Carpe Diem Portland, Oregon Headquarters Staff
"Carpe Diem: You guys Rock! Your professionalism, exquisite attention to detail, wealth of experience, skill, and caring all shine. When a business really has it altogether, when the company culture is right, when uber-positive synergy takes hold, then anything, ANYTHING, becomes possible. At least from my perspective as a parent, you have it going in a big way. My daughter is becoming a responsible young adult, she is finding hard earned confidence in herself, her father & I are allowing ourselves to begin to hold new hope for her future even, and all this is happening in an environment of acceptable risk because of Carpe Diem. Sure, she will still have bumps in her road, but now she is learning to navigate those bumps herself. Thank you for your work." - Latitudes Parent, 2011
Ethan (aka, Eman) Knight - Executive Director
Ethan founded Carpe Diem in 2007 after having worked in the Gap Year field with LEAPNow for seven years. During his tenure in this field he's led groups in India, Bali, Central America, and has scouted Carpe Diem's East Africa, and Southeast Asia programs. Ethan's been inspired by his mother who's worked for 5 years in international development based in Cambodia and so brings that ethic to the table.
Having graduated from Catlin Gabel school, a progressive high school in Portland, Oregon, there was great emphasis put on graduating from college in four years, and he became the putative black sheep of his class for being the first of his troupe to take a gap year. Consequently about 90% of his class ended up on the 5 or 6-year college plan . . . and all are much happier for it (and doing amazingly interesting things).
Ethan's passion for experiential international education came from when his own gap year experience. Ethan "followed the herd" from high school onto University and after one year found a deficit of meaningful interactions and so decided it was high-time to bale from university and dive into the bigger peaks of life. On his gap year, Ethan traveled to India, Nepal, Tibet and Thailand - he trekked the Annapurna circuit, meditated for 10 days in noble silence, volunteered in a community kitchen, fell in love with humanity again, found his faith in humanity again, lived in a thatched hut for a month during monsoon, and in general caught that pervasive of "travel bugs" - giardia . . . he also fell in love with travel.
After taking his own "gap year", Ethan returned to Willamette University and quickly graduated in 2001 with a dual degree in English and Philosophy and a minor in Environmental Science. Ethan has been a key speaker at the City of Portland's Tri-County Diversity Conference, the International Baccalaureate program for the state of Colorado, HECA (Higher Education Consultants of America), and many high schools and alternative education programs. He has led countless leadership training seminars, is the Executive Director of the International Carpe Diem Foundation (Carpe Diem's non-profit wing), and is on the board of trustees for Project Aasha (meaning "Hope" in Hindi). He reads, spends too much time contemplating the meaning of life, and holds certificates by the ManKind Project and Byron Katie, as well as having been trained in the works of Gary Zukov and Drs. Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks.
In 2009, after seeing many students benefit from the successes of Carpe Diem and LEAPNow, Ethan decided to found the non-profit International Carpe Diem Foundation (ICDF), a Portland-based non-profit dedicated to alleviating poverty through international education and providing full scholarships for university studies. This endeavor is recently cresting its fourth year and has just launched a new year-long initiative in partnership with Portland State University and Mercy Corps!
Ethan is currently in the process of founding a National Association of Gap Programs to help accredit and oversee the broad array of programs that are currently offered in the US and Canada. He hopes to have this be a long-term project that will provide safety standards and "best practices" for the gap educational organizations, but also to be a hub for gathering of formal data.
Watch a video of Ethan speaking at a Seattle GAP fair:
Drew (aka, Diego) Edwards - Assistant Director & Fiji/Australia/New Zealand Program Director
Five years ago Drew decided that he was ready for something different in his life; something radically different. After growing up in the suburbs of Chicago and spending the majority of his life in the Midwest always teetering on the edge of the box but never exploring too far outside of it, he decided to pick up and hit the road; having no idea that he would not get off it for a long time to come.
The journey has taken him all over the world. Starting as a rock climbing instructor and high ropes course supervisor in Wisconsin, Drew was able to explore the beauty of the glacial-carved Midwest while enjoying one of his biggest passions. Moving on from there, Drew began to work as a trip leader for international travelers keen on journeying through the United States. In this role, he spent almost every night under the stars in State and National parks, and through this cultivated within himself a deep love and connection with nature which continues to serve as the basis for his spirituality today.
