Wild Kids Leadership Team
Christina Hoe
Founder, President and Wild Guide in Chief
Originally from Montana, Christina Hoe graduated from Dartmouth College with a BA in Native American Studies and Environmental Science. She began her teaching career in the Bronx with Teach for America and, in 2005, moved to Hawaii to teach Middle School at Le Jardin Academy. She founded Wild Kids with a small group of students in 2008 and has devoted over a decade to intentionally building the Wild Community. Other than exploring with the Wild Kids, her favorite thing to do is play with her curious seven-year old daughter.
Avery Filer
Executive Director, Hawai’i & Montana Guide
Avery is the Executive Director of the Wild Communities Foundation. During his time with Wild Kids he has also been a guide for the Hawai’i After-School program and Big Island and Montana summer programs. He grew up in Baltimore, MD and studied anthropology in college, teaching in Thailand and Vietnam for several years before moving to Hawai’i in 2019. Avery loves gardening, growing things, and exploring mystical mossy mountains.
Max Troberg
LJA Wild Kids Program Manager, Hawai’i and Montana Guide
Max is the Wild Kids After-School Program Manager, as well as a wild artist at heart. He grew up on Hawai’i Island and has a background in Kinesiology. When he’s not in the forest with the Wild Kids, he’s probably painting a radical mural or surfboard.
Kennedy-Anne Marx
Administrative Assistant, Hawai’i & Montana Guide
Kennedy is a summer guide, secondary teacher at Le Jardin Academy, and a lifelong Wild Kid. Her first summer trip sparked a love for alpine meadows, glacial lakes, and everything else Montana has to offer. This love led her to move to Missoula, where she attended the University of Montana and earned degrees in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science. After some time in Missoula, she attended the University of Idaho to earn her Master’s in Environmental Education and Science Communication. When Kennedy is not on a trip, you might find her baking a sweet treat, walking the beach or beating Owen and Ossian in a board game.
Ossian Nichols
Hawai’i & Montana Guide
Ossian works as an Experiential Education Teacher and Wild Kids guide at Le Jardin Academy, facilitating outdoor and other experiential learning opportunities for young people. He serves on the board of 'Ahahui Mālama I Ka Lōkahi, a non-profit committed to perpetuating "a modern native Hawaiian conservation ethic,” particularly through restoration efforts at Nā Pōhaku o Hauwahine. Ossian also works for PMDP as a Marine Debris Technician on their expeditions to clean up marine debris off of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Anyone who knows Ossian will describe him as an endless well of positive energy. He is a favorite among Wild Kids students because of his boundless energy and enthusiasm! He dedicates his time to taking care of his community and playing in the ocean.
Owen Pyle
Hawai’i & Montana Guide
Owen has been involved with Wild Kids for 18 years and deeply regrets all those times he snuck away from journaling sessions to skip rocks on the lake. It’s not as if everyone warned him that one day he would want to look back and relive his formative adventures in great detail (they did). Owen does remember proving Christina wrong, on one singular occasion, when she made the unfounded claim that he improperly organized the backpacking food in the summer of 2021 (his labelling was airtight). Currently, his professions include engineering, marine conservation, and sharing a love for the great outdoors with the next generation of journaling-averse students.
P.S. Don’t trust Kennedy; it’s well known that she’s a witch.
Joey Braun
Montana Guide
Joey Braun is a Montana Summer guide and long time Wild Kid. He grew up in Hawai’i and was part of the first group of Wild Kids to go to Montana. He’s been on every summer trip following that first year. In 2016, he moved to Montana to attend the University of Montana and never left. He lives at Christina Hoe and Kevin O’Brien’s family home in Missoula where he holds down the fort and prepares for the Wild Kids to visit every summer. His passion for life, humor and never ending ability to embrace everyone he meets makes him a favorite among humans of all ages. He loves to climb rocks, also known as Mountains, frolic through wildflower fields and climb trees.
Piper Wilson
Montana Guide
Piper is a summer guide and works at Le Jardin Academy, formerly as the Annual Giving Manager for the Advancement Department and now as an Experiential Education Teacher. Piper graduated from UC Berkeley in 2024 and was brought to the world of wild kids by lifelong Wild Kid Chloe Kaminskas. Since her first summer in Montana, Piper has been hooked and now has guided an LJA I-term to Denmark and New Zealand. Piper is known to love side quests, cartwheels, getting lost, and singing around the fire.
Hannah Surina
Hawai’i & Montana Guide
Hannah currently attends the University of Hawaii at Mānoa pursuing a degree in Psychology. She has been a part of the Wild Kids program since 2021 guiding both for the Hawai’i After School Program and Montana summer trips. Whether on land or in the sea, Hannah is always down for an adventure. In her free time she enjoys spending time in the ocean, hiking, traveling and making jewelry with her friends.
Dylan Stegman
Montana Guide
Dylan considers himself a professional tree climber. He has been involved in the Wild Kids program since his middle school days at LJA. Dylan graduated high school in 2019 and is now attending Santa Clara University. He loves the ocean more than anything, spending nearly all of his time surfing or free diving. Second to the ocean are the mountains; when he’s not in the water, you can count on him being somewhere in the Ko’olaus. If you’ve ever been on a trip with Dylan, you know that he has an insatiable curiosity for all things wild. It’s also important to note that Dylan will pick rock hunting over searching for wolves in Yellowstone any day.
Isaac Miller
Montana Guide
Isaac is an OG Wild Kid, adventuring into the forest behind LJA as a young grom, now guiding front and backcountry trips in Montana. Isaac is currently attending UCSB where he is majoring in Environmental Studies. Part cowboy, ocean master, nerd, and mountain man, Isaac has many hidden talents such as bull riding, free diving, drywalling, and competitive wildlife watching. He is quick to make friends with lower and middle schoolers, most likely due to his similar interests, major stoke level, and Peter Pan like qualities.