This year NRA has added some international spices into its staff team, one from Chile and one from Taiwan! Without a further, I'm going to start off with our most beautiful English teacher in NRA!
Kira is a bad-ass kayaker from sun Valley, Idaho. She graduated from Middlebury College, with a degree in Environmental policy. Kira picked me up when I first landed in Yeager Airport, WV. She is super out-going, loves running and doing yoga in her spare time (hardcore) and always is the center of the attention of the gents when we go out to disco! BTW, she eats super healthy. We are best allies in food nutrition!
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| Kira showing students how to do ab exercise on a bridge on el Rio Claro |
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| Kira Running a drop on Entres Saltos on Rio Claro |
Our next star is Lorenzo Andrade Astorga from San Jose de Maipo, Chile! The first thing I remember he told me when we first met was, "Dun't eva tach anyshing when a Chilean is cuking!" It was hilarious! Lore teaches Spanish and is the assistant kayaking coach at NRA. Growing up on the Maipo River, he was blessed with great white water around the area, such as the Maipo and Yeso, which offer great creeking practice. He used to be on a very prestigious football club in Chile and he is also very talented with quena (a type of Chilean flute) and slack line. His life moto is: if I were to do anything, I am going to be the best!! When he is not teaching, you will find him either practicing his new move on the slack line or hear his quena...Lore is going to start his own raft/kayaking company with Tino next year on the Maipo river and I believe they will do very well!
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| Lore dressed up as a Chilean gansta |
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| Lore running the middle Palguin (70 foot) |
Next in line is our super History/Chemistry teacher: Chris Smith from Brooklyn, NY! Chris has a master degree in geology and was TAing in WVU before he came to work at NRA. He is currently living in Morgantown, WV and is a big fan of the Mountaineers! Chris is an experienced boater and has been to many places in the US and in South America. He always got some crazy stories that surprises the hack out of me. Under his calm and chilled appearance, there is this playful and vivid side that shows up quite frequently. He is super chill and awesome!
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| Smitty wearing his super-hero t-shirt singing at NRA karaoke night |
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| Chris on the 20-footer on Siete Tazas |
Tino Specht: an NRA alum, current kayaking head coach and video teacher at NRA. Growing up in Massachusetts, Tino started kayaking on the Deerfield River of which he holds deeply in his heart. A former team Dagger kayaker, he is now kayaking for Blisstick from New Zealand. He is also sponsored by Teva, Lever-Six, Werner, etc. Tino is a self-made man. He proves that a passionate heart is the only thing we need to be successful in anything. He writes songs and taught himself guitar, Spanish and video shooting and editing. His beautiful music and singing is always the most popular thing in any social gathering. We all think he is going to be the next Jack Johnson, but weather of not he is going out to give a try, we'll see. This year, a film that Tino and his friends made about the Yangtze River (Facing East) got picked up by NBC which was a mile stone for him. Congrats Tino!
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| Tino teaching students how to throw rope during one of the morning safety sessions. |
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Tino styled the first drop on the Siete Tazas
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The last one is~The founder of Huge Experiences and New River Academy: David Hughes! He currently lives in Fayetteville, WV which is the hometown of the Gauley and new River. Dave has been working in kayaking/education world for the past 10 years. Before he started NRA, he was the head wrestling coach in a high school in TN. After he founded Huge Experiences, he realized how much impact it could have on young kayakers. He believes that a program that has great teachers as role models, rich cultural component and a small teacher-student ratio can make all the difference in a student's life. With that belief, the school started to thrive after a few years of ground work and Huge Experience transitioned into Hew River Academy.
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| Dave at Valley Falls, PA. |
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| Dave running Gargata de Diablo on Rio Claro |
Myself...I'm from Taichung, Taiwan, a small country on the coast of China. I have been studying in the US for the past 8 years and just completed my BS degree in Chemical Engineering from JHU. Originally, I was only applying for teaching during the Spring semester and use the summer time and from September to December to work on another job. However, life isn't always that beautiful when it comes to planning. One day, I got a phone call from a man and it turned out to be David (it is really rare that he calls). He told me that either I teach for both semesters or teach nothing at all. He said he has an Harvard graduate competing for the same position...Well, it wasn't so hard of a decision to make after all. if I chose to teach for NRA, I got to travel to Chile and Uganda with flight, lodging and food totally paid for...and I got to beat a Harvard graduate! Alright, there I was, packing up early, leaving for West Virginia for staff training. Currently, I teaches Math (Algebra 2, Precalc and AP calc) and physics (conceptual and AP physics) at NRA. Frankly, teaching is my side job and kayaking is what I was hired for, really :)
I am really grateful that I am having such a wonderful time and super thankful for everyone who made this possible: Shane, Dave, Matt Hardy, Claude and all the staff. Thanks!
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| I was pumping gas...(photo by: Tino S.) |
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| Kai-Wen running a drop on Siete Tazas (Photo: Jason T.). |
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At the Niagara Falls wax museum
From the right: Chris, Kira, Lore, and....I (Photo: Tino S.) |
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