Oyase Community School Staff

Amy Hyatt, Program Director

Amy moved to Vermont in August 2001 to participate in Vermont Wilderness School’s Instructor Apprenticeship Program, get trained and move back to her birth home bioregion of Southwestern Ohio to start a Wilderness School there. She quickly fell in love with Vermont, the work of Vermont Wilderness School, the children and families of Oyase and has been with us ever since. Amy completed the four-year Apprenticeship Program with VWS in 2005, coordinated and co-facilitated a year of the Apprenticeship Program, and an Oyase staff lead instructor since the 2003-2010 program year. She has also been a lead instructor for Deep Wilds intro to wilderness survival overnight programs, for Otter Day Camp and Earthfriend Discovery Day Camps. She has also been staff for 9+ east coast Art of Mentoring workshops and is currently a major organizer and facilitator of the Vermont Art of Mentoring. Her specialty is working with children ages 7-11 and adults of all ages in areas of nature awareness, basic survival skills, cultural facilitation and community building. She completed a Master of Arts in eco-literacy and place-based education in 2004 from Union Institute and University and a Bachelor’s of Philosophy in Cross-Cultural Communication through the Arts from Miami University in 1995. Additionally, Amy has extensive experience in non-profit leadership, organizational development, and community organizing (that’s what she did before moving to Vermont)!

Programs:

Executive Director of VWS
Program Director Oyase Community School
Camp Director & Lead Instructor Earthfriend Discovery Day Camp
Facilitator/Presenter Art of Mentoring

First Aid Certification: SOLO Wilderness First Aid & AHA CPR

Bob Etzweiler

Bob has always loved being outdoors. Before moving to Vermont in 2006, he was program director and naturalist at a summer camp / outdoor retreat center in Pennsylvania. He loved the work, but it wasn’t exactly the focus he wanted. Upon coming to Vermont, he started doing wilderness programs similar to Oyase Community School and Otter Day Camp and found that was a good fit. He has worked for Oyase Community School since 2007, Otter Day Camp since 2008 as well as offering his own Fox Walk Programs—all offered through Vermont Wilderness School He loves hunting, tanning hides, crafting, tracking and wandering. He also loves primitive cooking and wants to have a related show on the food network. Let him know if you have any connections.

Programs:

Field Director & Lead Instructor Oyase Community School
Director & Instructor for Fox Walk Programs
Field Director Otter Day Camp
Lead Instructor Earthfriend Discovery Day Camp
Art of Mentoring Staff

First Aid Certification: Wilderness First Aid & CPR

Dhyana Miller

Dhyana lives in the Connecticut River Valley of Western MA as a wildcrafter, earth-based mentor, and contradance fiddler. She designed her B.A. in conservation biology and experiential education at Hampshire College. Her study of ecovillage and permaculture design brought her in 2006 to Lost Valley Education Center near Eugene, OR. Since then, she has taught in a Montessori classroom and pursued further training from Jon Young, Penny Livingston and James Stark in the Regenerative Design and Nature Awareness program. Dhyana now invests in the future generations as an instructor for Flying Deer Nature Center, White Pine Programs and Vermont Wilderness School. She guides children and young women on journeys to engage in their gifts and rediscover their true selves within an ever-strengthening intergenerational community.

Programs:

Lead Instructor Full Moon Girls
Lead Instructor Oyase Community School
Art of Mentoring/Fall Rendezvous Staff

First Aid Certification: ARC Wilderness & Remote First Aid & AHA CPR

Louisa Pugh

Louisa came to Vermont five years ago to attend Marlboro College where she spent the first two years studying a mixture of music, the environment, education and anthropology. She first visited Oyase with former staff member, Liz Crain, in the winter of 2008, and immediately decided to stay on as the Hemlock Clan’s intern. Her experiences with Oyase that winter inspired her to intern at several other camps and schools in the area, all that teach a sense of place and of the environment. Her final projects at Marlboro integrated those experiences into a larger study of “place based education”. In 2009, she joined the Oyase staff with the Beech Clan. She spends the rest of the week living in cabin in Guilford, knitting, contra dancing and playing the fiddle.

Programs:

Assistant Instructor Oyase Community School
Art of Mentoring Youth Staff

First Aid Certification: ARC First Aid & AHA CPR