Our Story
Water Wanderings was founded in 2017 by Sonya Buglion-Gluck. Inspired by participating in Kroka Expedition's Ecuador Semester, serving as an Assistant Instructor for the Ala Archa Ecological Leadership Project in Kyrgyzstan, and taking her neighbor's daughters camping at Green River Reservoir, she decided to start Water Wanderings as a way to share her love for the outdoors and environmental justice. With her mother, Gerette Buglion, as a co-instructor, Sonya lead the first session in the summer of 2017. Four incredible young women participated and set the stage for the continuation and expansion of the program in the following summers.
In 2020, Water Wanderings became a non-profit and an inspiring group of individuals generously volunteered to serve as the inaugural Board of Directors. The board met for the first time on June 6th, 2020 and established communication and decision-making guidelines, adopted the bylaws, and refined Water Wanderings’ mission and vision to better align with our aspirations and grounding philosophies. Since then, Water Wanderings has continued to grow and mature, bringing more campers on memorable adventures, hiring new counselors, and bringing on new board members.
Water Wanderings is dedicated to the long, hard work of building anti-racist, regenerative communities through our camps and within our organization. We will continue to deepen our environmental justice curriculum, strengthen our outreach, and work towards building coalitions with other organizations to ensure that Water Wanderings serves racially and socioeconomically diverse communities. We do not have all the answers, but we do know that we must take an active stance against racism in our curriculum and operations and we are committed to sustaining this aspect of our program over the long-haul.
In 2020, Water Wanderings became a non-profit and an inspiring group of individuals generously volunteered to serve as the inaugural Board of Directors. The board met for the first time on June 6th, 2020 and established communication and decision-making guidelines, adopted the bylaws, and refined Water Wanderings’ mission and vision to better align with our aspirations and grounding philosophies. Since then, Water Wanderings has continued to grow and mature, bringing more campers on memorable adventures, hiring new counselors, and bringing on new board members.
Water Wanderings is dedicated to the long, hard work of building anti-racist, regenerative communities through our camps and within our organization. We will continue to deepen our environmental justice curriculum, strengthen our outreach, and work towards building coalitions with other organizations to ensure that Water Wanderings serves racially and socioeconomically diverse communities. We do not have all the answers, but we do know that we must take an active stance against racism in our curriculum and operations and we are committed to sustaining this aspect of our program over the long-haul.
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Meet the Staff
Sonya's love for paddling on the reservoir begins circa 1998
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Sonya Buglion-Gluck
Founder and Executive Director Sonya (she/her) is a Restorative Practices Specialist at Hunt Middle School. Sonya graduated from the University of Vermont in 2018. Her undergraduate career focused on environmental education and the intersection of racial and environmental justice. Sonya also participated in Kroka Expedition's Ecuador Semester and helped to create the Ala Archa Ecological Leadership Program in Kyrgyzstan with Nathan Fry. She founded Water Wanderings in 2017.
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Ellie Kachoria
Social Media Consultant Ellie is 2020 Water Wanderings Alumni and loves the outdoors. She enjoys playing soccer, traveling, and being creative. She is a current high school junior in Boston, and is excited to be running the social media accounts this fall.
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Melisha Fulmer
Camp Counselor Melisha/Mel (she/her) loves the outdoors and working with kids while also showing her ability to “get down on their level.” She thoroughly enjoys photography and tends to take pictures when out and about always looking for the best thing to photograph. She plans to school for nursing soon and currently resides in Augusta, Georgia so she’s got that good ‘ol Southern Hospitality but wants to move up to Vermont one day.
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Cal Lord
Camp Counselor Cal (he/they) is a Long-Trail backpacking guide, and a nature-based educator at The Schoolhouse Learning Center in South Burlington. He is currently a student at Lesley University, in Boston, where he pursues a degree in education. A tree-hugger since birth, Cal is committed to dismantling the extractive systems that devastate nature, and believes that the path to a better relationship with the world must be artistic, poetic, and inclusive.
