Calista Quirk

I've been in outdoor education for about six years now, with four years specifically working as an outdoor educator. I'm currently a university student graduating in the next two weeks, and my journey into this field wasn't always clear-cut. In high school, I originally thought I wanted to go into hospitality because I knew I wanted to travel and help people. But somewhere in the middle of my high school experience, I realized I really enjoyed being outdoors once I was given those opportunities. It wasn't until I was touring colleges that I discovered outdoor education is something you can truly do with your life and succeed with it. My day-to-day for the past four years has looked like non-stop education and trying to experience as many opportunities as possible, from different certifications to conferences, starting and completing research. I've focused on different aspects of my field like risk management, facilitation skills, and mental health first aid, and then I continue to take those skills and build upon them in different areas of my life. One of my most notable achievements was starting and finishing research as an undergrad and then being able to present that research twice at two different conferences. One was a national outdoor educators conference out in western North Carolina, and it was really cool because I was presenting to people that I've been reading in classrooms - people who have built my knowledge of outdoor education in my years at university. After graduation, I plan on moving out to Colorado for the next year to be an outdoor educator at a boarding school. My day will involve waking up and getting involved in campus life, being a substitute teacher in English (my secondary major), and then after school I'll be in charge of their rock wall facilities. I'll also be integrating into campus life throughout the day, being in charge of study hall, making sure all the kids are doing well academically, checking in, and being that mentor figure to them throughout the entire day. I'm also an Assistant Troop Master with Boy Scouts of America, helping them with planning camping trips, risk management, and facilitation when they need me. Outside of work, I really enjoy poetry - reading it, writing it, teaching about it - and just being outside, whether that's going camping, rock climbing, or anything in regards to just being active and outside with people of the same interests.