Shoopie Panholzer, Instructor

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Shoopie grew up on the California central coast playing among the golden hills and under coast live oak trees. After years of environmental education she fell in love with  science and attended Saint Mary’s College of California where she got her bachelor’s degree  in Dance and environmental science. She spent summers working at a family camp in Sequoia National Park where she was in charge of the marmot age group (7-8 year olds) and the lead kids group counselor. After her third summer she started working at a ranch in Lafayette, California as a nature instructor and archery coordinator. There’s she learned that her passion is teaching kids outside about things such as tracking, homesteading, hike safety, gardening, cooking, horsepersonship, and ecology. She decided to spread her wings and move out of California to attend the a IslandWood graduate program and was a member of the 2023 masters in education for environment cohort. In the fall she will return to her studies where she will finish her masters at the University of Washington while working on a research project focused on how people form identities as nature oriented individuals and what the role of outdoor education might be in that. In her free time she loves reading, hiking, watching beach sunsets over the Olympics, and camping all with her dog by her side.