life career change to medicine. Between excursions to Tremont, Dr. Adams maintains board certification in family medicine while working as a hospitalist in northeast Tennessee, where he resides with his spouse, Dottie, and their beagle, Captain.
Katie grew up in a tiny town called Conneaut in the northeastern-most corner of Ohio. She moved to Charleston, South Carolina, for college, where she studied orchestral trumpet performance. Additionally, she advanced in sea kayaking until she became instructor certified, which eventually led her to sailing at Camp St. Christopher. At camp, she met incredible people who fostered her love for the outdoors and encouraged her to become an environmental educator with the Barrier Island Environmental Education program. Having been a naturalist with this program for the last two years, Katie feels like she has both figured out what she wants to be when she grows up and gained the incredible experience of doing so. Her many hobbies include crocheting, pottery, music (trumpet, piano, ukulele, guitar, and banjo), making coffee for friends, and caring for houseplants. She also has a beloved rescued hermit crab named Rover who has a deep love of mangos.
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Tohmi (pronounced toe-me) grew up in the foothills of Colorado, exploring the giant, wild playground of the Mountain West. She has studied and identified spider species at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, worked for farming and food access nonprofits in Colorado and Alabama, led students through the redwood forest as a naturalist in California, and studied urban ecology in both Denver and New York City with the New York Botanical Gardens’ EcoFlora Project. She is an environmental optimist who wholeheartedly believes that if we deepen our connection to the Earth, we will be better equipped to build a beautiful and sustainable future. In her free time, she loves to explore the land, garden, write poetry, rock climb, camp, and make delicious meals with friends!
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Maddie is originally from the Great Lakes, splitting her time between both sides of Lake Michigan. She moved down from Chicago to East Tennessee for college, and graduated in May 2025 from the University of Tennessee Knoxville with a B.A. in Environmental Sociology. She is especially passionate about socioenvironmental history and stories of resilience—namely that of the Cherokee peoples and Appalachians. She also believes that the outdoors should be equitable and inclusive for all, which starts with our children. In her free time, Maddie is a huge Dolly Parton fan, and enjoys scrapbooking, attending concerts, roadtripping, and is learning to fly fish!
Nathan Hundley grew up in Johnson City, Tennessee. He graduated from Tennessee Tech with a degree in Wildlife and Fisheries. He has been working as a naturalist at Seabrook Island for the past two years and is excited to return to the mountains to teach.
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Jane is from Chesterland, Ohio, an eastern suburb of Cleveland. Growing up in a rural area, being outside was a part of her and her siblings’ daily routine. Spending time in the family’s forested backyard is where she developed a connection with the natural world. She moved to Springfield, Ohio, for college at Wittenberg University, where she earned a degree in Environmental Science with minors in biology and political science. College allowed her to travel to California, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Costa Rica to learn more about the environment, and she hopes to travel much more in the future. In her free time, she loves trying new coffee shops, reading a good book, walking her dog Chloe, kayaking, and dreaming about future adventures.
Jeremy was born and raised in the foothills of Southern Appalachia. He has a deep-rooted love for the biodiversity that encompasses the Great Smoky Mountains and loves to connect people with nature, especially with salamanders. His career has taken him out west to the Klamath Mountains of California where he has monitored for a variety of threatened amphibians and reptiles. He eventually became interested in fisheries sciences and began getting involved with salmonid conservation projects across the Northern California Coast with Americorps. But now he has returned to the mountains that he calls home, and is excited for his next adventure with Tremont. When the weather’s warm, you’ll find Jeremy backpacking. When the skies are clear, you’ll find him stargazing, and when the weather is cold, you’ll catch him snowboarding. Jeremy loves to cook, and would happily serve anyone a plate full of his homemade pierogies. If you find a moment when he is not doing any of these things, then he is likely playing with his dog named Toast.