After a few summers working with the international crowd and many miserable attempts at Irish, English, Australian and Scottish accents (amongst others), Drew began to work as a Wilderness Therapist for Alternative Youth Adventures in the back country of the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. In this position, he led 60-day intensive backpacking trips for at-risk adolescents. Drew's hope and intention was to provide the youth with a set of soft and hard skills that would empower them to fulfill their own purpose in life. In the process of this work, Drew learned as many lessons from his students as they did from him, and it turned out to be the most transformative, rewarding and challenging of his life at that point.
Drew began leading trips for Carpe Diem Education in the Fall of 2008. To date, Drew has led four amazing trips to the South Pacific, South America and India. He has also done a lot of solo travel which has taken him to almost all 50 states, traversed across Canada, explored much of Mexico, trekked the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal, and backpacked across Wester Europe. Feeling equally at home doubled over in an outhouse in the Himalayas or a shack in Fiji, sharing chai and samosas while playing cards with some of the “lower caste” on the streets of Rajastan, or sleeping in a swag in the outback, travel and experiential education are what drives his passions.
Drew was thrilled to bring this passion and love of life to the Carpe Diem headquarters, first as the Latitudes Program Director and currently, as Assistant Director of Carpe Diem Education. Drew enjoys making use of the lessons he has learned both on his own and in leading trips to make the programs the very best they can be. He also continues to learn and grow through being surrounded by people he loves, delicious coffee, and all the wonderful outdoor opportunities that abound in this very green part of the country. Don’t worry though, he still has the travel bug and will be taking a sojourn to East Africa in March!
Adam (aka, Haigles) Haigler - Latitudes Director
Adam hails from the rolling red clay hills of North Carolina's Piedmont, though he's spent little time there since graduating from high school. During his senior year, a guest speaker visited his politics class to talk about his choice to postpone college to go volunteer in inner city Boston for a year. Adam was inspired...He told his parents about his newfound intention to volunteer in lieu of college and was pleasantly surprised by their elation at his decision. With their unwavering support, after graduation Adam spent nine months volunteering and traveling in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and New Zealand - where he taught English, had outdoor adventures, learned Spanish and worked in conservation. He was astounded by the growth and motivation he gleaned from these travels and officially caught the "travel bug," which he still hasn't been able to shake.
Ever since this pivotal year, Adam has been a strong advocate for gap years. Upon his return, his belief in the transformative power of travel and service prompted him to help his parents write The Gap Year Advantage, a book about the value of taking time off and how to go about it. After helping with the book, Adam took another year to attempt to synthesize his passions of nature and education. This aspiration found him teaching outdoor education to low-income students in the hill country of Texas for nine months. While leading students in those sun-scorched, cactus-covered hills, he realized that education would be his life's work, but yearned to know more about the inner-workings of nature - a desire that led him to Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA.
In his tenure at Evergreen, Adam studied biology and education, but always maintained his zest for travel. During college Adam participated in field trips to the U.S. Southwest, Southeast, as well as Costa Rica and Panama, but also traveled independently throughout the U.S., Canada, Peru, and Bolivia. His field studies in Costa Rica and Panama included research on poison dart frogs while his South American trip focused on the indigenous Quechua peoples of the area.
Along his journey, Adam realized that leading trips for young people internationally would give him the opportunity to mentor and educate students while exploring fascinating cultural and natural landscapes by their side - an unbeatable combination in his eyes. After leading two trips for Carpe Diem, Adam transitioned to Carpe's headquarters and has been helping coordinate volunteer placements for Latitudes students and enjoying all Portland has to offer since landing from his adventures abroad.
Adam (aka, Feesha) Fischer - Africa Program Director
Hailing from Long Island, N.Y., the home of great pizza, bagels, and hair gel, Adam knew he wanted a change. He decided to go to college in upstate New York, and graduated from State University of New York at Oswego in May 2003 with a B.S. in Zoology. In his junior year he studied abroad in Cairns, Australia, and learned how to speak English. During this time he was also able to participate in rainforest conservation work, SCUBA dive on the Great Barrier Reef, and travel extensively through Queensland, Australia. Following his study abroad excursion he completed an internship at a reserve for illegally seized exotic carnivores (such as tigers and ocelots) in North Carolina and worked as zookeeper at a local animal preserve on Long Island.
From 2003-2005 Adam was in the Corps - the Peace Corps that is - and was assigned to a small village in the Iringa Region of Southern Tanzania. He worked as a Community Based Natural Resource Management volunteer. His projects ranged from working with a village-based tree nursery group to HIV/AIDS education. During his service he had the great opportunity to learn to speak Kiswahili and make plenty of mistakes. He successfully completed his service and on his way home, traveled throughout East Africa and Egypt.
