Colleen Noyes was a naturalist at the CT Audubon Society for over 25 years. Currently she is enjoying teaching Earth Science in her own classroom at the Unquowa School in Fairfield CT. She is hoping to inspire the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th graders to love science.

In 2012, Colleen was introduced to the magic of Hog Island as a camper during Educators Week. That experience led to many volunteering for many years and eventually of getting the honor to share her knowledge as an instructor and director on Hog Island. She is proof that if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life.

Colleen is an avid music lover and was in a trio called Small Noise. During the height of the pandemic, the group was formed and wrote and recorded many original songs. On weekends Colleen can be found hiking or jamming with other music lovers. This love of music has become a popular part of evenings at Family Camp. Many of the incredible instructors are also musically inclined and lend their talents to the weekly band. A few of our band names over the years have been “Guillemottly Crew”, “The David Buoy’s”, “Grebe Day”, and “Van Heron”! In her spare time, Colleen can be found hanging out with her daughters Fiona, Eleanor and son-in-law Moll. She also has a sassy young Airedale terrier named Bright. He keeps her active, fit and happy!

Nathaniel Sharp is a naturalist educator and birder based in Deer Isle, Maine. Nathaniel graduated from the University of Vermont with a BS in Wildlife Biology in 2018 and has worked as a staff biologist with the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, banding Bicknell's Thrushes on the peaks of Vermont and surveying for bees, butterflies, and other pollinators to support state-wide biodiversity monitoring projects. Nathaniel now provides guided birding walks and nature connection experiences with a focus on biodiversity in coastal Maine.

Katama Murray (she/her) is an artist, educator, naturalist, and business owner from the Blue Hill, Maine and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, now residing in Deer Isle, Maine. Her mixed media work and company, Teach Peace Prints, are inspired by place-based making and our interconnectedness to the environment. Utilizing locally foraged natural materials, she layers print and fiber processes to visually communicate ideas, observations, and perpetual experimentation. Through hands-on techniques, Katama teaches regional workshops focused on versatile methods that encourage exploration and foster life-long learning. Katama is also the Handworks Teacher teacher at The Bay School and Visual Arts Educator at the Blue Hill Harbor School. Katama has a BFA in Printmaking from Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, and an MFA in Printmaking from Indiana University-Bloomington.

In 2013, Katama visited Hog Island for the first time as a camper, attending the Coastal Maine Bird Studies for Teens session thanks to a scholarship from Downeast Audubon. It was then that she fell in love with the island and its special community, as well as her husband and fellow instructor, Nathaniel Sharp, and is thrilled to return as an instructor each year since 2022. With a passion for slow, multidisciplinary making, she strives to learn and teach together with people of all ages, hoping to inspire others to become more connected to the earth through the power of art and community.

Dane Ward, PhD, is a conservation biologist, ecologist, and teaching professor in Drexel University’s Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science Department. Dane’s research and naturalist experiences are well rooted in the Philadelphia region, with horseshoe crab surveys in the Delaware Bay, Pine Barrens fire ecology, forestry and snake conservation research in New Jersey, and salamander surveys and limnology studies in the Poconos Mountains of Pennsylvania. Beyond teaching and research, Dane actively serves on two non-profit boards of directors; the Wild Bird Research Group and the Natural Resources Education Foundation of New Jersey.

Dane has been coming to Hog Island’s Family Camp since 2021. Dane is looking forward to engaging families in maintaining their sense of wonder through forestry as well as coastal and stream ecology as we explore Hog Island. One of the most exciting experiences is always the tide pool survey, where he looks forward to finding new critters amongst the wrack weed.

Lisa Monetti is an archaeologist, forensic anthropologist, and visiting assistant professor at The College of Wooster in Ohio. Her first visit to Hog Island was in 2023. Lisa looks forward to bringing some experimental archaeology activities to Family Camp and allowing campers to connect to the natural world by learning how people of the past lived and experienced nature. Lisa’s research focuses on memory and funerary practice in archaeological contexts and she participates in both archaeological excavations and forensic casework. Lisa has earned a Masters of Science in Bioarchaeology and Forensic Anthropology and a PhD in Archaeological Science, both from the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.

Karen Acton is a classically trained artist and naturalist with over 31 years of experience as an art educator. Growing up in the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey, she developed a deep reverence for nature, which fuels her commitment to conservation and education. Acton has created programs for educators to integrate nature and art into their curricula.

She volunteers for Return the Favor, rescuing horseshoe crabs to protect migratory shorebirds, and is illustrating a children's book promoting panda bear conservation. Acton teaches nature journaling at Drexel University’s summer program at the Lighthouse Center in NJ. Her passion for documenting natural history grew through studying under John Muir Laws. On Hog Island, she feels connected to the land, water, and sky, and is grateful for her association with Hog Island Audubon Camp.