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Damascene Niyongere
Assistant Camp Counselor Damascene is a youth leader and adventurous recent graduate of Burlington High School. Last summer, he completed a two week kayaking trip with the Maritime Museum and received an award for his commendable participation. Damascene is excited to be a counselor with Water Wanderings this year.
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Keith Sampietro
Guest Teacher - Fishing and Survival Skills Keith Sampietro is a seasoned outdoor guide with decades of experience working with youth. He spent 8 years running trips with the Northern Forest Canoe trail and another seven years with Wild and Scenic Rivers. Keith also worked on a glacier in Alaska for six months as a dog sled musher giving tours on the glacier. He is a Hunter Safety Instructor for firearms and archery and has done family weekend training where he teaches basic first aid and wilderness survival skills. He is also a Chief Instructor for Let's Go Fishing and the former co-owner of Montgomery Adventures, and outdoor guide business he owned with his wife. Keith loves working with kids and is adept at teaching a breadth of topics, including fishing, wilderness survival, and wild edibles.
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Meet the Advisory Council
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Marie Vea
Marie's brother, Michael, often jokes that Marie never left college. Indeed, Marie has worked in higher education for 25 years in the areas of admissions, career counseling, advising, and diversity & inclusion. Marie is currently the Assistant Dean for Student Services and Staff Development in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont, overseeing the processes and initiatives that ensure each student thrives. Marie is a proud Filipina mom celebrating over 20 years of living in the Green Mountain State with a passion for inclusive education, multiple ways of knowing, dialogue across difference, joy, cross-country skiing and the family cat, Taco.
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Gerette Buglion
Gerette is a cult awareness educator, Reiki practitioner and writer who has many years of experience working with students and leading hiking trips. She worked as a Waldorf teacher for many years, and lead Vermont Hiking Holidays, in addition to Sense of Place, Sense of Self, and environmental education program. Gerette served as a Water Wanderings instructor for the first three summers and is now on the Advisory Council for the Board.
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Heidi Wilson
Heidi Wilson is a singer-song-catcher with a passion for strengthening connection with one another and Mystery through music. Heidi loves to share songs that celebrate the seasons, bring groups together, offer thanks, muster courage, and make room for grieving and healing. She is drawn to the potent and surprising journey of deep-listening and collaborative emergent music making. Heidi has been leading community singing groups in Vermont for the last 14 years including work with the Summit School of Traditional Music and Culture, Village Harmony, Burlington Integrated Arts Academy, Unitarian Church of Montpelier, Interfaith Partners of St Johnsbury, and Sterling College. Some of Heidi’s recent musical influences and trainings include Bobby McFerrin’s Circlesongs, Rhiannon’s Vocal River work, and Ysaye Barnwell’s Building A Vocal Community.
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Abigail Rec
Abigail’s mission as a PhD student of Natural Resources at UVM is to engage with inclusive and innovative mechanisms to distribute the incredible brain-power of academic institutions into the community. She studies the consequences of permafrost thaw in Arctic Alaska using stream and river networks as spatial and temporal sensors of biogeochemical change. Inspired by her work in Alaska, Abigail has developed a fondness for mountains, backpacking, skiing, and playing in streams. When not adventuring or studying, you can find Abby knitting sweaters and generally being a couch-potato with her cat Hootie.
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Adam Stewart
As a young scholar from the University at Albany and receiving his Bachelor's in Environmental science, Adam mentors urban youth and uses the power of nature to transform them into environmental stewards. Adam has focused his efforts on giving back to his community and creating many opportunities for youth to expand their knowledge by using educational adventures or service learning projects. Adam works with various organizations and boards for example: JOHN BROWN LIVES, ADI, the YENN and the DEC to bring education to urban neighborhoods. Adam loves all things outdoors: Fishing, hiking, kayaking, camping and bird watching, just to name a few. When Adam isn't outside playing, he’s teaching science and math.
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Barry Wyman
Barry Wyman is an educator at Twinfield Union. He spent over a decade working with EarthWalk and has extensive experience in the outdoor education and nature connections field.
