Guest Speakers and Panelists

Kirsten Pike (KP) is an Ithaca native who relishes her outside time. KP has led backpacking, climbing, paddling and mountaineering trips for COE and international and independent schools in Costa Rica, the Himalayas, South Africa, the Pacific Northwest, Hawai'i, and Baja, Mexico.  

Maria Klemperer-Johnson is the executive director of Hammerstone School, head teacher, and lead carpenter on Hammerstone construction projects. Her passion for building, in particular natural building and timber framing is apparent in her work and in her classes. She is a proponent of high performance construction using natural materials. If you have had the chance to take a class with Maria then you know in carpentry, brain is just as important as brawn.  She believes unabashedly in the empowerment that Hammerstone courses provide.  She encourages women to think practically and use tailored body mechanics to perform tasks safely to prevent injury. When not busy running Hammerstone, Maria spends enjoys time with her family and pets, swimming in the Finger Lakes, and maintaining a small homestead and cider orchard.  She also takes time to practice her craft both to prepare for teaching, but also to revel in the act of creating unique and beautiful objects.

Bethany Adams is a writer, mountain athlete and experiential educator. She is the first woman to achieve 100 Fastest Known Times (FKTs), and in 2020, she and Katie Rhodes became the first women to climb all 46 Adirondack High Peaks unsupported. Her stories of endurance and healing through nature have been published in Trail Runner and Outside magazines and in the short story collection Blood Sweat Tears (Rugged Outdoorswoman Publishing, 2024). Adams is a proud community ambassador for SheJumps, a non-profit organization that works to provide more women and girls access to the outdoors. She can be found at @bethany.climbs on Instagram.

Jennifer Wells is an outdoor leader, educator, and entrepreneur with over 18 years of experience in adventure education, higher education, and the outdoor industry. She has built her professional life at the intersection of outdoor leadership, experiential learning, and entrepreneurship—creating programs that develop people, not just technical skills. Jennifer has guided multi-year sea kayaking expeditions with college students in the 10,000 Islands off the coast of Florida and taught a wide range of adventure courses, including backpacking, rock climbing, mountain biking, and many other outdoor recreation activities. She is known for finding creative and meaningful ways to connect students to challenge, place, and purpose, while emphasizing reflection, leadership, and environmental responsibility.

Her work has also taken her internationally. In Costa Rica, Jennifer backpacked through the rainforest, rappelled waterfalls, and participated in homestays with local families who opened their homes to travelers. She taught sustainable tourism through community-based experiences, which included working alongside locals to harvest and process sugar cane using traditional methods. These experiences deeply shaped her commitment to ensuring that travel dollars support those who live on and care for the land, and to reducing her environmental footprint. It was through this work that she developed a lasting awareness of the impact our choices have on the planet.

As the founder and CEO of Paddle-N-More, Inc., Jennifer grew a woman-owned paddlesports business from a single waterfront operation into a multi-site organization rooted in access, leadership development, and community connection. She is an American Canoe Association Instructor Trainer and is passionate about mentoring the next generation of outdoor leaders.

Inspired by a childhood spent canoeing with her father, Jennifer has always cherished experiences over things. As she enters a new chapter—strengthening what she has built as Paddle-N-More merges with a local nonprofit—her goal is to ensure that the work, values, and community she has created live well beyond her.