ABOUT CAMP CHRYSALIS:As a mature staff, well-experienced together, we've developed a rich context. Most of us are teachers professionally during the rest of the year. And all of us have unique expertise we love to share with kids. That's why we keep coming back.
In addition to the veteran staff listed here, Camp Chrysalis benefits immensily from its Counselors-in-Training. These are older (15+) campers -- usually though not exclusively Chrysalis veterans -- who seek the challenges and satisfaction of taking an active role passing down camp traditions. That many of our staff have grown up through this program is the greatest testament to both its success and to its importance to the program.
CURRENT FULL-TIME STAFF:
Lee Tempkin: Lee has been teaching in progressive independent schools in the East Bay since 1973 and, after eight years as a middle school director, has joyfully returned to teaching in a 4/5 grade classroom at the North Oakland Community Charter School. He loves conifers, cooking in the solar oven, and hiking in the Sierras near cold mountain streams. He tunes the camp organizational engine while sharing his fascination with the outdoors and his vision for building community.
Estrella Nash-Tempkin: Raised through the Camp, Estrella has been a staff member since she was 16 -- now thirteen years. A walking repository of Camp Chrysalis lore, Estrella loves sharing with campers her enthusiasm for getting wet in the tidepools, cooking, games, and community traditions. During the school year she teaches second and third grade at the Aurora School in Oakland.
David Siegel: David joined Camp Chrysalis in 1999, bringing his many years of experience as an elementary school science teacher, having last taught at Berkeley Montessori School. In addition to his innovative naturalist curriculum, David shares his passion for natural arts and crafts (the basis for his own line of jewelry, Staay Natural), and an uncanny ability to tap into the creative inspirations -- whether in games, food, or song -- offered by the places we visit. Ooo-dog.
Rebecca Nash-Tempkin: After many years apprenticing as a junior staff person, Becca is now a central part of the Camp Chrysalis team, always divising innovative activities for our campers. She currently attends Wheaton College in Massachussetts.
Kay Buckley: Another Chrysalis veteran. Kay is currently a student at Goucher College working on an Enlgish and Spanish double major. An Oakland native, Camp Chrysalis has been an integral part of Kay's life since the third grade, and having worked as a camp counselor for the past two summers, she is excited as always for a new summer full of camping in the beautiful outdoors of Calfornia.
Ashley Daly: Ashley returned to Chrysalis through its backpacking session after a long hiatus to join its junior staff. She is currently an undergraduate at UCLA, where she works as an outdoor adventure guide.
Pat Kavanaugh: Pat is a retired nurse practisioner, still working occasionally at Public Health in Sonoma County. She has been a leader for Sierra Club both in backpacking and local hikes. Since retirement she had traveled to 27 countries and not done yet. Pat loves to watercolor and enjoy hiking, camping, reading and taking classes at Sonoma State.
Aaron Price: New to Camp Chrysalis, Aaron has spent past summers working in the Yosemite area. He enjoys campfire singing and storytelling by night, and hiking and swimming through California's natural beauty by day. Playing guitar, backpacking, cooking, and nature crafts are also among
his interests. He currently attends UC Berkeley.
Sara Jacobson: An old student of Lee's, has several years of his school trips behind her as preparation for her first summer joining the staff. She has worked at Berkeley Tuolumne Camp for years and was brought up camping in the Sierras, where she learned the finer points of the campfire and nature crafts, as well as a deep appreciation for mountain rivers, granite, and lichen. She is currently completing her undergrad at UC Santa Cruz and plans on spending a large portion of her life as an educator in the outdoors.
OCCASIONAL AND ALUMNI STAFF:
Michael Rossman: Michael, an ardent naturalist, taught science in Berkeley schools for over 30 years. Retired from the East Bay French American School, he teaches by example the art of coming to an unknown environment and learning to "read" the land and its story.
Isaac Menashe: Isaac attended Camp Chrysalis from age 7 until his transformation to a full time staff person in 1999. Growing up through the camp, he learned its pedagogy first-hand, and has used those experiences to help carry on and expand the camp's curriculum. In addition to his enthusiasm for tidepooling, peakbagging, geology, and singing at the campfire, Isaac introduced an environmental ethics component to the Backpacking session, building on his background in political philosophy. He designed this webpage.
Erika Goldfarb-Rowe: Another Camp Chrysalis product, Erika was nurtured in the high Sierra as a child, and comes to Camp Chrysalis to share her enthusiasm for exploring the wilderness. She joined the staff in 2002, and recently graduated from Lewis and Clark College in Oregon.
Nancy Nash: Nancy brings a career's experience teaching at Berkeley Montessori School. Her artistic imagination offer terrific examples for campers' craft projects.
Megan Kelso: A Camp Chrysalis campster as a youngster, Megan rejoined years later during the Camp's first backpacking sessions. Since joining the staff in 2003, she has brought a fresh view of natural science education, bolstered by her recent B.A. from Stanford University. During the last year she has worked on riperian ecology for Americorps.