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Meet the Board of Directors
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Nadèje Alexandre
Nadèje Alexandre is Assistant Dean for Student Success at the University of North Dakota. Her professional discipline focuses on student development, emotional intelligence and communication. She obtained her Masters and Doctorate at Seattle University in Higher Ed Administration and Advising, while overseeing advising in the Albers School of Business and Economics. She relocated to the University of Vermont where she was Senior Advisor and Experiential Learning Coordinator at the Rubenstein School of Natural Resources. She enjoys creating programs to support student success and is passionate about empowering students through intuitive guidance and empathy. She has a deep awareness and appreciation of cross-cultural understanding with a history of promoting diverse and inclusive communities. She claims that mindful meditation and Bikram yoga keep her grounded. Outside of professional interests, she is a dedicated swimmer, outdoors-woman, artist, pianist, and avid cyclist. And is currently learning to play the cello.
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Luke Buglion-Gluck
Treasurer Luke believes Water Wanderings provides a valuable opportunity for kids to experience living in a different way. Because of this, Luke joined the board to support the camp’s mission by providing administrative assistance. He also grew up on the reservoir and believes spending time in nature is important for everybody.
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Ingrid Nuse
Ingrid’s love of languages and other cultures spurred her wanderlust from a young age. She spent a high school year in Norway to learn the language, found her social circle in her college outing club, worked her way to Europe on an edible oil tanker, and milked goats on a Norwegian island before pursuing her master’s in teaching English to students of other languages. Teaching at an American school in Switzerland included taking kids on weekend trips into the mountains, on safari to Kenya, and by houseboat along the canals in southern France, but eventually returned to Vermont. Public school teaching led Ingrid to Waldorf education and administrative roles in various settings, including Heartbeet Lifesharing Camphill Community. For the last five years, she has happily come full circle back to her languages as a freelance translator and copy editor specializing in Norwegian, German and English. Ingrid is an avid cross-country skier, hunter, hiker and canoeist and lives in Johnson, Vermont, where she is often found playing outdoors with her grandchildren.
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Nikki Jiraff
Nikki fell in love with Water Wanderings and their mission the first time she attended one of the WW family camps with her husband and two kids. She is passionate about teaching kids to enjoy and protect Mother Nature, and loves being outdoors for work and play. Nikki is a stay at home mom who homeschools her kids on their community homestead in Cabot, VT.
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Blair Haxel
Blair is a professional options trader and a father of 3. He is passionate about connecting with the natural world and enjoys camping, hike, hunting, fishing, and the practice of permaculture. Blair fell in love with Water Wandrings when he attended the Water Wanderings Family Camp with his daughter. He joined the board because he believes in the mission of Water Wanderings and wants to help make the experience of connecting to the natural world available to more kids.
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Lilly Salvia
My connection to the natural world is so much a part of who I am, I often don’t know where to begin when talking about it. The woods, the waters, and the mountains have been sanctuaries and places of wonder, but they have also formed the backdrops as I’ve dealt with some of my most profound challenges.
I’d learned my outdoor skills early in life and felt comfortable in the nature, and because of this, I felt the freedom to choose where and how I wanted to deal with life’s confusions, joys, hurts, and disappointments. I literally grew to become the person I am today because I often chose to conduct my celebrations and confront my struggles, while hiking, camping, or canoeing. It was like I could think straight, there; when nothing else seemed to make sense, the forests, mountains, and rivers always did. I’m retired now and live on a homestead in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. I still love to fish, but love taking people out on my boat and teaching them to fish, even more. And it’s the same with cooking: I love to cook, but these days it’s just so much more fun to prepare dinners and treats to hang on the doors of neighbors and friends, as a surprise. And this is also true of my connection to nature; a female goshawk flew across in front me this morning and I’m looking forward to telling friends about it later. For sure, I like my time alone, whether it’s dancing about the kitchen with the music cranked loud, as I clean the refrigerator, or sitting at the piano, quietly composing a song; but I really, really like participating with people as we learn or create something together. Which is probably the main reason I feel excited and honored to be on the board of Water Wanderings – I get to participate with amazing people in creating opportunities for others to learn about and enjoy, being out in nature. |
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