Member Bios

Brenna Taylor is a 23-year-old Northeast Ohio native, exploring Western Massachusetts for the first time. After a sweaty and pontoon-filled three months with the SCA and the Army Corps of Engineers in Nashville, Tennessee, she is happily moving onto the SCA Massachusetts Parks program. Since graduating from Hiram College in 2011, Brenna has taught art to preschoolers, worked and lived on a small herb farm, and taught farm and gardening classes at a summer camp. She loves to laugh, bike, learn and explore new places. She’s looking forward to exploring the great Hawley frontier with her new family of dynamic and beautiful people, as well as engaging and sharing her love for the outdoors with the local kiddos.

John E. Aldridge’s hometown is a little mountain community near Rocky Mountain National Park. He is currently taking online classes via Oregon State University, where his major is Forest Ecosystems and Society, with a minor in Natural Resources Management and Policy. He is also a recent graduate from Front Range Community College in Fort Collins, CO. There, he earned his Associate's of Applied Science degree in Forestry, Wildlife, and Natural Resources, and had a lot of fun tracking mountain lions, catching fish, and playing many outdoor games. His favorite hobbies include snowshoeing, painting, and singing. As a teacher’s assistant at his alma mater, he completed various tasks in the Natural and Environmental Sciences department, and had the opportunity to supervise the training of safe chainsaw usage. Finally, he worked in aquariums for many years at PetSmart, where he sold fish, provided information for healthy fish tanks, and promoted enthusiasm for responsible pet-keeping in his community. He is very much looking forward to working with teachers and students during the next several months!

Emily is from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. She majored in Environmental Sciences and minored in French at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is interested in water quality and the issue of drinking water. She has interned at the Woods Hole Research Center, studying the coastal pond Oyster Pond. She has measured many water quality parameters on Oyster Pond, including water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, absorbance, as well as nutrients such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. Emily has also been a camp counselor for 6 summers with children ages 6-13, and she has worked as a Resident Assistant for two years working to build community and educate college students living in the residence halls. Emily loves hiking, swimming, and biking. In her spare time she also loves photography. One day Emily hopes to improve water in ecosystems as well as find ways to provide potable water for people.

Maya Randolph is a political science and psychology double major at Wellesley College. She was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA where she learned a love of the outdoors through city parks. Last January, Maya spent a month volunteering on an organic farm in Greece. This past summer she led a community trail crew of high school aged students doing trail work in her hometown. She enjoys the entire education process and eventually wants to become a professor. Maya also loves sports, the outdoors, being a camp counselor and community advocacy work. She is excited to embark on this environmental education adventure with the other corps members and the children in the surrounding towns.

Evelyn grew up in the Northern Adirondacks and spent a lot of time outdoors as a child. In 2012, she graduated from SUNY Geneseo where she majored in Geography and minored in Environmental Studies. At Geneseo, she taught as a lab instructor and occasionally in small scale outdoor settings, and found joy in spreading enthusiasm for our environment. After graduation, Evelyn spent 3 months traveling the country with her brother and 2 months working at St. Regis Canoe Outfitters. Evelyn enjoys learning and teaching in an active, hands-on setting where the student becomes their own teacher.