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Elderhostel Teaching Staff
Rodney B. Kemp
A crowd-pleaser and proven spellbinder of adults and children alike, Rodney Kemp is a local boy who
managed to remember all those tales he heard while growing up. His humor comes not only from his
folksy manner, but also from his knowledge of and affection for the people of Carteret County, his
boyhood home. Born in Knoxville, TN and raised in Morehead City, NC, Rodney attended High Point
College and then Texas Tech University where he received a degree in journalism with minors in
English and History. He returned home to become a teacher and coach for three years at Newport
Elementary School and for eleven years at West Carteret High School. His current career in
insurance began in 1983 here on the Crystal Coast. He is a member and chairman of the Carteret
County Board of Education. An avid sportsman, Rodney has completed the running of twelve marathons
(26.2 miles) since 1982. Mr. Kemp is the son of the late Truman D. and Louise R. Kemp of Morehead
City. He and his wife, Pat, have three children and reside in Morehead City.
Jay Barnes
Jay Barnes is the author of North Carolina's Hurricane History and Florida's Hurricane History
(University of North Carolina Press), each of which chronicles the many hurricanes that have affected
those states for the past four centuries. His books are filled with riveting stories, weather facts,
and rare photographs that tell the story of great storms, from the days of the first European
explorers to recent hurricanes like Fran and Floyd. He is a graduate of the N.C. State University
School of Design, holds a master's degree from Syracuse University, and has been employed as director
of the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores since 1989. He lives in Pine Knoll Shores.
John Cole
John Cole hails from Winter Haven, Florida, so it's not surprising that he has made weather his life's
work. Florida is often chosen for weather studies because of its high incidence of lightning. In fact,
the central portion of Florida is known as "Lightning Alley" and records more than 100 days of
thunderstorms and 2.5 million lightning strikes annually, the most in the United States. John began
his career with a B.S. in Meteorology from Florida State University, and 2 years of Graduate Work in
Atmospheric Science from Texas Tech University. He has worked with the National Weather Service
since 1987 in Texas, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina. John and his wife Anita have three
children.
Jenifer Hoskins
Jenifer graduated from UNC-Wilmington with a major in Marine Biology before coming to work as an
educator at the Pine Knoll Shores Aquarium in April of 2003. Prior to working at the PKS Aquarium,
Jenifer was an educator at the Jacksonville Zoo in Jacksonville, FL. She has recently completed her
North Carolina Environmental Educator's certification. Her other work experience includes an
internship at Sea World of FL and work as special activities instructor at the NC Aquarium at Fort
Fisher. Jenifer currently volunteers at the Outerbanks Wildlife Shelter, and is a sea turtle
volunteer.
Dr. Scott Eckert
Scott is the Director of Science for the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network (WIDECAST,
Inc.), and is currently working in Beaufort, NC as an Assistant Research Scientist at Duke University.
He has been active for more than two decades in the field of pelagic marine vertebrate research and
conservation, focusing largely on sea turtles and, more recently, whale sharks. He is the first to
have successfully used satellite telemetry to study the movements and behaviors of both of these
elusive species, and the first to make the connection between the collapse of major sea turtle
nesting aggregations and distant commercial fishing activity. Scott is a Board Member of the
Western Pacific Fishery Council's Scientific and Statistical Commission (SSC), as well as Chairman
of the U.S. Pacific Sea Turtle Recovery Team, a consultant to the U.S. Atlantic/ Caribbean Sea
Turtle Recovery Team, a member of the Marine Turtle Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival
Commission, and Editor Emeritus of the globally distributed Marine Turtle Newsletter.
Matt Godfrey
Matthew Godfrey of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has been the coordinator of the
North Carolina Sea Turtle Project since early 2002. His job includes coordinating monitoring and
research on sea turtles both on the nesting beaches and in state waters. Prior to arriving in NC,
Matthew was fortunate to collaborate with different sea turtle projects in different countries,
including French Guiana, Brazil, Turkey, and Suriname. He also serves on the board of several
advisory commissions and is an active member of the board of the Marine Turtle Newsletter and
SEATURTLE.ORG.
