LEAPNOW Staff
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Please also check out the amazing LEAPNOW Advisory Board.
Founder & CEO
Born in a leap year, Sam created LEAPYEAR with the idea of giving others the best of what LEAPNOW can offer in one coherent program. He founded and has directed LEAPNOW since 1994. After earning a degree in geology from Princeton U. in 1982, he made a decision not to use the word "career" until he was at least 30, choosing instead to follow the "golden thread" of whatever he most wanted to do. This resulted in 9 years of exploration in the U.S., Asia, Central America and Europe. Some of the highlights were: Extensive study in Hindu and Carmelite(Catholic) monasteries in India and the U.S.; work as a carpenter, waiter, computer consultant, folk music restaurant manager, lobster fisherman, and trail crew leader in California and Alaska.
Following the golden thread after 30, he has coordinated a program for the homeless in Seattle, directed a job-training program for youth-at-risk (the New Hampshire Conservation Corps), and was the Career Services Director and International Student Advisor at a college in Colorado for 3 years. He is a senior fellow of the Hendricks Institute, and is certified in Conscious Relationship Transformation and Body-Centered Transformation through the Institute. Sam is an affiliate faculty member with Antioch University Seattle. Hear Sam speak about LEAPYEAR in a 20-minute Podcast interview.
Director of Curriculum & Artist-in-Residence
With creativity as the leading force in her life, Cassie began her journey into adulthood as a dancer and a baker. Both became lifelong passions and the cornerstones of everything else she has done. After earning a BFA from Wichita State University, Cassie had a full career as a professional dancer, choreographer, and teacher in Colorado and New York. Discovering that more was happening in her dance classes than just learning to dance, Cassie went on to earn a Masters in Somatic Psychology in 1988 and worked in psychiatric hospitals, bringing her love of movement and creativity to the mentally ill.
As a therapeutic activities program director in a psychiatric hospital in New York, she developed a horticulture program, a dance/yoga program, and a cooking program for adolescent and adult addicts as well as leading movement therapy groups for all the residents at the psychiatric hospital. During this time Cassie received her ADTR (Advanced Registry, Dance Therapist) and Certification in Authentic Movement. She subsequently directed the Somatic Psychology Department at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado - training dance therapists and body-centered psychotherapists. She is most juiced about the intersection of movement, passion and creativity and her current creative passion is in creating works of fabric art. Cassie is an affiliate faculty member with Antioch University Seattle.
Cassie and Sam are married and have 2 daughters, Maia (16) and Calli (10).
Assistant Director
A veteran leader of three LEAPNOW semesters (LEAPNOW South America, LEAPNOW Central America and LEAPYEAR India), Carole first left the country to live and study in Ecuador as a sophomore in college. After getting her first taste of international travel at 18 years of age she has continued to travel internationally throughout Latin America, Thailand and India. After earning her BA (Dual major from Pacific University in Spanish and International Studies) Carole began her professional career by leading outdoor and international adventures. She taught snowboarding in her home state of Colorado, led extended wilderness sea kayak expeditions in Alaska, managed and guided for a kayak company in Baja California, Mexico and led LEAPNOW trips. She's also worked for the Mexican Consulate in Portland and Denver and has led several summer and school programs with urban youth teaching environmental awareness and academic skills.
International Programs Coordinator
Born in Japan, Siri caught the travel bug early. Her international interest led her to study abroad twice while studying Human Development at the University of California, San Diego. Siri immersed herself in culture and religion while studying social psychology at Delhi University, India and cultural studies at University of Legon, Ghana. An important part of her growth and education was the semester she took off and led herself on an exploration of spiritual practices and culture in India. Siri is dedicated to serving others and has done so as a personal care provider, soup kitchen coordinator and study skills mentor. Prior to working for LEAPNOW, Siri was a worker-owner of a collective restaurant in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Siri has lead two LEAPYEAR groups and currently works at the LEAPNOW campus setting up travel experiences and supporting LEAPYEAR students on their journey through the program. When not planning itineraries and calling sponsors in far off lands Siri can be found in her home on LEAPNOW's campus.
Administrative & Marketing Coordinator
A study abroad veteran, Mike cherishes intercultural exchange, thriving the feeling of walking through streets of a new city, speaking words of a language he is learning and trying foods he cannot pronounce the name of. Continuing this love here in the U.S., Mike taught English to aspiring citizens and recent immigrants, and worked as a study abroad advisor at the University of Minnesota.
Mike studied business and German culture in Berlin at the Freie Universität. After a year abroad he decided he wanted something completely new and traveled to Malaysia to study Southeast Asian history at Universiti Sains in Malaysia. Mike holds degrees in Marketing and German Culture from the University of Minnesota.
International Internship Coordinator
Lotte comes straight from the heart of the Netherlands and brings her Dutch accent and international perspective with her. Armed with degrees in Linguistics and Anthropology from Universiteit Utrecht, Lotte has worked and traveled across Europe, North America, and Asia. After high school she arranged her own gap year and worked as an assistant for a fine-art photographer in Seattle. She fell in love with Asian cultures while traveling through Indonesia and came back to spend a year of college studying it in Malaysia. Helping her along the way, her knack for learning languages has helped her pick up English, French, German and Indonesian in addition to her native Dutch. Led by her compassion for others and her desire to not just see but to experience other cultures she has seen the world through her heart.
Construction Coordinator
Ian heads up all construction and landscaping work on the land during LEAPYEAR programs. He has a MA in Ecological Architecture, building on his BA in Architecture and Design from the University of Colorado. For 16 years prior to working with LEAPNOW, he owned his own outdoor equipment manufacturing company. He has built two houses and restored many others. Beyond his innovative work on the LEAPNOW campus, he has created and cares for a prolific organic garden. An avid biker and athlete, he has won a Ultimate Frisbee Masters Division national championship.
Kitchen Coordinator
Eric enters the LEAPNOW kitchen with a living passion for food, art, creativity, and personal exploration. A graduate of the 07/08 LEAPYEAR program, Eric traveled to North & South India with his group, then ran a kitchen at a sustainable living education center in Costa Rica for his internship. Following his culinary interests has led him from his home kitchen to catering dinner parties to working in professional restaurant kitchens to preparing meals over open fires for large groups of hungry people in the middle of the Central American rainforest to teaching a love for food and creativity to LEAPYEAR students. A member of the Deeper Waters program, Eric is dedicated to the pursuit of continuing his education in a way that engages and expands the whole self. Aside from blending spices and tasting exotic fruits in the jungle, Eric is a musician and dancer, both talents which he shares with LEAPYEAR students. He is committed to peaceful action and the possibility of cultivating joy in everyday living.