In 2023, Steph joined Team Wilderness as our new Programming Director.  She brings to the role extensive field experience, as well as a personal connection to Jersey City.

“The synergy was crazy because at the same time this position opened up, I was at a point in my life thinking, what is next for me?  If I could have created a non-profit in Jersey City myself, it would be Team Wilderness,” Steph says.   

Prior to Team Wilderness, Steph had been working with urban youth in Washington DC.  “They were kids who had never experienced nature.  They had grown up in DC, and we would take them to places in rural Virginia for a three day camp.  They would be exposed to so many new things,” Steph explains.

In that role, Steph witnessed the transformative effect nature could have on inner city youth.  “On the first day, they would say, oh this is terrible, I hate this,” Steph recalls.  “It was all new to them. The second night, they would continue, ‘This is even worse than I thought. Now I’ve spent the night here and I feel worse!’ But then on the third day, something incredible would happen.  By the time we left, they would be saying, ‘I think I want to come back here.’ I even had some kids tell me they would like to have my job one day! I could see the impact the experience had on them.  It was a clear success.”

Steph understands firsthand the outsize impact nature can have on youth.  Growing up in Jersey City, she had little exposure to the outdoors in her early childhood.  When her family later moved to Hoboken, she would often visit the public parks there.  Eventually, Steph went on to study Marine Biology at Rutgers University.  In pursuing her degree and gaining valuable work experience, she observed differences between her own life path, and the experiences of her college peers, and later, her coworkers.

“It was still a different time then, in terms of awareness.  People would poke fun of me.  I was the girl from Jersey City, and a lot was new to me.  I’d see a Blue Jay, and it would be amazing to me.  Yet the people around me would comment, oh that’s a very common backyard bird.  They would act like, oh isn’t that cute, the city girl hasn’t seen that before.  They weren’t aware of the differences, they couldn’t relate.  The way they reacted sometimes made me feel like an outsider.  I didn’t have the confidence to say then, yeah, this is something new for me, I haven’t experienced this before.”

As Steph’s career progressed in youth development and environmental education, she became more determined to align the knowledge and training she had gained with a mission that supported marginalized communities.

“As I worked more with kids, I saw the differences in how affluent kids, who grew up with abundant exposure to the outdoors, reacted to nature compared to urban youth, who didn’t have those same resources and experiences.  I saw myself in some of them.  They were experiencing what it was like to be out of their element too.” 

For that reason, returning to work in Jersey City felt like a full circle moment for Steph.  “While I was out in the woods, learning all these lessons from working with young people outdoors, [Team Wilderness Founder] Steve was here in Jersey City creating this amazing organization.  Working here now gives me the opportunity to bring all that I learned about childhood development, outdoor education, social emotional learning  and more back to my hometown,” Steph says. 

Steph was required to jump right into her new role, as 2023  saw the launch of two brand new programs, Compass and North Star Project (see pg 6 to learn more about all our programs).  Steph views these additions to programming as just the beginning of an ongoing effort to add extra layers of support for youth.  Her invaluable insight into the needs of local youth, and her passion for nature and youth education, remain at the core of all her initiatives.  

“There are so many moments that remind me why this is what I was meant to do,” Steph says.  “Watching students go from being afraid to sit in the grass to catching their first frog, or wading through the water in a lake to collect a water sample— that is so rewarding to me.”