ARC’s Voices of Youth performance for the 2019 Sequoia 25-day Course will take place in Three Rivers at St. Anthonys Retreat at 6PM this Thursday, July 18th. Three dedicated and hard-working staff members have guided the students through their experience, including two backpacking expeditions and two academic basecamps. The staff helped students navigate through snow on their first expedition, assisted them with Sequoia tree measurement, and have been fantastic role models. Thank you, Henney, Julia, and Alma, for all of the great work!
Henney Sullivan, Sequoia Course Director & Co-English Instructor
Henney was born in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and raised amidst tree-forts and blueberry fields. As he grew to be a teenager he gravitated towards books and sports, yet when Henney reached the end of high school he realized how much he missed the woods and lakes of his earliest days. He shifted his focus from academics to the people and places around him and found that wild places bring out his truest self and create space for people to build authentic relationships. Henney joined ARC in 2018 as a Summer Instructor after working in wilderness therapy in Utah for a year-and-a-half and he has also moonlighted as a preschool teacher, campaign organizer, farmer and carpenter. He has more favorite authors than he can count and he has most recently been captivated by Jhumpa Lahiri and Alice Walker.
Alma Alvarado, Sequoia Science Instructor
Alma was born and raised in the mountains of Durango, Mexico where she enjoyed caring for and playing with her pet cow, “La frijoles.” At thirteen years of age, she ventured to a new environment by migrating to Planada, California. After migrating, Alma became a strong believer in the transformative power of education, dedicating herself to her studies. In 2012, Alma found ARC and had the pleasure to participate in weekend retreats where she briefly reconnected to the outdoors. She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, with degrees in Anthropology and Spanish. This fall, she will begin working toward her Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Humanities at the University of California, Merced. She appreciates pairing a warm cup of coffee with journaling or reading fiction in Spanish, Spanglish and English. She is currently reading works from Maya Angelou and Tommy Orange.
Julia Bartos, Sequoia Co-English Instructor
Julia studied Social Work, Sustainable Development and Spanish at Gordon College. During this time of life, she led canoeing and backpacking expeditions through La Vida Center for Outdoor Education in the Adirondacks. Realizing how important mountains are for her sense of home, she moved to Tacoma, Washington upon graduating and now lives in Missoula, Montana. Julia enjoys building community and exploring the outdoors through rock climbing, contra dancing, cross country skiing and gardening. She believes that stepping back from the bustle of life to soak up nature gives people opportunities to experience wonder and personal growth. When she needs to be grounded, Julia often turns to the writers Annie Dillard and Sherman Alexie.