Meet The Team

Jennifer Kafsky

Associate Professor and Coordinator of Wilderness Leadership and Experiential Education

Hometown: Brevard, N.C.

As long as I can remember, I have been intrigued and inspired by rivers. Some of my fondest memories as a child are of canoeing with my family down the Chagrin River and Grand River in Northeast Ohio. (Thanks Mom and Dad!) I hope to share this love and respect for rivers with my own children, and am excited about this experience. The days on the Yadkin Pee Dee are expected to be filled with learning for our VOR group – about ourselves, our environment and our society. We have many wonderful opportunities to learn from a variety of professionals whom have dedicated their talents and energy for protecting our rivers, and I am honored to be a part of and to help facilitate this exceptional learning experience.

Cameron Austin

Assistant Professor of Information Technology, and Business and Organizational Leadership
Age: 41
Hometown: Brevard, N.C.

I’ve had many experiences with outdoor adventures and travel – but they have always been land-based. I’ve backpacked for weeks with packs filled to the brim (with things I might of needed but rarely used). I’ve hauled climbing gear in Castle Valley, Joshua Tree, and Zion. I’ve carried surplus water in my Camelback on the Slickrock Trail, and pedaled a loaded tandem across Europe. In stark contrast, I can fit my entire kayak experience into a Ziplock sandwich bag. Voice of the Rivers is a great opportunity for me to broaden my experiences in the outdoors; and I get to do so with a wonderful leadership team and an amazing group of invigorating college students! While I will certainly miss my family, I am excited to embrace this unique opportunity for learning.

Tucker Lee
Major: Wilderness Leadership and Experiential Education
Hometown: Baton Rouge, La.

I love extended expeditions for the camaraderie formed within the group and the feeling of being ‘out there’. I am looking forward to sharing my experience with my fellow participants and learning alongside them as well. The prospect of paddling the Yadkin river trail and finally the Pee Dee wild and scenic river is very exciting to me from an adventurer standpoint, as well as an aspiring educator and environmental conservationist. I will miss contact with my family during the trip but cannot wait to join my new family on the river.

Chelsea Preciado

Environmental Science

Age: 19

Hometown: Franklin, Tenn.

While I have never done much paddling, I am quite a nature enthusiast and I love being outdoors. Since I was a little girl I have been crawling around in the dirt, scrounging for rollie-pollies and throwing twirly birds up in the air to watch them fly. I love anything having to do with the earth and I am super excited to get to know the special treasure that is the Yadkin Pee-Dee. Not only am I eager to discover the river but I am really looking forward to getting to know the other members of the VOR group, we seem to have an awesomely diverse bunch of folks. My ultimate goal for the trip is to have fun. That may sound cliché but really what else could you ask for? I can’t wait to make some incredible memories that I can have to cherish for the rest of my life. What a great way to start the summer!!!

Rick Campana

Graphic Design
Age 20
Hometown: Raleigh, N.C.

Absolutely no kayak experience prior to this, and I am already in love with it. I had heard about VOR the year before and really wanted to be a part of it. I am going to use this experience to get more in touch with myself and my surroundings, also have hella fun. This trip will take me far away from my element, which consists of the competitive gaming scene. I'm very interested to read what I write in my journal. It is going to be a new and amazing adventure.

Dan Modahl
Freshman
Wilderness Leadership & Experiential Education
Age: 19
Hometown: Beverly, Mass.

I have a bit of experience kayaking already, and love being out on the water. This is my first time on such a long expedition, so I am very excited. I’ve always been fascinated with the way rivers work, and now I can follow one from its source all the way to the ocean! I hope to learn a lot about the Yadkin-PeeDee River, and see first-hand how important conservation really is. The whole idea of this trip is so cool; gathering a group of people with an assortment of majors and going on an 19 day kayak trip is just awesome! Everyone has something different to offer and I’m really excited to get to know everyone. Of course I have many goals for this trip, but the greatest one is to have fun! I can’t wait!

Jana Eilermann
Wilderness Leadership and Experiential Education and Integrated Studies combining Social Science and Environmental Studies
Age: 20
Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio

I love all things outdoors. In fact that is what brought me to Brevard. Growing up in urban Ohio, I didn’t have much experience with outdoor activities other than camping and hiking with my family a few times a year and attending summer camp for a week or so every summer. Since coming to Brevard I have taken to the water like a duckling. I enjoy all aspects of it from splashing in puddles around campus to whitewater canoeing and kayaking, but I especially love how vital water is to our existence and learning all about how cultures have developed around water as well as issues that we face with water pollution. I am so excited to combine my new found love of paddling with my passion for the environment and an opportunity to immerse myself in the rich culture of the Yadkin Pee-Dee River, all the while building meaningful relationships that I am sure will be long-lasting. Water is soothing to me and helps me relax and I am so thrilled to spend 18 days surrounded by river, taking in all that is has to offer.

Marshal Hartley
Exercise Science
Age: 20
Hometown: Clarks Mills, Penn.

My name is Marshal Hartley,

I am 20 years old and my major at Brevard College is Exercise Science. I selected this major because I find the human body fascinating, the more I learn about its intricacies the more I come to realize how the human body is most certainly the pinnacle of God's creation.  I am from a tiny “village” in Pennsylvania called Clarks Mills though I would love to live near Brevard some day. I am really looking forward to this trip with VOR because I have never done anything like this before. I have been back packing several times but I have been in a kayak once, before this trip.  I love nature and being outdoors and I find swamp lands and marshes fascinating because of the plethora of wildlife which lives there. We will travel on the Yadkin Pee Dee River through many of such areas as we paddle through South Carolina.  I am looking forward to this awesome start to my summer and to learning a lot along the way!

