Guy Mott - Founder, Director and Lead Instructor
Deanna English - Educational Consultant and Program Manager
About Adventure Tree
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Actually, you might say that Adventure Tree started when Guy was a kid. He and his brothers climbed all over a white oak tree in the back yard (named the "Tarzan Tree") and they built forts and put up swings in trees all through the woods. His father is a career forester. Trees have always been a big part of Guy's life so it was natural that, at a conference for the Association for Experiential Education, Guy's imagination was captured by the many possibilities for fun, education and personal growth when he attended a workshop on recreational tree climbing.
All along, the flagship program for Adventure Tree has been technical tree climbing combined with adventure learning. Our core mission is education and personal growth, and trees have proven to be phenomenal places for helping participants connect with the natural world, challenge themselves, and gain an understanding and appreciation for living systems and scientific inquiry.
But the "Tree" in Adventure Tree is more than just climbing - it's a metaphor for learning and the branching pathways of knowledge, for finding your roots and standing tall & strong and reaching high for your dreams, for growing and developing and making the best of one's life. At its foundation, Adventure Tree is about experiential learning and growth - and trees are one of the best ways we know to help further that mission.
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Guy Mott Founder, Director and Lead Instructor guy@adventuretree.org 508-243-5957
When it was time to move on to college, Guy attended the University of Colorado where he used his passion for math and science to earn a degree in engineering. After a decades long career working as a Software Engineer, the pull of the natural world and the wish to help others acquire meaningful life skills was too much. He quit corporate America and enrolled in a graduate program at Plymouth State University in Plymouth, NH and earned his Masters of Education in Adventure Learning. Guy has been adventuring all his life (long distance hiking such as the 500 mile Colorado Trail, many years and 1300 jumps as a sky-diving instructor, earned an advanced belt in the study of martial arts, etc.) so he felt called to a career in adventure education. Guy's technical aptitude and natural teaching ability combined with his love of the outdoors led him to adopt recreational tree climbing as a core learning modality. Today he is well recognized as a tree climbing facilitator and trainer for school groups and camps around the country. He's a co-founder of the Experiential Education Exchange of St Louis, which brings together local formal and informal educators who support experiential education across the St. Louis region. Guy also co-founded Science In A Tree, which works to integrate science lessons with tree climbing. When he's not busy supporting experiential education in St. Louis, he is on the road helping to expand tree-climbing opportunities by training staff at camps, schools, youth groups and other organizations to start their own tree climbing programs.
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Deanna English Educational Consultant and Program Manager deanna.l.english@gmail.com
She has a B.A. in Middle School Education from Maryville University in St. Louis and a MS in Environmental Studies from Antioch University New England. Deanna's careers have taken her in many directions and led to opportunities to work with students, both young and old, and to work outside in various capacities. She is happiest outside and helping to create opportunities for other people to connect to the natural world. Working to help support and promote Adventure Tree is a great pleasure. |
