Sarah Haggerty

Sarah has served as a mentor for children in the field of nature education since graduating with a BA in Environmental Studies in 1999.  Sarah has worked as a teacher and naturalist at the Western North Carolina Nature Center, Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve, and Raleigh Nature programs. She has spent the last five years at Schoolhouse of Wonder where she served as the Program Director.  Sarah co-founded Orenda in 2007.

 

John Lochbaum

John is an elder, a cofounder and a teacher at Orenda Nature Programs.  John grew up in the Niagra Falls area at the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains in New York, where he spent much time on the reservation of the Seneca and in the forest of New York State. John has been a trapper and a hunter from an early age.  He has practiced survival from the arctic to the amazon.  He has studied under master  craftsmen and traditional native teachers in the arts of fine wood and bone carving, jewelry and beadwork. John is a traditional practitioner of the Mata Ortiz style of southwestern pottery. He is also a parent and has worked as a mentor for children for most of his life, teaching them the ways of the forest that he has learned from his own teachers and from his life experiences with the natural world.

Gumby Montgomery

Gumby is a teacher and a coyote mentor.  He is a long time Kamana and Tracker School student, who brings his naturalist skills and knowledge, his love of games and jokes, and his good nature.  He has served for a year and a half as a teacher and lead counselor at Schoolhouse of Wonder. He has also taught outdoor skills in boy scout programs. In addition to teaching at Orenda, Gumby is also serving as a mentor at Clapping Hands Farm Outdoor Explorers program.  Gumby is a teacher and a coyote mentor.  He is a long time