After the Peace Corps he worked and lived in various places throughout the United States. He spent some time road tripping, ski bumming, and exploring this great country. Back in his younger days in 2007, Adam led his first trip for Carpe Diem to East Africa and he was hooked. What an amazing opportunity to travel with groups of young Americans, experience all the cultures, environments, foods (especially the food!!!), and celebrate the differences and similarities of humanity. After leading in Africa, he led six more semester programs - in South and Central America, the South Pacific, India, and Southeast Asia. After all this globe trotting Adam decided to take a rest for a year and moved to Portland, OR. Since his arrival he has been studying for a Graduate Certificate in Sustainability at Portland State University and working with homeless and runaway youth in a short-term crisis shelter. His interests are traveling, cooking Thai food, volunteering, making a difference, futsal, telemark skiing, hiking, devouring naan bread, mountain biking, and more recently self-supported bike touring.
Adam is finally making the transition to working with Carpe Diem in the office and he is very excited to be on the other side supporting all the leaders, students, colleagues, and families in the Carpe Diem community.
Heather (aka, Diamond) Diamond - South America Program Director
Heather first discovered Carpe Diem in 2008, when she was looking for a way to combine her passions for experiential education, travel, and outdoor adventure. She grew up in small suburb of Chicago and didn't know about Gap Years when she graduated high school. However, a semester in South America her sophomore year in college opened her eyes to the transformative power that the combination of travel, independence, and education can have. She spent another semester abroad, this time interning at an English immersions school in India, and knew she would continue to seek out experiences that pushed her comfort zone for a long time to come.
After finishing her BA in International Affairs at University of Colorado-Boulder, she moved to Costa Rica for a year and a half, where she worked at an Environmental Learning Center, facilitating workshops and service projects related to conservation and education and fine-tuning her Spanish. She moved back to the US to pursue a Graduate Certificate in Environment, Education, and Community at the University of Washington, but was still searching for a way to incorporate international exchange into the mix. Carpe Diem was the perfect fit!
Since starting with Carpe in 2008, Heather has had the amazing opportunity to lead programs in Central and South America, India, the South Pacific, and Southeast Asia. In addition to working for Carpe, she also completed a yoga teacher certification program in India, had the opportunity to travel in Thailand, and has been working to complete an MA in Leadership for Sustainability Education at PSU. She has spent the past year working for Carpe Diem's Portland, Oregon office as a Latitudes Director, and has loved helping others find amazing opportunities abroad. Heather is thrilled to have the chance to return to the office as are we thrilled to have a "Diamond in the rough."
Jeff (aka, Jefe) Halvorson - Marketing & Brazil Program Director
Hailing from the beautiful Pacific Northwest, Jeff was born with a deep and profound desire to explore the world, a love of learning, an addiction to challenge and growth, and the drive to do something truly amazing with his life. He was also born with a serious addiction to ice cream.
Jeff graduated from the University of Southern California with a BA in International Relations, studying abroad in both the Czech Republic and Brazil. He learned Czech and Portuguese, danced the Samba, explored the natural wonders of Brazil, and traveled through Eastern Europe and Northern Africa. Dedicated to serving others, he joined Americorps and volunteered around the Western United States after graduation. He then worked with Habitat for Humanity in Charleston, teaching volunteers to build homes and gaining a real appreciation for what can be accomplished with a little altruism mixed with a hammer and nails.
As much as Jeff adopted the culture of the South as his own (beach cruiser bikes, crawfish cookouts, and living on Southern Time), he felt the call for something different. He combined his love for travel with his dedication to education and led three service-learning programs through Central America and the South Pacific. With a renewed passion for Latin American, Jeff moved to Mexico to teach, dance salsa, eat tacos al pastor, and work in the Caribbean travel industry.
After living in Mexico, Jeff returned to group leading, this time to Ecuador and Peru. He then fulfilled three life-long dreams: backpacking through South America and leading programs through both Africa and India. He became part of the Portland staff last year, developing the semester program in Brazil and diving into the world of marketing.
Most recently, Jeff set the wheels in motion for another major life adventure, marriage. After meeting Lotte in a yoga ashram in Northern India, he found a partner in crime and the two of them are now inseparable. With her at his side, Jeff is grateful for the opportunity to work with a transformative organization like Carpe Diem, one that explores the world while focusing on service and the creation of community.
