Staff


Administrative Staff

jacobJacob “Millipede” Sackin, Sempervirens Program Director
Jacob grew up in Columbia and Kansas City, Missouri. After graduating with a B.A. in English at the University of Kansas, he spent a year volunteering in McLeod Ganj, India, the home of the Tibetan government in exile. Upon his return to the U.S., Jacob moved to California, where he worked as a naturalist for more than three years at Foothill Horizons, San Joaquin Outdoor School and Exploring New Horizons. Before attending graduate school in Flagstaff, Arizona at Northern Arizona University, Jacob spent seven months in South America, where he volunteered at Inti Wara Yassi Animal Refuge in Villa Tunari, Bolivia and at an organic farm in Patagonia, Chile. While earning a Master’s degree in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing, at NAU, Jacob also taught English classes and worked at Willow Blend Environmental Education Center. Jacob then moved to Eugene, Oregon where he taught English, guitar and field science at Northwest Youth Corps Outdoor High School. He is now the director of Sempervirens Outdoor School in Boulder Creek, California. Jacob has written and illustrated several children’s stories and is working on the sequel to his first young adult environmental science fiction novel Islands. You can email Jacob at jacob@exploringnewhorizons.org.
sempmusicconferenceand-extras-1263Katrina Ricca/Shooting Star, Program Coordinator
Katrina grew up in the great town of Streator, IL. She ventured to Ohio to earn a degree in Middle Childhood Education with concentrations in Math and Science from Xavier University. She was curious about what the west had to offer, and came to California to volunteer at a middle school in San Jose. Not ready to leave such a great place, Katrina found a niche in the world of outdoor education. She worked at YMCA East Bay Outdoor School at Camp Arroyo before finding her new niche at Sempervirens, eager to help kids experience the outdoors through her role as the program coordinator. Up in the Santa Cruz mountains, she’s excited to live with the big trees, be closer to the ocean, and start her campaign to reinstate Pluto as the ninth planet! You can reach Katrina at katrina@exploringnewhorizons.org.
marika1Marika, Medic/Assistant Director
Marika was born just up the road in a little pumpkin patch on the shores of Half Moon Bay. Prior to joining the Sempervirens family, Marika attended University of Hawaii and Northern Arizona University for a degree in Outdoor Education. Since then she has worked as an environmental educator, a trainer for Red Cross, a sea kayak guide, a back country hike guide, and like all Lahainaluna graduates, a luau hostess. She spends her summers guiding in the great outdoors of Alaska, and the rest of the year indoors at amazing outdoor schools here in Northern California. Marika loves picking wild blueberries, hiking under the redwoods, and all critters great and small.
jessicaJessica/Pebble, Gardener
Pebble grew up in southwest Florida. There she began her life as a naturalist at the young age of six as a volunteer with Turtle Time, a non-profit dedicated to comb beaches in the early morning to find, record, mark and protect Loggerhead Sea Turtle nests. After graduating from Johnson State College in Vermont with a B.S. in Environmental Science, Pebble tried her hand in as an intern in Environmental Policy in her home town. The following year she moved to California and became part of the fantastically necessary world of outdoor education. Pebble enjoys kayaking, tidepooling, tree climbing, walking goats, people watching, good music, and general pondering and wandering.

Naturalist Staff

curtisCurtis/Poppy
Poppy was born and raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania where he enjoyed composting, gardening and camping as a child. After high school, Poppy attended Temple University in the great city of Philadelphia. After graduating, Poppy worked at outdoor centers in Pennsylvania and San Diego for 3 years before coming to Sempervirens in the fall of 2009.
Asa/Chert
Asa grew up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and spent his childhood hiking, backpacking, skiing, climbing trees, and jumping off of rocks into the Stanislaus River. He picked up the guitar in middle school, and has since put it down only a handful of times. After graduating high school, Asa lived, played, and went to school at UC Santa Cruz in the Santa Cruz Mountains. There he not only continued his outdoor adventuring and guitar playing, but picked up the mandolin and juggling as well. Later in his college career, he fell in love with rock climbing and has based many of his California travels around the best areas to climb. To further his love of rocks, he graduated with a Bachelor of Sciences degree in geology. After spending a year working at San Mateo Outdoor Education, he found his way to Sempervirens, where he continues to go on outdoor adventures, play music, climb rocks and trees, and teach 5th and 6th graders about nature.
Anthea/Ringtail
Anthea grew up in Seattle, five minutes away from a park with a creek, a forest, a playground and a beach.She unquestionably spent most of her summers there exploring the tidepools and hiking the trails. Her parents taught her to identify the plants and animals of the area, and her family went on many camping trips throughout the Northwest. Upon completing a Psychology degree from Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA, she sought new adventures in sunny California.Anthea became a Naturalist Intern at Foothill Horizons Outdoor School in Sonora, then luckily found her way to the ENH family at Sempervirens. There she took on the nature name of Ringtail. During the summertime Ringtail enjoys working at Point Reyes Summer Camp. When Ringtail is not hiking in the woods with kids, she enjoys going on camping trips, rock climbing, juggling, dancing to live music, and flying kites. To relax, she likes to play the guitar and banjo, listen to the Beatles, and eat breakfast all day long.
fiona3Fiona/Firefly
Fiona grew up on an island off the south-east coast of Massachusetts. There she learned of the power of the waves, the magic of the forest, and the peace of fresh water ponds. Later on in life Fiona received a B.A in Environmental Studies from Connecticut College. During her senior year she realized she wasn’t quite ready to move permanently indoors for a job after graduation. Luckily, her big sister was looking out for her and told her of a beautiful land with tall cliffs and even taller trees: the north-central coast of California. Fiona immediately packed her bags with her best friend and headed west. Since that day she has been working as a naturalist in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Fiona spent two years working for the San Joaquin Outdoor School. This year Fiona is excited to begin working with the staff, land, and students of Sempervirens. While on trail (and off) Fiona enjoys, dancing, singing, laughing, tasty wild edibles, and the beautiful trees of the redwood forest.
Sarah/Dragonfly
Sarah (Dragonfly) was born in Portland, Maine, but grew up in the rural town of Canton, Connecticut. She spent much of her time as a kid at the Roaring Brook Nature Center leading hikes and studying the natural history of New England. She also helped rehabilitate injured wildlife and had the opportunity to care for snakes, opossums, hawks, chinchillas, tarantulas, toads, and even a bald eagle named Shawnee. Being outdoors has always been essential to Sarah’s life. She enjoys watching birds, foraging for mushrooms, catching snakes, and hanging out with chickens.

After she earned a B.A. in Spanish with a minor in Environmental Studies from Drew University in Madison, NJ, Dragonfly moved across the country to work as a zookeeper at The Living Desert in Palm Desert, CA. There, she cared for mountain lions, desert tortoises, addax, bobcats, coyotes, amur leopards, and many other amazing desert wildlife. However, her love of teaching humans about the natural world inspired her to move north and work for San Joaquin Outdoor Education.

Dragonfly is in her third year as a naturalist for Exploring New Horizons and enjoys knitting, hiking, playing the flute, and juggling in her spare time. She hopes to someday earn a Master’s degree in Entomology and study dragonflies in the field.