Penn Perry
Penn Perry is the new Executive Director of Trinity Center. Penn is a longtime staff member of Camp Trinity, the residential summer camping program of the Diocese of East Carolina and Trinity Center. He has served on the Camp Trinity staff since 1988, and has been the Director of Camp Trinity and Episcopal Youth Coordinator at Trinity Center since 2001. Penn is a firm believer in the many benefits of residential community-based programming, and he advocates for all children to have access to the various programs of Trinity Center. His passions are movies, literature, and poetry; in fact, in his prior life he was an Instructor for the English Department of the University of Georgia. Penn anticipates the challenges of maintaining and eventually expanding the many ministries of Trinity Center, and he is dedicated to protecting this fragile environment of natural beauty and spiritual access for all who come to partake of it.
Maggie Riley
Maggie is our Sound to Sea Program Director and Elderhostel Coordinator. She hails from Maitland,
Florida. She attended University of Florida in Gainesville where she received a degree in Literature.
Pre-Sound to Sea experience includes working as a reporter for the Palm Beach Post and volunteering
in the Peace Corps, teaching English in Thailand. Her extensive travel experience has taken her from
Thailand to scuba dive, to India to work in Mother Teresa’s Hospitals, to Nepal to trek in the
Himalayas to France to tour in kayaks. Inside the US, she biked the length of the Outer Banks and
the coast of Maine. In May of 2002 and December 2004 she and her husband welcomed their sons, Liam and Finn, into the world. Her most recent interests include sustainable living practices, water quality and global change.
Melinda Furrer
After graduating with a BS in Elementary Education from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Mindy
wasn't sure she was quite ready to teach in the classroom. Instead, she joined the Peace Corps where
for two years she lived on an island roughly the size of Bogue Banks, except that she was in the
middle of the Pacific Ocean, rather than 1 ½ miles from the North Carolina coast. As a Peace Corps
Volunteer to the island nation of Kiribati, Mindy spent her time teaching Junior High School level
ESL and Social Science classes. One afternoon while swinging in her hammock in her stick house
Mindy came across an announcement for an Environmental Education Program in N.C.. She somehow knew
this would be her next adventure. She has worked at Sound to Sea as an instructor for the past two
years and is now taking on the exciting challenges of the Program Coordinator position.
Suzannah Crandall
Suzannah was born and raised eating cheese in northern Wisconsin. Her love for the environment began at a young age and led her to study biology at Beloit College in WI. She graduated in 2004 with a B.S. in Environmental Biology and then launched herself into a two and a half year adventure in South America serving in the Peace Corps and traveling. During Peace Corps, Suzannah served in Paraguay as an Environmental Education volunteer working with elementary and middle school teachers to design and implement environmental lesson plans. She also directed environmental awareness camps for youth focusing on human impact on the environment. Her desire to continue teaching kids and working in the great outdoors brought her to the Sound to Sea program. She's thrilled to be living in North Carolina eating hush puppies and sippin' sweet tea.
Meghan Dinneen
Meghan grew up in Rocky Hill, Connecticut. She chose to travel south for college and got her Bachelor's Degree in zoology at the University of Maryland. After graduation, Meghan decided she had more to learn so she spent a semester studying wildlife management and ecology near Mt. Kilimanjaro in Kenya. After working as a veterinary technician, she discovered that environmental education combined her passion for the environment and her love of working with kids. After spending one summer at Sound to Sea, Meghan returned during the winter of 2005 and has been here ever since.
