Meet Amanda Caloia of EverWild

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Caloia.

Amanda, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
EverWild wouldn’t have been in my future had it not been for my free-range childhood. I spent from sun-up to sun-down playing in the woods, on the farm, and in the cornfields that surrounded my home in central New York.

School wasn’t really my thing, but I did it anyway. I day-dreamed my way through it until recess, P.E., or the end of the day at which point I would go back outside to play with my friends or to be alone and wrapped in a world that made me feel so small. I loved that feeling, I still do. I have vivid memories from when I was very young around age five or six. I remember laying in the horse pasture next to my house, surrounded by blooming dandelions staring up at the big blue sky as the clouds moved slowly overhead.

I remember sitting on the ledge of my back deck staring out at the heat lightning that spread across the evening sky, and the sunsets that left the vastness of the horizon a million shades of orange, pink and purple. I remember the treetops that I scrambled up just to look out across the fields. And, I remember pausing to appreciate the density of the forests that offered homes for the wildlife surrounding my home.

These moments have contributed to teaching me a sense of self and empathy for the natural environment. I believe that being reminded of just how small we are in a world so large is the Earth’s way of sharing its magic with us and demanding the respect it so deserves. I knew at that young age just how lucky I was to play outside surrounded by it all. Growing up fast wasn’t for me, I wanted to play for as long as I possibly could.

In middle school my home-economics teacher had our class take an online test to see what our possible career path could be. I’ll never understand why children should be planning their career prior to understanding who they are and where their passions lie. I had strong relationships with my P.E. teachers throughout the years and came to the conclusion that they had a career that enabled them to play all day so that’s what I would do.

Five years later, I went to college to become a P.E. teacher and hopped on the “go to school, graduate, and get a good job” train. During my senior year, I took a couple of inclusive outdoor education classes and realized that I had spent a whole lot of money for a piece of paper I would likely never use for its intended purpose. Oops. Inspired by these classes, I began to formulate plans to create an outdoor education program but it didn’t feel right, and I knew I wasn’t ready.

After graduation I took a life-sabbatical to focus on what mattered to me most, playing outside. Mesmerized by California’s landscape, I packed up my things for a change of scenery (and temperature) and began driving West until I reached the Pacific. The following couple of years included snowboarding, skateboarding, backpacking, and surfing from San Diego to San Francisco. Quickly landing work with children led me to realize just how sheltered children in a big city are from the natural world.

The Santa Monica Mountains were just next door, and the beach was down the street, but I quickly realized that it wasn’t exactly easy for children to access these natural spaces. I had never imagined a childhood without those expansive views, dense forests, and the freedom to play. To make matters worse, this lack of connectedness to nature was creating a lack of empathy for it.

I stood witness to the pollution of watersheds, constant waste created by single-use plastics, littering in the streets and oceans, and the use of chemicals in the canyons that have led to the destruction of wildlife. I just wanted to take everyone to the mountains to play so that they too can share this relationship with nature and see it for the magic that it is. Because if they did, they would have the utmost respect for it. I cold turkey quit my job working in a gymnastics gym and started to seek work in an outdoor education program.

When I discovered LA Nature Kids, a local forest preschool, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. This program was offering children who lived in the city a childhood similar to that of mine. And the children and families were mindful of how their daily choices affected the environment. I was relieved, inspired, and couldn’t have felt more at home on the other side of the country. It was here that I met Elizabeth Stephenson Wells and Rebecca Chou who had daughters in my preschool class.

After a few years of learning under the wing of Christopher Pierre and teaching with LA Nature Kids, Elizabeth and Rebecca shared with me their desires to co-create an outdoor program that would continue offering children a play-based and organic learning experience beyond their preschool years. I jumped all-in and the three of us co-created EverWild with a mission to engage and mentor children and families to develop a meaningful attachment to the Earth.

I remind the kids all the time that I’m not an adult, I’m just a big kid. I suppose I’m extremely lucky because they don’t ever tell me; otherwise, they just smile and continue to play.

Has it been a smooth road?
Not at first. We didn’t have any investors or loans, so finances were really tight. We poured a lot of our own free time and money into the organization. I went without a paycheck for the first few months, and my boyfriend and I moved into a converted van with our cat and dog to reduce the cost of the rent.

I’ve had to set boundaries for myself out of respect for my personal life. Like anything worth doing it has taken time, a lot of late nights, really good friends, long backpacking trips, supportive co-workers, and coffee. Really, really strong coffee.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the EverWild story. Tell us more about the business.
EverWild is a 501(c)3 nonprofit established in 2016 to engage and mentor children and families to develop a meaningful attachment to the Earth. We believe that those who have a relationship with their environment will be more likely to protect it. We also believe that children deserve the right to a wild and free childhood where learning is self-directed, mentor-facilitated and takes place in an organic environment- their backyard.

In a grassroots initiative, we began utilizing a classroom without walls, the Santa Monica Mountains, and local beaches and wetlands to engage our community with the natural world through Inclusive Nature Immersion Programming and Family Adventures.

These programs provide the local community a deeper nature connection, increased access to meaningful outdoor experiences, and qualified mentorship to families and children including children with learning differences. EverWild also utilizes its relationships with renowned leaders in the local community to lead an experience, project, or introduce the children to a specific skill that engages them and builds upon their relationship with the natural world.

Our organization has nearly doubled in size each year since its inception in 2016 and has a retention rate of over 90% of the families and children who attend our programs. We have dedicated ourselves and programs to serve our community by providing increased access to the outdoors and qualified mentorship. Most of the children attending EverWild’s classes are homeschoolers including children in grades TK-5th.

Our children and families are responding with a positive increase in children’s connectedness to nature, emotional and social skills, and skills-based progress including the practice of environmental stewardship in homes and wild spaces.

Where do you see your industry going over the next 5-10 years?  Any big shifts, changes, trends, etc?
I expect to see the industry continue to grow exponentially over the next 5-10 years. The principles that define forest schools began embedded in preschools in Denmark in the early 1950s and has since grown into Sweden, then in the 1990’s it was introduced to the UK, and later expanded into other countries.

Forest Preschools have grown tremendously across the United States over the past decade, and in the last five years, I’ve seen more forest schools and organizations providing nature immersion programming to children in grades K+ than in previous years. I’ve also seen a huge trend of students who are leaving our traditional education systems to be homeschooled.

There are many different reasons why this is happening, but I think the biggest thing to focus on is that children are receiving a customized and tailored education that fits their individual needs and interests. In addition to a customized education, children are also receiving academic, and financial support to truly provide exceptional experiences that deepen children’s understanding of the world around them.

Many children and families who are homeschooling are seeking programs that offer outdoor learning opportunities. It’s incredible to see this highly sought after educational experience and lifestyle become more accessible to all children and families.

Pricing:

• Wild Coyotes (ages 5-7): $93/day
• Wild Hawks (ages 8-11): $93/day
• Wild Lions (Qualified therapists and mentors support children with learning differences, ages 5-10): $146/day

Contact Info:

• Address: 11901 Santa Monica Blvd STE459 Los Angeles, CA 90025
• Website: https://everwildla.com
• Phone: 315-935-7017
• Email: amanda@everwildla.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everwildla/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EverWildLa/

Image Credit:
Alex Colorito, Claudia Didomenico, Emily Hart Roth, Kylie Gilbert

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