Kellogg FIELD School Staff

Steve Rubinstein is the Director of APU’s Graduate Program in Outdoor and Environmental Education. He received his M.S. in Experiential Education from Minnesota State University, a B.S. in Psychology from Guilford College and a Certificate of Outdoor Leadership from Seljord Fork College. Steve has extensive experience in the field teaching and directing programs since 1987, including his work as Faculty and Program Director in Outdoor Education at MT Hood Community College in Oregon, Program Director at Northwest Earth Institute and Education Coordinator & Asst. Director at Northwest Service Academy.

After receiving her BA in Theatre and Interdisciplinary Studies from Emerson College in Boston, MA, Dylan Manderlink joined the national public service program, Teach for America, to teach high school drama and technology classes in rural Arkansas. Through her two-year corps commitment in a state she had never been to prior, she not only discovered a love for education but for the outdoors as well since it was through visiting local state parks and forests that she got to know the Natural State and herself better. After Teach for America, Dylan taught first grade in Blanding, Utah for a year while living in and exploring the high desert of Moab. When the school year ended, Dylan decided to transition out of the classroom and into the outdoor industry. For nearly two years she worked as a wilderness therapy instructor in central Utah and became even more passionate about working with youth in nature. From there, she moved to Dubois, Wyoming and worked as a program instructor for a gap year program for 18-24 year olds – planning and going on two-week long expeditions around the western U.S. and facilitating adventure programming and life skill development the other half of the month at the nonprofit’s home base in the Wind River Range. After spending a memorable eight months in America’s least populated state, she headed to the boundary waters of Northern Minnesota to seasonally work at a fishing and boating outfitter and lodge. After it got too cold to fish and boat on the remote and very northern lakes, she headed to Seattle to work as a forest preschool teacher. Although it was tough to leave her kiddos in the PNW this past June, the river was calling, and she decided she must go…to Montana to work as a raft guide on the Clark Fork River before moving to Palmer to start APU’s Outdoor and Environmental Education graduate program. In her spare time, Dylan enjoys listening to lots of podcasts, finding fun and quirky roadside attractions, planning future road trips, bouldering, and watching any nature documentary she can find.

Katie Skinner earned a BA in Classical Studies with a minor in Environmental Studies from Connecticut College where she enjoyed playing rugby and taking advantage of the school’s arboretum. Katie spent her previous summers throughout school, working at a residential summer camp in the Adirondacks, NY where she started as a cabin counselor and worked her way up to Program Coordinator. During her time there she primarily worked with the teen leadership program and led them on overnight camping trips. When she wasn’t teaching sailing, she was leading rafting and canoeing trips. While there, she discovered her passion for not only the outdoors but also for working with young people and helping them to discover what they love too. After college, Katie worked for the YMCA of Greater Boston as the Aquatics Coordinator where she had the privilege of being a swim instructor to preschoolers for the year. When Katie got the chance to leave Boston, she spent her time exploring the outdoors as much as possible, hiking and kayaking with her dog all over New England. These passions have now brought Katie, and the dog, to APU for the next chapter of her life.

Priscilla Hunt holds a bachelor’s degree in Music from Asbury University in Kentucky and worked after college as a fiddle teacher, Suzuki violin teacher, and dance musician in her hometown of Asheville, North Carolina. Priscilla has a lifelong love for hiking and backpacking, and when she landed a summer job at Colvig Silver Camps in Colorado, she began to consider outdoor education as a possible career direction as well. Many applications later, Priscilla was offered an internship with the Colorado Outward Bound School. She has worked for Colorado Outward Bound since 2010, where she serves as a field instructor, course director, and staff trainer. Leading teenagers and young adults on wilderness trips is fascinating and rewarding, and Priscilla believes it is more and more needed in a time when walls and screens sometimes make genuine human connection more difficult. She is passionate about teaching communication skills and emotional awareness alongside more tangible outdoor skills such as knots and navigation. During the school year, between seasons at Outward Bound, Priscilla works for NOLS Wilderness Medicine teaching Wilderness First Responder courses. For the past four years, she has taught at Warren Wilson College and Montreat College in North Carolina, teaching courses including challenge course facilitation and management, backcountry skills, and introductory backpacking classes. n Priscilla’s free time, you’ll find her tromping through the woods searching for mushrooms and berries, trail running, cooking, and hanging out with her seven nieces and nephews.