Meet the Education Team!
Kent Chapple | Education Program Manager
Kent was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest (Portland, OR), and has over 14 years of experience developing and delivering environmental education and science programming, including Northwest cultural and natural history, organic gardening, foodshed, and aquatic and marine science education. He has worked with programs serving children and adults in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and California. Kent earned his BS in Biology from Southern Oregon University and his Masters in Education from the University of California Santa Cruz. He has a passion for curriculum development and has implemented various best practices for science education, including the Next Generation Science Standards that we use as a reference point for OxEd programs. Kent also has deep experience building and leading teams and a solid commitment to team and culture development. Kent likes things that start with “B,” such as boats, bikes, books, blueberries, beets, and being on and around water. He also loves to geek out on often-overlooked invertebrates and learn the stories of places (new and familiar), their people, and their more-than-human inhabitants.
MK Kirkpatrick-Waite | OxEd Assistant Manager
MK is originally from Monterey, California. During her time in California, she received a BS in Environmental Management and Protection, with a focus on Environmental Education at Cal Poly Humboldt. For several years after you could find her navigating through redwood forests with students at residential outdoor school programs. MK moved to the Pacific Northwest in the fall of 2020 and continued to work in environmental education throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. MK became a program coordinator for a residential program in North Cascades National Park. During her time there, she created and implemented EE programs based on Next Generation Science Standards for schools from Whatcom, Skagit, and King County. MK’s passion for placed-based education and sustainable practices brought her to Oxbow, and she is looking forward to working with the community members of Snoqualmie Valley. You can find MK digging through fresh dirt with students in Oxbow’s Living Playground, or walking along the many trails that the site has to offer.
Jamie Kisela | OxEd Program Coordinator
Jamie grew up in Snohomish, WA. She was inspired by her own Montessori and non-traditional education background to pursue working with young people, but fell in love with environmental science during her time at Everett Community College’s Ocean Research College Academy (ORCA) program. She spent her college and early career learning how to combine these two interests and fell into the Environmental Education field.
Jamie earned her B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of Washington, and a M.A.Ed in Urban Environmental Education from Antioch University Seattle. She has 10 years of experience working with youth across a variety of program formats in the Pacific Northwest and Midwest. Most recently, she worked at an outdoor self-directed learning center, and as the education director for a small rainforest conservation nonprofit in St. Louis, MO. Jamie has experience in program design and facilitation with Montessori, traditional schools and NGSS, self-directed learning centers, and outdoor informal education programs. She is excited to return to her home and family in Western Washington and to spend her days outdoors at Oxbow. Across all roles, she works to center youth voices and autonomy, consent, and community.
In her free time, Jamie is a collector of hobbies. She enjoys hiking, biking, paddle-boarding wood carving and woodworking, candle making, crochet and knitting, linocut print making, painting, cooking, and spending time with loved ones.
Christina Riccardo | Environmental Educator
Christina (she/they) grew up at the intersections of farmland and suburban sprawl on the ancestral lands of the Snohomish people (a place now known as Everett, WA.) Her relationship to the more-than-human world was kindled by long forest walks with her father and a deeply embodied sense of comfort among the ferns and mosses of the PNW. Christina found her niche in environmental education when she witnessed what spending time in gardens can do for youth and their ability to become changemakers. She has facilitated programming in gardens, on farms, in classrooms, and most recently, on the ancestral lands of the Suquamish people that is now Bainbridge Island. She seeks to redefine what a learning ecosystem can look, sound, and feel like by working within learning communities that: focus on marinating in the in-between moments; honor and hold multiple ways of knowing; foster a sense of belonging in and to the more-than-human-world; and ultimately increase our capacity to be stewards of the earth. Christina loves to share her enthusiasm for plant medicine, mindfulness, bird language, fiber arts, and cooking with students. When she’s not working at Oxbow, you’ll most likely find her exploring the alpine, reading a historical fiction novel, or knitting up something cozy!