Shivani Gogna
School Year Program Manager
Pronouns: She/Her
Favorite Being: Urtica Dioica
Shivani spent her youngest years playing with her sister by the creek and in the woods behind their home. Her fondest and most vivid childhood memories include the changing colors of the seasons, crisp fresh air on her skin, the sound of flowing water, and the feeling of the warm sun after a long winter. After childhood, her parents relocated to a concrete jungle. When she finally moved to the rural Snoqualmie Valley after completing a Masters degree in Public Health, she was overloaded with nature nostalgia, quickly seeing and feeling that nature connection is one of the most accessible and powerful tools for building healthy communities. She is now committing herself to spreading nature connection to as many people as possible, teaching skills and routines as quickly as she can learn them. You can sometimes find Shivani tending to plants, hanging out with kids, exploring riverbeds, having a fire with her friends, or playing Ukulele. If you follow the sound of laughter, you might also find Shivani – she loves to laugh!
Jason McGinnis
Pronouns: He/Him
Favorite Being: Great Horned Owl
Jason was a full-time musician and wilderness enthusiast in Colorado before moving to Washington in 2016 to attend The Immersion at Wilderness Awareness School. He is also a graduate of the Nature Instructor Training Program and the Alderleaf Wilderness College Advanced Wilderness Skills program. He is an Eagle Scout and a veteran of the United States Army. Jason’s passions include music (singing/drums/guitar/piano), birds, storytelling, working with fire, fishing, wilderness survival, and mentoring.
Bear Miller-Brown
Pronouns: She/Her
Favorite Being: Chelonia mydas
Bear grew up in California playing sports and adventuring outside any chance she had. When she graduated high school, she moved up to North Dakota to experience what true cold meant. After a few years, she was ready to find a new adventure and found Alderleaf Wilderness College in Monroe, Washington. She graduated from their year-long Naturalist program in 2016-2017, with certificates in permaculture design, tracking & trailing, and a primitive survival educator. She also picked up skills like bird language, wood carving, leather working, flint knapping, storytelling, and songs. After the pandemic in 2022-2023 she found herself looking for community and found Wilderness Awareness School’s Youth Nature Instructor Training program.
Nicole Olmstead
Pronouns: They/She
Favorite Being: Banana slug, fire
Nicole grew up in Seattle and has worked for WAS for several years doing summer camps and monthly programs. Nicole graduated from The Immersion, class of 2023. She is enthusiastic about survival and bushcraft skills, fire, plunging into cold water, plant medicine, nature tea, navigating without maps or compasses, games, and being still and watching the world turn.
Brooke Kale
Pronouns: She/Her
Favorite Being: Artist’s conk mushroom, barred owl, elephant
Brooke grew up in the deserts of Southern California, catching lizards, rolling in dirt, getting sunburnt, and climbing lots of trees. She spent her summers as a teen attending Wilderness Awareness School overnight camps, during which she fell in love with the lush greenery of the Pacific Northwest and began practicing nature connection and survival skills. After many years of visiting Washington during the summer months to either attend or instruct Wilderness Awareness School programs, Brooke joined the Nature Instructor Training Program.
Some of her passions include cooking (both indoor and outdoor), dancing, making music, hand-made crafts, plant medicine, blindfold games, and playing in the rain.
Kira Davis
Pronouns: She/Her
Favorite Being: Bear, raccoon, harbor seal
Kira grew up in Iowa where her parents instilled in her a love of the outdoors. She spent summers canoe camping in Minnesota with her Girl Scout troop and the rest of the time following around her first nature mentor, a wildlife rehabilitator. In 2019 she moved to Washington to do the Immersion program at WAS, and she has been working summer camps and monthly programs for them ever since. She is currently finishing up her degree in marine & coastal science at WWU, and in whatever free time she has, she enjoys tracking, hunting, fishing, cold water swimming, archery, tide-pooling, crocheting, making music, and foraging for wild plants.
Wander Grant
Pronouns: He/Him
Favorite Being: Red Huckleberry, Weasels
Wander was born and raised in the PNW and spent his childhood hiking and exploring the greater Washington area with family and friends. His interests include gardening, hiking, camping, botany, ecopsychology, and environmental education. He found WAS in 2019 as a volunteer and continued to volunteer and attend teen programs for 5 summers, learning from amazing instructors until joining summer staff in 2024. This year, he’s excited about shelter building, wandering/exploration, plant ID, map-making, and playing lots and lots of games!
Charlie Latkowski
Pronouns: He/Him
Favorite Being: Arbutus menziesii
Charlie’s youth was full of spontaneous outdoor adventures, most of which involved going on epic quests, being really silly, or doing both at once. He’s been involved with Wilderness Awareness School programs since he was small – more recently, he has instructed and directed summer programs. He is also a graduate of The Immersion, class of ’25. He is thrilled to be instructing monthlies this year!
Charlie is passionate about baking, friction fire, music and song, storytelling, trees, and games of all kinds.
Max Wannitikul Walter
Pronouns: They/Them
Favorite Being: Otters
Bio coming soon