Emily Payne
Co-Founding Director Emily hails from the mouth of the Fraser River on Coast Salish land. She is a certified teacher with 15 years experience working with young people of all ages. Aside from growing up by the salt and sea of coastal BC, her ancestral roots go back to the Celtic-Anglo isles and Scandanavia.
Emily has a background working as an international youth leadership trip facilitator outtrip director, motivational tour speaker, native plant researcher, curriculum designer and classroom teacher. She holds a BEd in Indigenous Perspectives from SFU, and a BA Biogeography from UBC. She co-founded Rivers to Ridges out of her belief that building curiosity for the natural world at a young age is an integral part of a healthy life. A big passion of hers is working with plants, which she pursues through basket-weaving, harvesting wild plants and making medicinal salves. These days, Emily spends time gardening, playing music, and falling in love with her new wee one, Llewyn. |
Wren Nicolardi
Co-Founding Director Wren was raised between the Niagara Escarpment and the shores of Lake Ontario on the traditional territories of the Haudenosaunee Anishinabewaki ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᐗᑭ, Attiwonderonk, Mississauga, and Mississauga of the New Credit.
Wren has always felt called to work outdoors with young people. Rivers to Ridges was born out of a desire to create space for young people to feel curious about and connected to the land around them. Wren uses their BEd and experiences to mentor young people and support those in the fields of education and child and youth work. Wren feels most alive when working in relationship with youth as they develop their sense of self in connection to place/land; creating accessibility for children to take part in programs that connect them to the land; learning from local land stewards; supporting young people in taking risks; and celebrating bird language and song as a doorway to deeper awareness. |
Kelly Scott
Program Manager & Educator Kelly was born in Guelph Ontario on the ancestral homelands of the Anishinaabek People, specifically the traditional territory of the Missisaugas of the Credit First Nation. She moved to the Yukon in 2014 to pursue a career in teaching while increasing her naturalist knowledge found in this beautiful territory. Kelly holds a BA in Modern Languages (French and Spanish) and Sociology from Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke, Quebec. In the summer of 2018 Kelly completed a course with National Geographic in Ottawa with a focus on Indigenous Studies and teaching Indigenous Perspectives. She also holds a certificate as a trained Montessori Elementary Teacher through the Association Montessori Internationale from Toronto, Ontario where she was guided down a path of mentoring the natural curiosity and deep sense of empathy that exists in children.
Kelly has been teaching in Montessori for 10 years in a few capacities: as a French Assistant in a preschool setting as well as in a lower elementary classroom and she has spent the last 6 years in Whitehorse teaching in a Montessori elementary classroom with grades 1, 2 and 3. Kelly is now excited to be bringing her passions forward with the Rivers to Ridges Team. Outside of work Kelly can be found writing music, playing guitar and ukulele, writing poetry and short stories, practicing yoga, reading, working in theatre productions, and on arts based volunteer boards. She enjoys handwork such as crocheting, sewing, beading, bookmaking and up-cycling or repurposing clothing. Kelly is most curious about plants life, the changing seasons, life in the Age of the Invertebrates (and beyond!), human interconnectedness and recognizing what binds us as a community. |
An early fall multi-day backpacking trip supporting a Yukon experiential high school program is where Emily found Wren in 2014. At the time, Wren was fresh to the territory and woefully unprepared for their first backcountry hiking trip. With the help of a shared tent, warm tea and lots of duct tape, Emily supported Wren on the adventure. A couple months later, Wren had the chance to repay the love by heading out to support Emily who was stuck in Watson Lake with a broken down vehicle. A surprise snowstorm closed the roads, and they were forced to stay the night at the Cozy Nest. Conversation eventually turned to life passions, and it turned out that Wren and Emily both had the same (not-so) secret dream of building a program that guides young people towards a meaningful connection with the land. Rooted in mutual support for one another and a deep love of mentoring children on the land, Rivers to Ridges was born! Now, in 2023, Rivers to Ridges celebrates over seven years in operation. |