Maren was born and raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where she spent weekends and breaks fishing and swimming along the Saint Croix River and camping in the Midwest. She discovered her knack for connecting with and educating others after taking a job as a swim instructor in high school. Her passion for working with and learning from people led her to receive a B.A. in Sociology and Anthropology at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon.
While in college, Maren spent her summers guiding youth on canoe trips in the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota, an experience that led her to a career in outdoor education. This position also inspired her to take on her own expedition canoe adventure from the Boundary Waters to Hudson Bay, Canada.
After spending the fall of 2025 working as a substitute teacher in the Twin Cities, Maren is excited to return to the woods and explore the new environment of the Smoky Mountains. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, climbing, paddling, crossword puzzles, and appreciating good music.
Ellis is from Lawrenceville, Georgia, but has lived in Knoxville for the last four years while attending the University of Tennessee. He is an animal science student conducting research on behavior in songbirds. When he is not in the lab, he can often be found fishing, searching for snakes and salamanders, or hiking in the Smokies.
Jeremy is an educator, writer, and musician who currently holds his fifth job title at Tremont after starting as a Teacher/Naturalist in 1996. For many years, he directed Tremont’s summer camp and internship programs. Today he oversees college and university programs, the Southern Appalachian Naturalist Certification Program, photography workshops, hiking weeks, and co-directs the Tremont Writers Conference. A native of Western Pennsylvania, he received his B.A. from Calvin University and M.F.A. from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. He is the author of Forest Time: Footnotes to an Outdoor Education and A Home in Walker Valley. He lives with his wife and son in the foothills of the Smokies.
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Taina is originally from coastal Virginia, where she enjoyed spending sunny days at the beach. She then headed to the mountains of Virginia to pursue a B.S. in Wildlife Conservation at Virginia Tech, where she was introduced to the amazing world of herpetology while working with both terrestrial salamanders in forests and cryptic turtles in boggy wetlands. Eventually, she moved to Northern California, where she expanded her experience by working with shorebirds, martens, and elephant seals. After gaining experience working with many different wildlife species, Taina moved back east to pursue graduate studies researching head-starting efforts of hellbenders in Middle Tennessee. When she is not outside working with and observing wildlife, she enjoys making delicious meals, listening to music, and playing board games.
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Lexie grew up in Dayton, Ohio, and is a recent graduate of Wittenberg University. There, she pursued her Primary Education P–5 and Intervention Specialist licensure with a minor in Religion. She first fell in love with the outdoors during COVID on a cross-country road trip with her family. It was on that trip that she visited her first national park, and she was hooked. The summer before her junior year, she traveled to Lesotho, Africa, on a service-learning trip with peers and a professor from Wittenberg University. This trip broadened her horizons and showed her the many paths she could take with an education degree.
Not long after, she was introduced to Tremont during a FIRE Week trip, where it felt like her love for education and the outdoors finally came together. Lexie is passionate about non-traditional learning spaces where kids can explore, play, and connect with the natural world around them. In her free time, she loves being creative, upcycling fashion, and going on new adventures. She feels most at peace around water, whether it’s oceans, streams, or pools.
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Lindsey hails from the suburbs of Nashville, in Franklin, Tennessee, and grew up playing outside and exploring nature as much as possible. The Smoky Mountains run deep in her veins, having grown up visiting the park almost yearly to bike the Cades Cove loop and swim in Laurel Creek with her family. Even before she was born, her parents loved this area so deeply they gave her the middle name of Cades, after the cove!
Lindsey earned her B.S. from Mississippi State University in Environmental Geosciences with a minor in GIS and Remote Sensing. While she was in school, she spent a summer as a Community Science Intern at Tremont, putting her on the path to a career in outdoor education. She is thrilled to be working full-time in Walker Valley! While not at work she enjoys life with her husband, Adam, and cat, Biscuit. Her hobbies include reading, looking at and talking about trees, hiking, backpacking, swimming in the river, biking downhill, and adding to her ever-growing pinned insect collection (all expired and preserved naturally!)