Sharon Fuller
Growing up on the shores of Lake Erie, Sharon Fuller loved spending time exploring the great outdoors and swimming. She attended Villanova University, where she was an Academic All-American water polo player. After receiving her BA in Psychology, Sharon returned home and began working as a classroom assistant at a small Montessori primary school. As the school expanded, Sharon took up the challenge of creating and teaching an elementary classroom community where 1st-6th graders learned through guided inquiry. She was also assistant water-polo coach at her high school alma mater, leading the girls team to a state championship in 2004 and a second place finish in 2005. A fan of Shakespeare and skydiving, Sharon is delighted to be taking on the challenge of teaching Outer Banks ecology to the many different students visiting the Sound to Sea Program.
Sarah Lane
Sarah Lane hails from Townsend, Massachusetts. She is a recent graduate of Colgate University where her studies in environmental geography taught her that she would need to move south to avoid the central NY winters. She has spent time studying abroad in Australia learning about various environmental and cultural issues. Her greatest adventure while there was a trip to Tasmania where she camped on an uninhabited island with the kangaroos and wombats. Sarah can be located anywhere on the island by her distinct laugh. She was drawn to Sound to Sea by the call of the ocean, the warmth of the south, her love of the environment and the fun of working with kids.
Nick Mallos
Nick was born and raised just outside Hershey, PA. His obsession for the ocean and the outdoors began at an early age when his family spent their summers vacationing at the Jersey and Maryland shores. His love for the ocean led him to a degree in Biology and Marine Science which he recently received from Dickenson College. While at Dickenson, Nick was a member of the soccer team, and spent a semester studying abroad in the Turks and Caicos Islands. During this time, he conducted research on the movements of juvenile lemon sharks. As he prepares to continue his studies of sharks in graduate school, teaching children and sharing his passion for the marine environment seems the perfect opportunity.
Claire Russo
Claire grew up in Massachusetts where as a child she was fond of exploring the outside world. She went North to Maine for college, where she majored in marine biology and swam on the swim team. Since graduating in 2005, Claire has driven to California and back seeing all the sights along the way. She has taught environmental education in Maine and on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, and has also spent time coaching high school swimming. Most recently Claire co-taught a summer field and natural history program on Cape Cod. Claire was drawn to Sound to Sea by the awesome program and the desire to be learn about someplace new. When not teaching Claire can be found running, biking, swimming in the ocean and making up verses to the Sound to Sea theme song with Suzannah.
June Trimble
June Trimble has a weakness for bodies of water, happy children, and country music. She claims Annapolis, MD as her hometown. June attended Denison University in Granville, OH where she studied sociology, anthropology and communication. She explored environmental education through various positions with Squam Lakes National Science Center, the Potomac Conservatory, and the National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD. She looks forward to adapting to her new home on the beach, energizing swarms of youth about the environment and exploring Southern luxuries.
Calvin Webster
Calvin was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and grew up in California, Virginia, and Coastal North Carolina, where he has lived most of his life. Having always been surrounded by nature and the beach, Calvin feels right at home here at the Sound to Sea Program. Recently, Calvin volunteered in the Americorps*VISTA program as Technology Coordinator with North Carolina Campus Compact at NCCU, bridging the digital divide. He has also worked as a Research Associate at a biotechnology company doing genetic engineering of plants. He has a B.S. in Molecular Biology from UNC Pembroke and enjoys surfing, reading, and meeting new people!
Lindsay Vivian
Lindsay, a.k.a. Lviv hails from Grand Island, NE which though grand, is not an island. She got a B.S. in biology with a minor in Spanish from University of Nebraska at Kearney. While in college, Lindsay was on the women's golf team and conducted undergraduate research on the use of switchgrass as a future source of biofuel. After college Lindsay participated in an Americorps program in western Massachusetts doing environmental education and trail maintenance at state forests and parks. From this experience, she learned she liked teaching environmental education, and now finds herself at Sound to Sea. She enjoys teaching kids about environmental issues and about how to reduce their eco-footprint. In her free time, Lindsay enjoys reading, hiking, backpacking, jogging, learning about plants, baking, playing golf, and watching "What Not to Wear".
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