Lotte (aka, Liefje) Mulder - Staff Development Director
Lotte is a leader with a fun accent and intercontinental perspective. Raised in Amsterdam, she began traveling internationally at the age of 5. After high school, Lotte arranged her own gap year in the good ol' US of A, studying and dancing in Seattle, all while working as a darkroom assistant for a famous fine art photographer.
Photography and dancing skills in hand, she returned to the Netherlands, where she graduated from the International Honors College of University Utrecht with a BA in Neuro-Linguistics and Anthropology. Before she graduated, she made a decision that altered her life forever: borrowing a backpack and journeying through Indonesia for six weeks. Falling in love with living on the equator and the myriad cultures, she decided to return and studied abroad in Malaysia. She then traveled all over southeast Asia, seeing orangutans and being chased by Komodo dragons, all while eating, eating, and eating some more.
Upon her return to Amsterdam, Lotte realized she was forever immunized to a stationary life. Craving more international adventures and challenges, she moved back to the US to work as an International Internship Coordinator and get certified as a birth doula. Being a doula allowed her to channel her passion for female education and empowerment. She has never seen anything quite as magical as a new being entering this world and continues to be struck by the beauty of birth.
Lotte made the transition from office work to fieldwork in Fall 2009 when she co-designed and led three programs to Guatemala, Uganda, and India. She will never forget the moments of true inspiration, ignited by the local people she met. She returned to India with Carpe Diem the following semester with an amazing group of students, increasing her Hindi skills and strengthening her connections with the girls living in the red light district in Varanasi. Her passion for Indonesia never fading, she returned to lead a summer program, during which she lived in the jungle and in a village built on stilts in the middle of the ocean.
Now Lotte has settled down in Portland working as the Staff Development Director for Carpe Diem. She is happily learning how to appreciate daily rainfall and enjoying life with her amazing husband Jeff by her side. Lotte is excited to continue working with Carpe Diem as part of the office staff, as she teaches everyone how to pronounce things in that strange sounding language called Dutch.
Karen (aka, Bloomer) Rosenbloom - Curriculum Development
Karen grew up in a northwest suburb of Chicago Illinois. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Art Education with a concentration in Ceramics from Northern Illinois University. During the last years of her study, Karen created an art curriculum designed to open minds to other cultures and influence positive change. For this she was awarded a National Education Award from Golden Key National Honors' Society. While pursuing her degree, Karen was a Trip Leader of The Outing Center of NIU, a High and Low Rope Facilitator, and a manager of a climbing gym in Warrenville, IL. She is passionate about sharing the wonders of other cultures and adventurous experiences in the great outdoors. During her junior year in college, Karen earned a grant to perform a cultural art study in Thailand. The tsunami relief of 2004 gave her the unexpected opportunity to stay in Koh Phi Phi to help the 'Reservoir Dogs' remove the stagnant water from the reservoir and create a new pool. Traveling throughout that country was one of her most influential experiences. It opened her mind to other ideas, ways of living, and taught her great meaning and the reward of service work.
Soon after university, Karen explored her heritage in Israel and went to the Dominican Republic. While in the Dominican Republic, Karen helped instruct and construct a ceramic water filtration production now recognized as Filtre Pure. Filtre Pure is currently run by a local ceramicist in Moca, DR. This project helped Karen recognize the importance of empowering others to make positive change, and taught her how crucial teamwork is to efficiency.
Before Karen joined the Carpe Diem team, she taught art at the elementary level and instructed yoga at Northern Illinois University. Karen has led with Carpe Diem for many many semesters in the South Pacific (twice), India, Central America, and East Africa. All of her journeys were met with rave reviews and lots of student growth! Between Carpe Diem Programs, Karen is an avid rock climber, backpacker, and skier. She enjoys just about any outdoor activity and expressing herself through the arts.
Karen is thrilled about sharing worldly experiences with others while making a positive difference in others & lives.
Nick (aka, Nico) Berger - Carpe Diem Youth Hostel
Called to the nomadic life at an early age, Nick's travels have taken him all over the globe. After a brief stint backpacking through Europe, Nick found himself drawn to the island of Bali. There he lived in a rural village, teaching English and supporting his village to establish a community development initiative for sustainable tourism. While immersed in village-life; Nick strived to support progressive changes within the village, while emphasizing the importance of conserving the unique culture of the Balinese. After 8 months of living and working in Bali, Nick would continue on to explore China and Thailand before returning home to the States where he was employed as a Wilderness Therapist in the mountains of North Carolina.