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Andy is thrilled to call Walker Valley home again this summer. He has spent the last year teaching students in Yosemite and exploring California. When he’s not at work, you might find him swimming in the river, helping out friends on their farm, riding horses, drawing, or getting into a new craft project.
Jayliannie is from northwest Indiana and is currently studying Biology and Chemistry at Purdue University. She has always been drawn to science, especially anything involving animals and any excuse to learn more about them. Between volunteering and conducting research in biology labs, she is constantly learning about the world around her.
Outgoing and always up for something new, Jayliannie loves exploring, whether that means traveling to new countries or checking out a different town for the day. She enjoys staying active outdoors through hiking, swimming, and running. No matter where she is, she loves discovering new things and sharing the experience with others.
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Mattie grew up in the Murfreesboro area of Middle Tennessee and spent the last three years living on the edge of Appalachia in Smithville. Unable to imagine life away from the mountains, she found her way to Tremont, combining her love for children, cooking, and creating art inspired by nature.
A water enthusiast and certified lifeguard, Mattie is happiest chasing waterfalls or exploring any body of water she can find. She holds an associate’s degree in early childhood education and a bachelor’s in fiber art, and her creative work is deeply influenced by the natural world around her.
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Kathleen is originally from Ohio and grew up playing in the woods with her five siblings. Her connection to nature and concern about ecological issues led her toward a career in environmental education. She stayed in the Midwest for college and graduated from Loyola University with a degree in Environmental Science. Her love for outdoor education grew through her work at nature center day camps and a conservation district, and she is continuously energized by working outdoors and seeing the effects of programs on participants. The Smokies have been an exciting and beautiful change of scenery, and she feels lucky to now call Tremont home. In her free time, you might find her reading, running, looking for bears, or doing the same puzzle for the tenth time.
Kristen grew up in the backwoods of Southern IL, spending the days catching fish in the creek, picking wildflowers in the fields, and exploring the woods surrounding her home. She recognized the profound power of the outdoors, and pursued a degree in Outdoor Leadership at Young Harris College to initiate a life-long mission: sharing nature as a tool to heal, connect, challenge, and grow. This passion led Kristen to work across the country, guiding long canoe expeditions in the Minnesota Boundary Waters, teaching survival skills in the Ozarks, and mushing dogs across remote glaciers in Alaska. Kristen also embarked on personal adventure challenges, and completed the Triple Crown of thru-hiking (over 8,000 miles!), paddled the 750-mile Northern Forest Canoe Trail, and undertook many long wilderness expeditions. Despite her grand adventures, she felt the Appalachians were her home, and moved to the area to better know this awesome, wild place. These days, Kristen can be found doing the more subtle adventures of hiking, rock climbing, crafting, or reading.
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Annie has been called to explore and connect with the land since she was young. Growing up in Michigan and going “up north” to her family’s little cabin on the weekends, she trounced in the Little Manistee river catching fish, finding frogs, getting messy, and always wondering. This forged her connection with nature at a young age. Her curiosity led her to pursue a career in education and share in the wonders of the world around her with others. Upon graduating from Grand Valley State University with her BA in English, life brought her to Nashville where she has taught and led within project-based learning schools across the city and earned her M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from Middle Tennessee State University. She is excited to now bridge her two loves – teaching and the outdoors – in working to connect people with nature alongside the Tremont team. In her spare time, you can find Annie obsessing over a newly found fungi, hiking in the backcountry with her husband and their pup, Maple, dabbling in fly fishing, or enjoying the water by kayak or paddle board.
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Grayson was raised in the foothills of the Smokies near Knoxville, Tennessee. After many years away, she is thrilled to be returning to familiar woods and creeks! Grayson studied literature at the University of Richmond and spent several years traveling the United States with AmeriCorps. After discovering a passion for food access and nutrition work, she designed curriculum and led agriculture and food systems education for a nonprofit farm-to-hospital and farm-to-school program in central Virginia. She also spent time co-teaching middle school science and sustainability skills and earned her Masters in Education from Vanderbilt University. Grayson is a passionate enthusiast of tea, books, and wildflowers. She loves to dig in the dirt and sing along to musicals, and plays team sports with far more spirit than coordination.