Aislinn Dugan
Integrated Studies
Age: 22
Nantucket, Mass.

I grew up on an island so water was a significant part of my life. I spent a lot of time at the beach, surfing, wakeboarding, and sailing. Coming to the mountains I have gained an appreciation for a new and different environment. I have not spent much time on the river prior to coming to Brevard College and am looking forward to being apart of VOR 2010. As an integrated studies major with emphases on WLEE and Environmental Science I am excited to incorporate experiential education with studying the river ecosystem of the Yadkin Pee-Dee and the effects that humans and industry are having on it. I am also excited because Huckleberry Fin was one of my favorite books growing up and I have always dreamed of rafting down the Mississippi. I figured that VOR 2010 would satisfy this yearning, and will probably be a lot more fun especially with our awesome group of people!

Marcus Roberson
Religious Studies and Spanish
Age: 21
Hometown: Davidson, N.C.

19 days in the wilderness, paddling a river from beginning to end with great friends, and hands on, experiential classes: What’s not to love? VOR 2010 is sure to hold many wonderful experiences. I am looking forward to learning about the Yadkin-PeeDee River, building meaningful relationships with my peers and leaders, spending time on the water and growing closer to nature. I would like to thank everyone who has enabled me to make this incredible trip; the friends and VOR alumni who urged me to go, my loving and supportive parents, and especially the four wonderful trip leaders and coordinators. I am blessed to have this opportunity, and plan on giving it my all.

Brian Henion

Wilderness Leadership and Experiential Education

Age: 29

Hometown: Hendersonville, N.C.

I view this trip as a chance to do of the things I'm passionate about. Not only do I look forward to this trip for all the fun activities like kayaking, swimming, fishing, and camping, but it also gives me a chance to find out more about local water source pollution which is one of the topics I'm most interested in pollution wise. I look forward to the trip being physically, mentally, and emotionally challenging and hope to get out of it many life long friends. I have had outdoor pursuit activities in my life since before I could walk and find the outdoors as appealing and as much home as i do indoors. I hope to bring allot of experience to the trip and be an integral part of the dynamic that makes us succeed.

Katherine McKittrick

Art /Education

Age: 21

Hometown: Charlotte, N.C.

I have never really kayaked before. I have wake boarded before on Badin Lake which is a part of the Yadkin-PeeDee. My goals are to make it to the ocean in one peace and have some life lasting memories on the way. Being an art major with a photography interest I am excited to just see everything along the river that is something new (except some animals like snakes and large reptiles). I feel that I will walk away from this expense with something really cool I don’t know yet but it will be more than just a tan and tan lines from a pfd. I can’t wait to share the trip with my family, friends and my fellow Brevard students. I also feel blessed to be going on this kind of trip with allot of awesome people that I am looking forward to getting to know them all better thru this experience.

Maxmillian Attilio Pelosi

2010 Voice of the Rivers Logistic Coordinator

Wilderness Leadership and Experiential Education
Year: Senior
Hometown: Atlanta, Ga.

After paddling 110 miles across the Prince William Sound in Alaska I realized how much I enjoyed paddling sea kayaks. I have done two extended expeditions one of which I was a major part of planning while serving as my immersion semester wilderness expedition coordinator. I was presented with the option of planning a second extended expedition in serving as the logistics coordinator of the 2010 Voice of the Rivers trip for my internship. This offers me an opportunity to continue practice in many topics of interest; teaching others, facilitating adventures for people with little experience outdoors, paddling, and planning an extended expedition. I see this as a once in a lifetime opportunity for students. I'm excited to watch the trip unfold as I follow and support the trip. I look forward to joining on the fun and paddle with the students to hear their experiences and stories.

Teresa Marie Musick

Nickname: T or Musick

Major: Psychology

Age: 19

Hometown: Hagerstown, Md.

I have no kayaking experience prior to VOR 2010. I am super interested to learn as much as possible about river life and the specific culture that inhabit the Yadkin-PeeDee River!! I grew up on the Potomac River in Maryland; it was my second home so getting to know a different river in a very different area will be an awesome experience to have! During our 18 or so days on the river I anticipate so many different experiences. I want to become comfortable in the kayak, so comfortable that I think of it as my home. I am nervous that I will forget something vital for the trip… like one of my 10 essentials, but I know that the people that I am with will be able to back me up if I forget something!! That’s another thing I am really looking forward to; the fact that the people that I will be with for so long are really great people and genuinely fun to be around. I figured this out over the weekend trip that prepared us for the VOR experience, I can already tell that the people I will be with will be as supportive and motivational as I will be towards them!! Put all this together and you have one excited chicka for VOR 2010!!!

Austin Bunn

junior

Major: Wilderness Leadership and Experiential Education
Hometown: Columbia, S.C.

Hey my name is Austin Bunn and I am originally from Columbia, South Carolina. I am a junior at Brevard College and my major is Wilderness Leadership and Experiential Education and my minor is in Business. I transferred to Brevard this past year from the University of South Carolina where I was studying pre-medicine. I transferred to Brevard because of its location and my love for the outdoors. I am big into white water kayaking and have done tons of rivers in the North Carolina, Tennessee, and South Carolina areas. Although white water is what I love I am excited for the 18 day flat water challenge that is coming soon. My goals for this trip include avoiding sunburns, getting along with others, catching fish to feed the meat lovers in our group, oh and learning as well. I am also excited for all the wildlife and neat sites we will see along the way. Oh and yes the challenge and being in nature excites me but what excites me the most is being in a tandem kayak with my main man Cameron Austin!