Dave Freeman, Executive Director, is the driving force behind the Wilderness Classroom’s programming. Dave does it all, from planning and executing expeditions to maintaining our website. Each year Dave conducts hundreds of school assemblies, introducing students to our online expeditions and familiarizing them with the wilderness locations we explore.
Dave graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder where he studied Biology and Anthropology. Dave is also a web master, programmer, and wilderness guide. He has worked as a dogsledding, sea kayaking, and canoeing instructor for 15 years, introducing hundreds of people to wilderness travel.
His first Wilderness Classroom expedition was solo. During the Border Country Adventure in 2001, Dave used a lap top computer and satellite phone to post journals, photos, and other educational resources to the internet to a handful of classrooms across the country. This has been the foundation from which the Wilderness Classroom has grown. During the last eight years he has played a vital role in the development and implementation of every online expedition. 
Amy Voytilla, Director of Development, is always on the lookout for new sponsorship or grant opportunities. She also plays a role in PR/marketing and fundraising events.
Amy has a Masters Degree in Art Therapy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in addition to a BA from Macalester College in Studio Art and Psychology.
The Superior Waters Project (2006) was Amy’s first Wilderness Classroom expedition. She has spent six years guiding kayak and dogsledding trips in northern Minnesota, exposing people of all ages to the wild shores of Lake Superior and the beauty of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Amy also participated in the Trans-Amazon Expedition (2007-2008), which involved cycling and paddling 3,000 miles across South America from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean.
Eric Frost , Director of Education, develops, writes, and implements our online and printed curriculum. Eric is a founding member of Wilderness Classroom and he donates hundreds of hours each year to help reach out to students across the country.
Eric graduated from Ohio University where he studied Education and English. A public school teacher for several years, he has taught students from preschool to high school in a variety of subjects throughout the United States and Asia. Eric also spent eight summers introducing students and adults to the wonders of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness while working for Sawbill Canoe Outfitters in Northern Minnesota.
Eric’s first online expedition was the Big Muddy Adventure in the fall of 2001. Since then Eric has been instrumental in nine Wilderness Classroom expeditions. Eric is a strong advocate for wilderness preservation and education, believing that students can make a global impact through their actions.
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During stage 1 we will kayak 1,400 miles from Seattle, Washington to Skagway, Alaska. The Pacific Northwest is home to a wide range of aquatic and terrestrial animals. We will be studying whales and other marine mammals, kelp forests, salmon, and many other species.
The Pacific Northwest is home to a variety of large land mammals including Grizzly Bears, and Black Bears. Above and below the surface we are sure to find plenty of things to learn about. Many of these large mammals need large undeveloped spaces to thrive and the roadless sections of British Columbia and Alaska provide the perfect habitat.
From Skagway, Alaska we will hike over the Chilkoot Pass in the footsteps of thousands of gold seekers who struggled across the pass to reach the Klondike. Many of artifacts remain from those early days, and we will follow their path all the way to Dawson City along the mighty Yukon River.
From Bennet Lake on the eastern side of the Chilkoot Pass we will canoe through a chain of lakes that form the headwaters of the Yukon River past White Horse and down the swift flowing Yukon River to Dawson City. 
From Dawson we will hike 100 miles through the mountains to the headwaters of the Blackstone River. The Blackstone flows into the Peel River, which flows in the McKenzie River, which will lead us to the Arctic Ocean. The rivers flowing through these rugged mountains as some of the most pristine wild rivers in North America, with hundreds of miles of flowing waterways between towns or roads.
After over 2,600 miles of paddling and hiking we hope to reach the Arctic Ocean before freeze up. We will spend the month of October,2010 training our dogs, and learning about native life in the Arctic. In November we will head south along the McKenzie River by dog team, crossing 1,800 miles of frozen wilderness. There are many remote native communities along our way and we are sure to learn a lot from the people we encounter.
When the ice melts in the Spring of 2011 we will transition from dogsled to canoe and paddle 2,300 miles along the historic travel and trade route pioneered by Alexander McKenzie, Samuel Hearne, and other Canadian Explorers in the 1700's. We will finish this stage of our journey in the fall of 2011 by completing the 8 1/2 mile Grand Portage which will lead us to the rock shore of Lake Superior.
After spending the winter giving presentations and making final preparations we will begin 4,800 mile kayak journey from Grand Portage, Minnesota to Key West, Florida. The first 2,200 miles will take us through the Great Lakes and out the Saint Lawrence Seaway. 
During the final stage of our journey we will kayak the length of the Atlantic Coast from the Saint Lawrence Seaway to Key West, Florida. We will be following the seasonal whale migration from the Bay of Fundy in Maine to the warm clear waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way we will visit cities large and small, and study a variety of ecosystems and environmental topics. We also plan to take side trips into the cyprus swamps and Everglades National Park looking for Alligators, birds, and other critters.