Joy is from Uganda, the Pearl of Africa, a beautiful tropical country in East Africa. Some of her most memorable childhood experiences were playing near the River Nile, the longest river in the world, and visiting national parks. While living in Africa, she took it upon herself to explore nature and the outdoors. Her adventures led her to routine hikes and to Victoria Falls in Zambia, the largest sheet of falling water in the world. She has also explored Table Mountain in South Africa.
Joy has a background in science communication, research engagement, and teaching support. She has experience using communication channels to communicate science to different audiences. She started her educational journey in Kenya with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and later became interested in how communication can be used as a tool for social change, leading her to study Communication and Development Studies at Ohio University.
In her free time, Joy plays Scrabble, spends time with friends, or takes walks.
Tyler developed a passion for the natural world through canoeing and fishing the lakes of northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. This passion continued to grow as he pursued a B.S. in Environmental and Field Biology at Ohio Northern University. After graduating, Tyler worked on a native brook trout conservation project in northern New Hampshire and also taught environmental education in coastal North Carolina. He continued his education at Plymouth State University, earning a M.S. in Biology with thesis research focused on horseshoe crab behavior. Prior to joining the Tremont team, Tyler spent four years working as a naturalist at an eco-lodge on a Georgia barrier island. He is excited to chase a new adventure in the Smokies! In his free time, he enjoys fishing, birding, hiking, and sports.
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Born and raised in Knoxville, TN, Anne grew up visiting the Smokies regularly on both family and school trips. The forest, streams, and trails of the Smokies as well as the historic site at Cades Cove were foundational in establishing her sense of wonder at the beauty of nature and her appreciation for the profound resources of the National Park. After a thirty-year career as a high school English teacher, Anne is excited for the opportunity to become an outdoor educator and to work with her Tremont colleagues to facilitate meaningful learning experiences in the park for young people and their teachers.
Anne has a B. A. in English Literature and Writing from Emory & Henry College and a M. S. in Curriculum and Instruction from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She taught literature, rhetoric, and writing to the students of Austin-East High School, Fulton High School, and Hardin Valley Academy. Other than learning, teaching, and hanging out with young people, Anne enjoys birding and being in nature, laughing with friends and enjoying music of all kinds, a good story, a delicious meal, a clever turn of phrase, opportunities to travel, and being at home in this beloved place.
Ethan grew up in northwestern Pennsylvania and has spent the last three years studying Wildlife and Fisheries Ecology at West Virginia University. Ethan found his way to Tremont through his love for nature, people, and education. An avid outdoor enthusiast and hiker, Ethan is happiest when he is able to take pictures of the environment around him. His future goals are to get accepted into law school and practice environmental law.
Susan enjoys hiking on mountain trails and spending time with her three puppies: Luna-Belle, Scottie-Mae, and Dolly-Do. She has worked at summer camps almost every year since she was 18 years old, all over the United States, Alaska, and Hawai’i. She has volunteered with Harvard University International Program: WorldTeach, AmeriCorps, and Peace Corps Response. Susan is fluent in American Sign Language and is high-intermediate in Spanish. She is looking forward to “the best summer ever!”
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Cora Weer grew up in Lancaster, Kentucky, and has always loved the outdoors and all of its creatures. She graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with a degree in Animal Studies and minors in both Biology and Women and Gender Studies. She has worked for Red Oaks Forest School as an environmental educator and naturalist for the past five years and has also interned with the Division of Natural Areas at EKU, leading nature education programs and classes. Cora loves any activity that gets her outside, including fishing, hiking, climbing, and, most of all, nerding out about nature.
