Our Overnight Adventures Team

Carrie Benzinger

After joining our Montessori School in February 2018, Carrie also joined the NCI Lake Geneva WI team in October 2018. Carrie grew up in the Milwaukee area, is married, has 3 sons and currently lives in the Mukwonago area. She enjoys cooking, baking and spending time with her family. Carrie is interested in everything Nature’s Classroom Institute (and Montessori School) offers students and is eager to learn much more about the entire program. She loves working with our Wisconsin schools to handle all of the logistics for them. If you would like to book a field trip to Camp Lake Carrie will be your contact.

Jack

Jack has an interest in the connections between natural and human history sparked by the glacial-industrial landscape of their native Cleveland, and a love for teaching that began as a college student, where they taught classes on building giant puppets. When not working, they enjoy opera, collecting vintage perfume, and the occasional foray into research geology, studying the rock record of ancient earthquakes. Jack’s favorite part of teaching at NCI is working with so many different and amazing students as the landscape changes through the seasons.

Eve

Living in Scotland, Eve spent a lot of time in the Highlands hiking, camping, fishing and swimming with her family/friends as she grew up, which sparked her fascination with nature and our human relationship with Earth. The mysteries of our oceans drew her to study Marine Science at the Scottish Association for Marine Science. Combining her love to travel with her career plans, Eve began work with NCI last year and loves getting to share her passion and explore different ecosystems with students everyday.

Sachin

Sachin is an experienced camp leader and educator with more than 10 years of experience. He has done his Masters in Plant Science and Bachelors in Education. He loves to be in nature and interact with young minds in the outdoors. His zest for knowledge, research and outdoor education has led him to shores of Madagascar to study bisprospects of forests, Taiwan for Burn Foundation camp training, and now to USA as an Environmental Educator.  He has published papers in plant science journals.

Cailey

Cailey Erickson has had a affinity for animals her whole life. Through her schooling at Carroll University of Wisconsin, she discovered her love for wildlife rehabilitation/conservation and decided to pursue her interests in an Environmental Studies minor and Animal Behavior major. She loves to take mindful walks in her neighborhood and spend time with her rescue cat, Evey. You can often find her lost in a book or listening to music and podcasts.

Ashley

Ashley has always had a love for nature and the outdoors since she was born, growing she could often be found reading up about nature or out exporting it. While she always enjoyed it she didn't realize it was her passion until her freshman year of college where she then changed her major and finally realized her calling in life. Since that reminder of the love that had always been there she's since graduated from college and begun her journey as an educator able to now inspire students to love nature as those who had inspired her once did. 

Katriana

Kat is joining us from northern Indiana with a Biology degree, and a concentration in Ecology and Environmental Biology! Kat discovered her love for working outdoors her senior year of high school, and has been pursuing such work ever since! In her spare time, Kat likes to read, bake, and grow houseplants - and, of course, go outside!

Alyssa

Alyssa is joining us from upstate New York where she is finishing her degree in Wildlife Management. She is passionate about expanding ones connection with nature and loves working with kids. Alyssa has worked in various environmental outreach programs to build appreciations, spread knowledge, and guide relationships with all nature has to offer. She loves hiking, kayaking, canoeing, fishing, traveling, and expanding her own understanding of the natural world.

Wayde

Outside of education, a large portion of my professional experience in conservation, animal medicine, and other areas has been gained through hands on experiences and skill building that I am excited to share through our program. I hope to engage and empower students with knowledge they can apply to their own backyards, schools, and communities and I am most excited for students to experience the summer outside in Mukwonago with forests, prairies, and streams.

Carson

My name is Carson Dean Northcutt, and I come from Ft Worth, Texas. I graduated in 2021 from the University of North Texas with a B.A. in History. There I also studied Social Studies Education and Spanish, with which I’ve been practicing since 2016 and have been proficient for 4+ years. My goal as an educator is to engage learners and support their individual learning processes so that they feel proud and responsible for their own education.

For fun, I enjoy cooking food, practicing yoga, making art, spending time outside, reading books, studying foreign languages and traveling.

Edward

Edward has been hiking, kayaking, and camping in Wisconsin, Colorado, and the Pacific Northwest with his father since he was a boy.  He got interested in environmental education after receiving a degree in Conservation and Environmental Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.  He has been working in the Washington State Park system for the past two years.