Program Directors
Our organization is managed by a team of directors. While each director has specific areas of responsibility, we share 3 major commitments.
Our first commitment is to safety. Beyond professional standards and accepted practices, each of us is a parent. We know how difficult it is for you to entrust us with your children and how important it is to keep them safe, both physically and emotionally.
Second, we are deeply committed to running absolutely the finest wilderness program anywhere. Each of us has been profoundly influenced by our experiences on the trail and so believe deeply in the power of our programs.
Third, we are deeply committed to the young people we serve. We measure our success in the feedback we get from young people and their parents. We often hear from participants years afterward that their experience with us shaped their development and character for years to come.
All of us spend our summers in Temagami and one or more of us will be in charge of and working directly with whatever program your son or daughter is enrolled in.
C.G. Stephens, Administrator/Director
C.G.’s boyhood quest for wilderness adventure brought him to Langskib in 1975. After an incredible trip to the James Bay the next summer, C.G. hired on. He led trips for many years before becoming a Director in 1984. C.G. has a BS from Hartwick College and is a passionate student of experiential education and wilderness leadership. A consummate paddler, sailor, telemark skier and student of nature, C.G. spends the winters in the Adirondack Mountains with his wife Jodi Browning and their three children; Hudson, McKenzie James and Gracie Ruth.
Jodi Browning, Administrator/Director
Jodi grew up exploring the lakes and woods of southeastern Ontario where her family has a summer home. Since 1986 she has worked in various capacities throughout the field of adventure based education including directing an outdoor center in eastern Ontario, leading extensive canoe tripping expeditions for youth at risk and directing courses for the Ontario Recreational Canoeing Association. She has paddled thousands of kilometers with young people through lakes and rivers in Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba & Minnesota and led several expeditions to Hudson Bay. She began working for Northwaters in 1996. A trained ballet dancer, musician & vocalist, Jodi has spent much of her life pursuing both the arts and the outdoors. In the winter she can be found cross country skiing and snowshoeing in the Adirondack Mountains where she lives with her husband, C.G. Stephens, daughter, Grace and two sons Hudson and McKenzie James.
Michael Jarvis, Program Director
Michael Jarvis lives with his wife Lynne and their two children in northern Michigan. He is a licensed therapist and works as a counselor at a small boarding high school during the school year. He also teaches psychology, world religions, and a rite of passage course for the senior class.
At the age of 17, Michael left the small town in northern Idaho, where he grew up, to attend the United States Air Force Academy. During the 11 years he was in the Air Force he graduated from the Academy with a bachelor of Science degree, flew helicopters with the Air Force, The Army, and the Coast Guard, taught aircrew survival, earned parachute jump wings, and worked with the Coast Guard on a night vision goggle research project.
Michael left the Air Force in 1991 to work in Outdoor Education. He is a certified high ropes and initiatives instructor and has worked with groups ranging from elementary schools, and church youth groups to corporate teams and adult retreats. He also worked with probate courts in several counties designing and leading wilderness experiences with adjudicated and other youth at risk.
From 1995 until 2001 Michael worked in the Youth Services Department of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, located in Northern Michigan. While with the Band, he created programs for Tribal youth aged 5-18. Many of these programs were outdoors and wilderness based experiences.
Christine McKenna, Program Director
.jpg)
I found Northwaters by luck when I attended a camp fair at age 14 just before I was to enter grade 10. After finding that most of the brochures I had picked up were uninteresting, and with the deadline for enrollment looming, I hastily decided on Northwaters. Honestly to this day I still can't tell you why I chose to go to Northwaters, miles away from anything I had experience; whatever the reason, that decision started a lifelong commitment to the outdoors and passion for adventure. Working for Northwaters has led to so many incredible moments spent in small groups of people huddled over a campfire or slugging through knee-deep mud. In my first years as a participant, I found that I had a passion for the outdoors and decided to continue my education on that path. I have an undergraduate degree in Therapeutic Recreation from the University of Waterloo, and in my first year out of school I worked in that capacity running recreational programs at a centre for adults with metal illness. I spent last year traveling New Zealand with my fiancé. During that year we enjoyed hiking, kayaking, farming, ice climbing and doing anything outdoors that we could. Upon my return I entered a Masters of Teaching program at the University of Toronto. I have just finished my first of two years working with children between the ages of eight and thirteen at several downtown Toronto schools. Once I graduate I hope to start a career working as an educator in elementary schools. I hope to combine teaching and the outdoors by infusing experiential outdoor learning into my classroom. Northwaters has given me the courage and confidence to seek out my dreams and I hope to help other young people do this for as long as I am able.
Cena Shaw, Program Administrator
Cena comes to her administrative role at Northwaters & Langskib, via a career as a certified elementary teacher and outdoor educator. She has a B.S. in Elementary Education and a M.S. in Environmental Education. Throughout her years as a student, Cena traveled extensively throughout the US and spent her time at several nature centers as a Naturalist working with birds of prey and bringing conservation education to the public. After marrying Kevin in 2001, and attempting to be a stay-at-home mom, she fell into work as a part-time bookkeeper. She now works full-time, at the Northwaters three-season headquarters in the Adirondack Mountains of NY keeping the books and corresponding with camp families. She lives in Essex with her husband and two daughters, Thea and Edie, in the small off-the-grid home that they continue to build. They keep busy raising animals and vegetables at home, and getting out to ski, hike, and swim in the North Country. In 2005, Cena was co-founder and lead teacher at a farm-based, Waldorf-inspired preschool. Today, she continues her work at Lakeside Preschool in the administrative role of board president and as a preschool parent.
Jen Zahorchak, Program Administrator
Jen has a degree in Science Education, is a certified teacher, Wilderness First Responder and lifeguard. She taught outdoor and environmental education for 12 years in a variety of states and ecosystems in Ohio, New England, Hawaii, South Carolina, Washington, California and Oregon. Jen and her husband Gregg have traveled to all 50 states and 6 provinces together, drove across North America about a dozen times, done several domestic and overseas hiking and wildlife excursions before starting a family and moving back east to be closer to family. In 2005 Jen and Gregg moved their family to the Adirondacks to work for a local summer camp in a variety of administrative capacities. Last year they bought a house right down the street from C.G., Jodi and Cena. Jen enjoys playing outside, gardening, photography, reading and playing with her kids. “Wren and Luna have been on canoe trips in-utero and out, but baby Otis is waiting for his first big out of belly adventure in Temagami!”