Nick made his way to the Carpe Diem family in 2008. During his time as an Overseas Educator, he led Carpe Diem programs to South America, Central America, India, and most recently E. Africa. Nick now finds himself at home in Portland, Oregon; where he has traded in his rucksack for the keys to his 1980 VW Camper-van. During the week he’s hard at work on the development of a Carpe Diem Hostel in Northeast Portland; striving to create a space for the naturally nomadic to rest along their journeys. At night, you might find him helping out at a local shelter for runaway youth, or in search of an ‘off-the-beaten-path’ food-cart spot (to feast on spicy Thai noodles); and on the weekends, look outdoors to find him in his humble garden or on a hillside trail in the Columbia River Gorge. Excited about Portland, Nick looks forward to helping to create a home for Carpe Diem!
Amy (aka, Bergy) Berg - Medical Consultant
As the daughter of a wildlife biologist, Amy moved around a lot as a child, but will tell you that she calls New Mexico the place where she grew up. It was there that she first began to appreciate the beauty of indigenous cultures and the natural world. She is most at home in her own skin when outside in the fresh air and taking in the wonder of the world around her. Thus her move to the Pacific Northwest.
Amy comes to Carpe Diem about 12 years after catching the international travel bug which forever changed her. She led 2 successive groups to Kenya while a student leader at SMU after creating 'SMU-RAW' [Reaching Around the World] which exposed students to a developing country for the first time. After being led around a local village hospital by a small child who had fallen in love with her, she fell in love with Kenya. When she returned to the States, and after 6 months of soul-searching on the northern shores of Lake Superior in Minnesota, she altered her previous goals and became a paramedic specializing in acute care pediatric transport in Dallas, TX. She has since earned her RN and works as an emergency room nurse in Portland. Her favorite clientele are the children. Amy recently finished leading a Carpe Diem group to Fiji, New Zealand and Australia where they had a phenomenal group experience and learned everything there is to know about the Lord of the Rings.
Amy brings a wealth of enthusiasm to Carpe Diem, not to mention everything she does. She has seen and experienced first-hand the value of pushing the limits of one's comfort zone and is happiest when challenged herself. To that end, she recently spent a month in India. It worked!
In her spare time, Amy is an avid backpacker, sport rock climber, skier, snowboarder, animal lover, Reiki practitioner, and self-proclaimed coffee snob among many other things. Some of her favorite readings include the works of the Dalai Lama, Caroline Myss, Thich Naht Hahn, and Thomas Moore.
Nannette (aka, Nannerz) Berg - Medical Consultant
. Though some would call it chance, anyone who knows Nannette would call it serendipity. Nannette, AKA Nannerz, came to Carpe Diem after a surprisingly meaningful rendezvous with Craig's List. Nannerz is an avid motorcyclist and while in search of her next bike, came across Ethan Knight who just happened to be selling that classic BMW that she was looking for. Eight months later, and after a challenging and enlightening trip to India, she's sharing her enthusiasm for personal challenge and empowerment with her work at Carpe Diem.Nannerz grew up in Minnesota as a nature child with her best friends: the animals and her cross country skis. Spending so much time on her own, she began reading at age 3 and thus traveled in her minds eye everywhere National Geographic would take her. However, once school started, that Mid Western work ethic and traditional career expectation took over and she followed the herds through school, marriage and even the military, (not necessarily in that order). In her quest for meaning and truth, she ventured to the Pacific NW sought a degree in biblical studies, spent 5 frigid years in Alaska and has returned home to Portland where she has invested the last 13 years as a registered nurse assisting patients through the spectrum of the life span, from a dignified death on the oncology floor, to the fight for life in the emergency room.
In all of her 'spare' time, Nannerz dabbles in the arts: motorcycle riding and repair, quantum physics, and energy work. As a Reiki master, she is constantly contributing to healing and empowering individuals and community. She has an affinity for anything outdoors from backpacking and rock climbing to snowboarding and mountain biking. Though she is most zen while riding her '95 r1100r BMW, she continues her mindfulness training by enjoying the works of Carolyn Myss, Ken Wilbur, the Dalai Lama and of course Harry Potter. She will one day retreat with Thich Naht Hahn at Plum Village.
