Who We Are: Staff and Volunteers

MIKE YOSHIOKA
Educational Programs Coordinator

Mike Yoshioka is a California native and proud Hostel Adventures alumnus. His childhood participation in an Outdoor Hostel Adventure (formerly the Hostel Adventure Program) inspired Mike to pursue work in environmental conservation and education. After studying political science at San Francisco State University, he served environmental roles ranging from political activist for California forest conservation campaigns, to park ranger in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

In 2006 a search for ways to connect more children to nature brought him to the Golden Gate Council of Hostelling International USA, to serve as an interning Naturalist. In 2006, after graduating from the position of intern, Mike worked as a Staff Naturalist before transitioning to the position of Educational Programs Coordinator, where he continues to find excitement and inspiration in providing quality educational programs to youth.

Erin Harvey is originally from Seattle, Washington, where her love of the outdoors blossomed from hiking, camping, and kayaking experiences she shared with her father. After pursuing a degree in Elementary Education at the University of Portland, Erin embarked on a six-month journey across the globe to Malawi, Africa. It was while teaching in a rural village school that Erin realized her true passion of working with teachers to create a sustainable school community that ensured the success of all students through healthy eating habits and educational routine.

When Erin returned to the U.S. she decided to continue her education in Nonprofit Management at the University of San Francisco. In order to gain more experience in the field, Erin joined the Golden Gate Council of Hostelling International USA as the Educational Program Assistant. She is grateful for the opportunity to learn more about the nonprofit sector while supporting Hostel Adventures through two new programs, Cultural Kitchen and Community Walls.

CHELSEA WILLS
Educator

Born and raised in California's Sierra Nevada, Chelsea Wills is a painter whose work has been shown throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. While studying art at UC Santa Cruz, she started and ran an after-school arts program that responded to the need for relevant, community-based art curricula. She also has worked with children in the wilderness and loves the sense of awe and compassion that nature brings out in kids. The common thread in her work is empowerment through expression. 

Initially working as a Staff Naturalist, Chelsea joined the Golden Gate Council of Hostelling International USA with an enthusiasm to work with children in non-traditional settings. Now in the role of Educator, she hopes to instill a greater sense of global community by developing the Community Walls program.

Chelsea's passion for working with youth has grown and it tickles her pink to work with the diverse communities that inhabit the Bay Area. She finds continual inspiration through facilitating opportunities for new forms of expression. Her other interests include getting excited about gardens, headstands, and wild tea parties. 

NEYSA BUDZINSKI
Staff Naturalist

Neysa Budzinski grew up in rural California amongst the plants, animals, and open country of this glorious state. She developed a love of plants from her botanist father and her mother, an avid gardener. After obtaining a Bachelor of Fine Arts from San Francisco State University in 2003, Neysa branched out from working as a nanny to educating children in a variety of situations, including teaching arts and crafts, substitute teaching, and outdoor education.

Neysa has the distinction of having worked, at various times, in every single position at the Marin Headlands Hostel, from Hostel Assistant II to Interim General Manager, and now as a Naturalist for Outdoor Hostel Adventures. She loves music, travel, crafting, and sharing with children the wonders of nature.

ANNA HOLM
Community and Arts Education Fellow

Anna Holm is originally from Seattle, Washington, and is currently an artist in San Francisco. Her favorite art mediums include but are not limited to manual photography, sculpture, and painting. Anna thrives and is happiest when creating art, traveling the world, and working with children. A 2007 graduate of the University of San Francisco with a double major in Fine Arts and Psychology, she also participated in a 2006 study-abroad art program at Syracuse University in Florence, Italy. In her free time, Anna enjoys attending concerts and festivals in the Bay Area, and many outdoor activities like camping and snowboarding.

TIFFANY MCFARLAND
Community and Arts Education Fellow

After years of life away living in Europe and Southern California, Tiffany McFarland has returned to her Northern California roots. She has worked as an actress, an artist for industrial design renderings, a dance teacher for children, and even as a cake designer, but always maintained her role as a painter. Her works are privately owned in California and Washington.

JENN CARRETO
Programs Committee Member

Growing up as the daughter of Mexican and Portuguese immigrants, Jenn has always been invested in issues of cross-cultural education. It was these issues that led her to John Hopkins University to complete her undergraduate degree in International Development and fostered her passion for working with youth. Engaging young adults in the exploration of their own identity, as well as that of others, quickly became her passion and can be traced through all her endeavors. 

It was through youth work with AmeriCorps in Madison, Wisconsin, that she was first introduced to Hostelling International. Jenn was also fortunate enough to represent the U.S. during HI's 2007 I.O.U. Respect Program in Bizerte, Tunisia. She is currently working as a Hostel Assistant at the Point Montara Lighthouse Hostel.

SHARLA PIDD
Programs Committee Member

Sharla Pidd is currently the Development Coordinator for Teach For America--Bay Area. As the coordinator, she supports all aspects of the organization's fundraising efforts, totaling $6 million annually -- nearly double the size of the last fiscal year. Prior to this, Sharla taught seventh grade English Language Arts in Brooklyn for two years. She has an MA in Education and a BA in Creative Writing. She is originally from Tucson, Arizona.

KATHERINE PRIORE
Programs Committee Member

Katherine Priore is the founder and Executive Director of Headstand, a nonprofit introducing the power of YogaEd and wellness programming to K-12 schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. Katherine began her studies in yoga nine years ago as a way to relieve stress as an inner-city schoolteacher. Since then she has cultivated a profound appreciation for the meditative, therapeutic, and grounding aspects of yoga. 

TYLER SMITH
Programs Committee Member

Tyler Smith is currently on the staff of the Innovations in Education Project at the Commonwealth Club of California. He has formerly served as Director of Education Policy and Initiatives for New York City Councilmember Gale Brewer, and as a Spanish teacher at East Brunswick High School in New Jersey. Tyler holds a BA in political science with a minor in Spanish from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

SCOTT SNIDER
Programs Committee Member

Scott Snider, a native northern Californian, is the San Francisco Area Director for Lango, an organization that specializes in teaching foreign languages to children ages 1-9. His desire to study the world and its people has taken him around the globe, most memorably the time he spent living in Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro. He holds a double Bachelors degree in Latin American Studies and Spanish from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Masters degree in Childhood Education from Pace University in New York City. Scott is a certified bilingual educator who spent two years teaching in a bilingual Spanish/English classroom as a Teach For America Corps Member in the heart of Harlem. Finally, Scott attributes much of his success, passion, and positive life experiences to the doors that have been opened as a result of being multilingual.

BEN TETTLEBAUM
Programs Committee Member

Ben Tettlebaum has worked in the field of outdoor education more than 10 years. As a National Outdoor Leadership School instructor, he spends much of the year trekking around the wilderness teaching in the outdoor classroom. When he's not in the field, Ben teaches for the Wilderness Medicine Institute, runs trips through his company Into the Green, and enjoys volunteering his time at a variety of companies. A wilderness EMT, Ben has also run the outdoor education program and a grant-funded youth program for the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Mohican Outdoor Center, worked in wilderness therapy, and spent time as an interpretive ranger for the National Park Service. When not working, he enjoys playing in remote wilderness at different locales around the world.

JILL THOMAS
Programs Committee Member

Jill Thomas is a public high school teacher in Oakland. She has been an avid hosteller since she was a high school student and even worked at the Sacramento Hostel from 2000 until 2004. A published writer and poet, Jill now dedicates most of her time fighting for a better future for Oakland youth. She tries to get out each summer. She spent the last two in southern Mexico and will spend this summer in Alaska as far north as the Arctic Circle.