Coastal Camp at Headlands Institute
Camp Staff
All camp staff members are pre-screened, highly qualified, and CPR and first aid certified. Additionally, our field science educators are certified Wilderness First Responders.
Ally Kushin, Camp Director
Ally is no stranger to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Before beginning at Headlands Institute, she spent 7 years working for Park Partners and the National Park Service (NPS). Ally began her camp career as camp manager for Crissy Field Center Summer Camp in the Presidio. She has also taught outdoor educational programs at Fort Funston, Crissy Field Center, and the Marin Headlands. As a NPS ranger, she led interpretive public programs and hikes at Alcatraz, the Presidio, and the Marin Headlands. Ally is currently working towards completing her graduate degree in Geography at San Francisco State University focusing on children's environmental knowledge. In her spare time, she enjoys exploring the natural world with her trusty dog Cole, getting crafty, and eating dim sum on Clement Street in San Francisco.
I am looking forward to a terrific summer filled with happy campers, laughter, outdoor explorations, natural discoveries, water balloons, and fun! says Ally.
John Conant, Camp Manager
From his early years John has spent most of his free time in the natural world. In grade school he spent weekends exploring natural parks in the East Bay and questioning the rangers and docents about everything he saw. His first car was used for daily trips to the woods, and he later chose the Santa Cruz campus of the University of California for his studies because of its setting in a redwood forest.
John has been an outdoor educator for over 15 years. He’s worked for the Office of Education for both Stanislaus and Monterey Counties, as a field science educator for Headlands Institute, and with summer camps in California and Maine. He’s also a former co-chair for the northern section of the Association of Environmental and Outdoor Educators. In addition to teaching children, he’s presented workshops to educators on group management, positive discipline techniques, adding a sense of magic to lessons, and ethnobotony. As director of Acorn to Tree, he designed and facilitated lessons on wilderness skills designed to boost self-esteem in children and fantasy-based rites of passage.
John says, After years of teaching, whether they’re learning about themselves or the world around them, I still live for that moment when a child takes that magical silent pause and then whispers, 'Ooooh.'
Coastal Camp Counselor Staff
Alison
Alison Gould is native to Nashville, TN where she worked for many summers as a camp art instructor. She moved out to California to attend the Regenerative Design and Nature Awareness program at the Regenerative Design Institute in Bolinas, CA. She is very excited to share her new naturalist skills with campers and to foster their curiosity in the natural world. Her favorite hobbies include bird-watching, rock climbing, and cycling and her favorite super hero is the California ground squirrel.
Katrina
Always in the center of adventure, two of Katrina McKinley’s favorite life experiences to date have been her Joie Armstrong Scholar trip with Yosemite National Institute in 2004 and working as a camp counselor at a girl scout camp in 2005. She’s currently working on her degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Management with a minor in Biology from Ball State University. She likes to use her sense of smell: Snuggles dryer sheets, coffee tree beans when you crack them open, magnolia trees, grandma's old clothes, the after rain aroma, and the crisp fresh air of a clear, gorgeous morning.
Mitchell
Mitch Singsheim has a B.A. in Environmental Studies and a B.A. in Economics from St. Lawrence University. He’s worked as an instructor for at an environmental outdoor school as well as at another summer camp. He loves the outdoors, especially, hiking, rock climbing, canoeing, napping on the beach, and swimming.
Rafe
Rafe Halsey is from New Haven CT. He graduated from Earlham, a small Quaker college in Richmond, Indiana, with a degree in Human Development. Rafe taught children in South America and New England and learned to farm in Hawaii and Massachusetts, where he spent 2 years doing forestry. He then moved to Phoenix, Arizona for a year and started a nature program for students of inner city schools in the greater metropolitan area. Some of his favorite things are chainsaws, chocolate milk, and maple syrup. His favorite super hero is Batman.
Emily
Emily Fuentes is an Environmental Studies major at University of California Santa Cruz. She is a Bay Area local and is very familiar with Headlands Institute, having been a part of the Teen Environmental Action Mentorship (TEAM) program in recent years. She enjoys sharing her enthusiasm for the great outdoors, teaching, and incorporating fun and games into every lesson. If she could be a superhero, she would be Captain Planet. Her favorite vegetable is asparagus.
Sam A.
Sam Abdonour has been working at high trails outdoor science school for the past 3 years. He was also head men’s counselor at Echo Hill Ranch in Texas for the past 2 summers. Sam loves hiking, going to the beach, riding his bike, going to baseball games, and Texas! His favorite superhero is Underdog.
Zulaikah
Zulaikah Anderson has taught at an outdoor science school and has also lead backpacking trips all across the country. When she is not enjoying the wonders of nature in various outdoor activities, such as spelunking, paragliding, white water rafting, and scuba diving, she enjoys photography, fashion, graphic illustration, break beats, anthropology, art, and shoes.
Parents' Reviews
Administrative staff is very hands-on, knowledgeable, and extremely friendly. I found the camp manager and director to be very easy to approach and talk to. They were very responsive to my questions and needs.
— Grace from Corte Madera, parent of 3rd and 4th grade campers
My kids loved the staff. It made all the difference between a good experience and a great one.
—Krisanthy from San Francisco, parent of 3rd and 5th grade campers
The counselors were awesome, awesome, awesome!
—Jeff from San Rafael, parent of 1st grade camper
View camp slideshow!
Questions? Call (415) 332-6961 or send us an email at coastalcamp@yni.org.
