Sound to Sea Staff

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.


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. She spent the summer teaching here at Sound to Sea and is excited to have returned this winter.


Geoff Eseltine
Geoff was born and raised in Weybridge, Vermont. After finishing high school he decided to leave New England and attend college in Florida. While at the Florida Institute of Technology he received a bachelor's degree in Science Education which included a six month period of classroom teaching at Southwest Middle School in Palm Bay, Florida. Geoff enjoyed teaching with his 7th Grade science classes so much that upon finishing his degree, he decided to pursue an opportunity in science education outside of the classroom and found the Sound to Sea program, where he not only gets to teach, but learn as well.


Blair Griffin
Blair grew up all over the country, but he calls Texas home. He attended the University of St. Thomas in Houston, where he earned a degree in International Studies and Environmental Studies, with a minor in Philosophy. While in college he spent a semester studying the ecology of the tropical rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia. After graduation he searched for a job where he could continue learning, and teach others about the world around them. Sound to Sea was a perfect fit, with the added bonus of living on the beach. Blair loves the water, and can usually be found submerged somewhere during his free time.


Cheryl Horton
Cheryl attended Cornell University where she earned her B.S. in Natural Resources and Applied Ecology. She also spent a semester abroad in New Zealand participating in a field studies program that enabled her to participate in a variety of research projects and experience ecology in action. Cheryl loves being outdoors, working with children, and anything related to the ocean or the beach. After living in New York most of her life, she decided that moving elsewhere would be a wonderful adventure. She is thrilled to be working as an instructor at Sound to Sea.


Karl Lindgren-Streicher
Karl was born and raised in Madison, WI. His love for the outdoors began at an early age when his family frequented national parks instead of Disneyland for vacation. This love for natural beauty (and great skiing) led him to Colorado Springs, where he graduated from Colorado College. After graduation, Karl served for two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Namibia. While he plots how to change the world, a job on the Outer Banks showing kids the beauty of nature seems to be a great fit.


Randi McKenna
Randi recently graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Geography with an emphasis on Environmental Resource Management and a minor in Geological Sciences. She had the privilege of working with a variety of non-profits and governmental entities in Austin before moving to Yellowstone National Park to work as an assistant backcountry ranger and more recently to Vail, CO to work as a naturalist at Gore Range Natural Science School. After enjoying many extraordinary places due to extensive traveling, Randi is excited to be able to share new experiences in a coastal environment with her incredible coworkers and students. She loves to be active, explore and do anything outside. Sound to Sea is a perfect combination of all those things.


Lish Reenders
Lish Reenders grew up in grand Rapids, Michigan and went to Houghton College in New York. She graduated in 2001 with degrees in music and sociology and made the obvious career choice of outdoor education. Lish has played many different roles in this field from a wilderness instructor for adjudicated youth to the mate on a tall ship in the Chesapeake Bay. It was on the high seas that she recognized her love for the coastal area and the open water. After a three-year stay in brisk New Hampshire working on land with an adventure-based school program, Lish decided to return south, and to the water.


Jessica Swope
Jessica is a recent graduate of Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania. She is a native of the Pennsylvania countryside and has lived near the capital for nearly 18 years. After graduating with a degree in Elementary Education, Jessica decided that she wasn't ready to be inside a classroom and went in search of a chance to teach outside where her hobbies are. Being an avid lover of animals, Jessica could nearly start a zoo with the collection of pets she has at home. Her biggest hope is to bring her love of animals, nature and learning to as many people as possible.


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!