Our Amazing Team

I was born and raised in the Florida Keys on a 2X5 mile island named Key West. I grew up in the outdoors; from chasing the waves to surf up the east coast of Florida to giving kayak tours throughout my high school years. Apart from water-sports, my favorite activities include chasing sunsets, bike-riding, and hiking. I fell in love with hiking in the mountains during a surf expedition to Costa Rica, so getting to work for BookTrails in Steamboat is a dream come true. I am currently studying at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, FL for a major in International Relations and Global Affairs and minors in Environmental Studies and Spanish. I have studied at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on global issues, as well as worked with the director of Eckerd’s service learning program on exploring environmental injustices throughout Pinellas County, FL. I am in Eckerd’s Peace Corps Prep Program, so after I graduate I plan to settle out west (maybe Colorado) for a short while and then join the Peace Corps.

I spent my childhood traveling between Florida and Russia. My first true experience with the outdoors came when I was fourteen on a multi-day backpacking trip in the Southeastern part of Russia. From then on, I’ve loved sharing stories around campfires, climbing mountains, and experiencing nature with special people. I am a rising sophomore studying Biology and Psychology at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Education is important to me, and I believe the best way to learn is to encourage the creativity and curiosity within us all. I love to get out of the city and spend my free time exploring and repelling off of waterfalls. I am so excited to intern for BookTrails and am ready to learn and grow throughout this summer!

My name is Kaylee Dillon and I grew up in Gettysburg Pennsylvania. I currently go to school at West Virginia University, I am currently studying Environmental Soil and Water sciences and am extremely passionate at the environment and our beautiful planet. At school I am apart of the rail trail clean up, where we go around the hiking trails of West Virginia and pick up all the trash to keep our trails beautiful. I’ve always spent my free times outdoors, but my favorite thing to do is hiking. Getting lost in the trees or mountains is a feeling that can’t be compared to anything else. I love to do yoga and meditate. I am extremely passionate about spiritual and mental health and think that being outside is something that is essential to both of them. My other passion is books and poetry. I love books because it gives us the chance to visualize the words we read in our minds and every person interprets a book differently. I love children and look at myself as a young spirited person who loves to be goofy and have fun. Children are our future and I think it’s important to get them outside in nature, and being able to make them happy, makes me the happiest. When I graduate school this upcoming May, I plan to work as a hydrologist, which is a person who studies properties, distribution, and effects of water in our world.