How did you decide to work for the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School?
I had been working in Outdoor Education in Britain for about five years, most of the opportunities there were to teach short courses, mostly based out of Residential Outdoor Centres. As instructors we only saw the groups over the course of a few days and they always came back each day to a shower and catered food. What attracted me to Outward Bound was the long expedition format, where we leave the base camp at the start of the course and don’t return until as close to the end of course as possible. The learning and growth the students experience over these expeditions is what attracted me to working for HIOBS.
What is your role at HIOBS?
I am the Program Manager for the Land Program, based in Newry Maine. It has been suggested that my job description could be described by making a list of every imaginable question with the answer to everything being “Ask Andy.” I open up the base at the start of the season and close it up the end, interview new staff during the winter and spring, train our instructors and logistical staff, and work closely with the course directors when they have courses in the field. When I can free myself from the office, I teach some climbing to students. I also make sure we always have fresh coffee brewing.
What do you like best about working for HIOBS?
I am lucky enough to be able to see the effect that an Outward Bound course has on so many of our students. Often it is second hand accounts from the staff when they return form the field and start sharing the stories. I love hearing how dedicated our staff are to the students’ courses. I am constantly amazed by the hard work that the staff do — the first year instructors and logistics staff, as well as the veteran instructors who keep HIOBS as part of their lives.
What is your favorite or funniest HIOBS memory?
On a winter dogsledding course a student wanted to sleep out near the dogs. In the middle of the night she woke up numb from the waist down pinned into her sleeping bag with my dog Tuckamore, a normally shy young male, soundly asleep on her.
Choose one word to sum up HIOBS.
Dedicated
When you are not at work, what do you enjoy doing?
I think just about everything outside of HIOBS revolves around sled dogs.
What would people be surprised to learn about you?
Although I will happily chop up chunks of beef, and dish out bowls of meaty, fishy dog food, I have been a vegetarian for almost 30 years.